After not spending any money in support of its Senate candidate in Nevada, the Republican Party’s main outside group supporting Senate races is making a large investment in hopes of unseating the state’s Democratic incumbent, Senator Jacky Rosen.
The group, the Senator Leadership Fund, says it will spend $6.2 million on TV, radio and digital ads backing Sam Brown, a former Army captain who was nearly killed by an explosion in Afghanistan. The ads will begin this weekend.
Mr. Brown, who also ran for the Senate and lost in his party’s primary in 2022 when Senator Catherine Cortez Masto was up for re-election, has struggled to gain traction against Ms. Rosen, a former U.S. representative finishing her first term in the Senate. She has pummeled him with television advertising highlighting his past opposition to abortion and other positions.
The Senate Leadership Fund has focused its financial firepower on Senate races in Montana and Ohio, where Republicans see prime pickup opportunities. Democrats hold a 51-seat Senate majority, and winning in Nevada could help solidify Republican control of the chamber.
Public polling has shown Ms. Rosen with a consistent lead, but the presidential contest in Nevada, a critical battleground state, is essentially tied. Republicans hope that former President Donald J. Trump’s supporters and voters’ frustrations over the high costs of basic goods can lift Mr. Brown to victory.
“Jacky Rosen has been a reliable vote for the Democrats’ extreme agenda and is a lackluster candidate,” Steven Law, the president of the Senate Leadership Fund, said in a statement. “President Trump is doing very well in Nevada, and we think Sam Brown can, too.”
In a statement, Johanna Warshaw, a spokeswoman for the Rosen campaign, called Ms. Rosen “one of the most bipartisan, independent and effective senators” and said that Mr. Brown was “a failed politician whose struggling campaign has been losing support from all sides thanks to his tenuous ties to Nevada, his extreme MAGA positions, and his disqualifying anti-abortion record.”
Since July, Democrats have spent close to $65 million supporting Ms. Rosen. Republicans beyond the Senate Leadership Fund have poured about $40 million into the race, according to AdImpact, a media-tracking firm. Last week, the candidates squared off in their only televised debate, which proved heavy on policy. Both candidates appeared relatively mild-mannered.
Throughout the race, Mr. Brown has closely aligned himself with Mr. Trump, showing up whenever the former president has campaigned in Nevada. His hopes ride on Mr. Trump performing well in the state.
“We’re a team in that we both could have a totally different life,” Mr. Brown told The New York Times before a recent rally for Mr. Trump in Reno, Nev.
“I don’t need this,” he added. “President Trump doesn’t need us. People right now need that sort of selfless leader.”
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