Sam Brown, an Army veteran who was the heavy favorite in the Nevada Republican primary race for Senate even before former President Donald J. Trump’s last-minute endorsement, won the nomination on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.
He will face Senator Jacky Rosen, the state’s Democratic incumbent, in one of the most closely watched Senate contests of the year.
With 57 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Brown had 57 percent, lapping the crowded primary field. His closest rival, Jeff Gunter, a former U.S. ambassador to Iceland, had about 17 percent. Jim Marchant, a former state assemblyman, was at roughly 7 percent, and Tony Grady, an Air Force veteran, had 5 percent.
The victory was redemption of sorts for Mr. Brown, who ran for Senate in 2022 after moving to Reno, Nev., from Dallas in 2018, but lost in the Republican primary to Adam Laxalt, the state’s former attorney general. This time, he was the pick of the Republican establishment from the start, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which works to elect Republicans to the Senate, backed him early and worked to clear the field of competitors.
They did not quite manage that. Roughly a dozen Republican challengers vied for the right to face Ms. Rosen, a low-profile Democrat running for re-election in a battleground state where recent elections have been decided by narrow margins.
But most gained little traction, and as Mr. Brown crisscrossed the country raising money and rallying support from prominent Republicans, the other candidates failed to come close to his fund-raising totals. He also earned the endorsement of the state’s Republican governor, Joe Lombardo.
Mr. Brown ran as though he was already in the general election, skipping debates with his Republican opponents, avoiding tying himself too closely to the hard-line conservative wing of the party, and keeping his focus trained on Ms. Rosen, who clinched the Democratic nomination on Tuesday.
He was slow to back Mr. Trump’s latest bid for the White House, a hesitation that did not go unnoticed among some Republicans, and Mr. Trump waited until the race’s final days to endorse him.
Rivals sensed an opening from the right, and in April, Mr. Gunter tried to shake up the race, announcing a multimillion-dollar advertising effort playing up his MAGA credentials while slamming Mr. Brown as insufficiently loyal to Mr. Trump. The attacks forced Mr. Brown and his allies to engage in the primary race for the first time, but it ultimately did little to alter the trajectory of the campaign.
Mr. Brown’s unique background could draw in voters. In 2008, he was nearly killed while serving in Afghanistan when his vehicle drove over a roadside bomb. He underwent more than 30 surgeries during a three-year recovery, and was left permanently scarred.
His campaign will emphasize popular Republican talking points — border security and inflation — and lay the blame for the Nevada economy’s sluggish recovery from the pandemic at the feet of President Biden and Ms. Rosen.
Ms. Rosen’s campaign plans to emphasize her bipartisan reputation and highlight times when she has defied Mr. Biden, who is unpopular in the state. She will point to victories on issues like lowering prescription drug prices while attacking Mr. Brown’s record on abortion rights.
In the past, Mr. Brown expressed support for a 20-week ban with no exceptions for rape or incest. After announcing his campaign for Senate, he clarified that he would not support a nationwide ban, and told The New York Times that the issue should be left to the states.
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