GOP Senate candidates debate without hypocrite Sam Brown, as grassroots Republicans reject McConnell’s handpicked candidate
Last week, seven GOP Senate candidates gathered in Reno for the first major debate of the primary. Both Mitch McConnell’s handpicked candidate Sam Brown and former Trump ambassador Jeff Gunter refused to attend – and their opponents made sure to call out their absence.
Nearly every Republican candidate piled on Brown for refusing to face Nevada voters in the primary. Brown declined to participate in the GOP event with approximately 200 primary voters despite his own repeated calls for Adam Laxalt to debate him in primetime during his failed 2022 Senate run. The GOP candidates also doubled down on their extreme anti-choice views – proudly sharing their support for abortion restrictions even as they noted that it’s become a losing issue for their party.
Read more about the messy, MAGA debate below.
Reno Gazette-Journal: Nevada Republican debate for US Senate has recurring theme: ‘Don’t vote for Sam Brown’
- … candidates spent most of their time agreeing with each other and attacking the Republican Senate candidate who wasn’t in the room: Sam Brown.
- “Don’t vote for Sam Brown, I can tell you that right now — look at one of these candidates,” said retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Bill Conrad, gesturing to himself and the other six Republicans on stage.
- When the candidates were given the opportunity to rebut each other, they all declined, preferring to expand on their initial answers or to take jabs at Brown…
AP News: Nevada Republican Senate primary candidates take aim at absent front-runner in debate
- Nearly every candidate called out Brown for his absence and described him as an establishment candidate not willing to face voters…
- Two years ago, Brown was a longshot Senate candidate who criticized Republican front-runner Adam Laxalt for agreeing only to a pre-recorded debate instead of a live, prime-time broadcast.
- “He must feel safe at 8 a.m., on a Monday morning, in a closed studio, where working-class Nevadans can’t challenge him,” Brown said of the former Nevada Attorney General, who enjoyed the backing of the Republican Party’s most influential figures, from former President Donald Trump to then-Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.
KTVN: Debate Highlights
- ANCHOR: “Most of them agreed and expressed their disappointment in Nevada republican candidate Sam Brown’s decision to not participate in tonight’s debate”
The Nevada Independent: Nevada Senate GOP hopefuls attack Brown, pan Rosen land bill
- Republican U.S. Senate candidates gathered in Reno Thursday night to debate who among them would be the best challenger to take on Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) in November — and took shots at the elephant not in the room, front-runner and retired Army Capt. Sam Brown.
- The chorus of criticism was reminiscent of issues raised by Brown himself in 2022, when he was the underdog upstart in the GOP Senate primary against the establishment-backed former Attorney General Adam Laxalt. Laxalt and Brown only had one pre-recorded debate, and Brown hammered Laxalt for avoiding debates and being “a career politician — cowardly hiding from voters.”
- Unsurprisingly, all seven candidates described themselves as personally against abortion. The issue has taken on massive political significance since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022…
Las Vegas Sun: Nevada GOP Senate candidates push for stronger stance on border in debate
- Speaking from the Atlantis Casino, the candidates who did attend each lambasted retired U.S. Army Capt. Sam Brown for skipping the debate.
- Each candidate said they would pursue pro-life policies and acknowledged the success Democrats had during the 2022 cycle campaigning on abortion access following the Supreme Court’s overturning of the landmark decision made in Roe v. Wade.
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