GOP strategist to ABC News: “If you’re still stumbling around on your message on Yucca Mountain and abortion, God help you”
MAGA extremist Sam Brown is facing heavy criticism from Nevadans, including members of his own party, over his lack of basic knowledge of “the inside and outs of what the people actually need” in Nevada and his “stumbling” message on abortion and Yucca Mountain.
Read more about Sam Brown’s rocky start to the general election:
ABC News: Republicans torn over Trump-backed Sam Brown, the nominee in key Nevada Senate race
Tal Axelrod
June 14, 2024
- Nevada Republican Sam Brown cruised to victory in the GOP Senate primary earlier this week. Now, he’ll have to compete against a well-heeled incumbent — and Republicans are nervous.
- But, Republican operatives warned to ABC News, being competitive and actually winning are two different things, and it’s unclear whether his personal story and unvetted policy chops are enough to convince Nevadans he can tackle the issues they care about.
- “I think a lot of Nevada Republicans are anxious to see how he is able to pivot into a general election. It’s his first experience, not only in a general election, but in a race of this magnitude,” said Nevada GOP strategist Robert Uithoven.
- “… do you know the issues? Is he able to bring more to the table than what he had unfortunately gone through physically while serving in the military?” asked one Nevada GOP strategist, who spoke anonymously about the race. “Of course, I would love to have a Republican senator, but we’re in a purple state, and you need to have somebody who knows the inside and outs of what the people actually need.”
- Republicans pointed to abortion and Yucca Mountain — a shuttered depository for nuclear waste — as two issues that are both important to Nevadans and on which Brown offered differing opinions.
- Brown, who moved to Nevada from Texas in 2018, supported a 20-week abortion ban in Texas before appearing noncommittal on the issue in 2022, saying only that he was “pro-life” and that he would want to see “specific language” in any proposed federal ban. He now says he supports leaving the issue up to the states. Nevada currently allows the procedure up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy.
- And in 2022, he dubbed Yucca Mountain as an “incredible loss of revenue for our state” over its closure following hard-fought battles by residents over safety concerns. He now says it is “dead” and “should not, and will not, be revived.”
- “If you’re still stumbling around on your message on Yucca Mountain and abortion, God help you,” a second Nevada GOP strategist added. “I think by and large, when you have a national playbook, you overplay certain things like immigration and such that it plays to your base over and over and over again, but it certainly doesn’t grow votes. The mistake isn’t that they fumbled the narrative, I think they fumbled the priorities.”
- Operatives viewed Trump’s late endorsement — delivered two days before primary day and after early voting had already ended, and in a social media post rather than at a rally that same day — as a sign of trepidation about Brown’s chances in November, with polling also showing headwinds ahead for Brown.
- “I think he’s got an uphill battle,” said the first anonymous GOP strategist.
- Rosen put out an ad on Wednesday touting Brown’s past support for abortion restrictions in Texas, and Senate Democrats’ campaign arm released its own clip citing an array of Brown’s past stances, including on abortion and Yucca Mountain.
- “I can already see the campaign that Rosen’s going to run, but it’s yet to be seen what kind of campaign he’ll put together and run. But [Brown] will need to be crisp, focused, disciplined,” Uithoven said. When asked if Brown had campaigned that way so far, he replied, “Not to the level that it needs to be for the general.”
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