Nevada Senate opponents are painting each other as extremists, but there are few fireworks in the Rosen-Brown debate

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen and Republican challenger Sam Brown of Nevada painted each other as extremists Thursday evening in the state where the Nov. 5 election could determine control of both the White House and Senate.

The election pits Rosen, a first-term senator seen as a political consensus builder, against Brown, a retired Army captain who bears scars from battlefield injuries and is endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

In their only face-to-face debate before early voting begins Saturday, Brown repeatedly aligned himself with Trump on domestic and foreign policy, calling Rosen a political insider and “elitist,” dismissing her positions on immigration reform brought forward.

“This is once again what you would expect from a DC elitist whose own neighborhood has more security than our border with a gate and guards,” Brown said.

Rosen defended her support for President Joe Biden’s policies aimed at reducing inflation and making housing more affordable, as well as her efforts to work with Republicans.

“My opponent is so stubborn and so extreme that he often uses the words ‘non-negotiable’ and ‘no middle ground,'” she said. “I serve as one of the most bipartisan, independent and bipartisan senators serving today.”

The hour-long performance, presented by KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, was broadcast live in both English and Spanish. Abortion, inflation and immigration are among the top issues and voters have been inundated with ads for both candidates.

Brown pledged to secure the U.S. border during a campaign rally last Friday in Reno; make housing more affordable; lower prices for food, fuel and medicine; end taxes on tips; and abolish taxes on Social Security benefits.

Rosen argues that her challenger is out of touch with the people of Nevada, where nonpartisan and other voters make up nearly 40% of the statewide electorate of 2.4 million. Voting is Republican in rural areas and Democratic in the two most populous and urban areas: Las Vegas and Reno.

Data shows Rosen has a 3-1 lead in fundraising and spending, and a lead in voter polls. Several Republican elected officials have said they plan to break ranks with the Republican Party and vote for Rosen, including the mayors of Sparks, near Reno, and Ely in rural Eastern Nevada.

Rosen has home court advantage in and around Las Vegas, where she has lived for more than 40 years. She was a computer programmer and president of a prominent synagogue in the suburb of Henderson before being elected to Congress in 2016 and defeating a Republican incumbent to move to the Senate in 2018.

Brown was seriously injured in 2008 while serving in Afghanistan and spent years recovering before leaving the military in 2011. He started a company that helped veterans obtain medical care and ran unsuccessfully for a Texas statehouse seat in 2014 before moving to Nevada in 2018. GOP primary bid in 2022 to challenge Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.

Abortion is a key issue in Nevada, with voters facing a ballot initiative aimed at enshrining a 1990 law into the state constitution that makes the procedure legal for up to 24 weeks. Democrats across the country have made abortion rights a central message since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a nationwide right to abortion.

Brown describes himself as “pro-life,” and Rosen has said that if sent to Washington, DC, he would vote for a national abortion ban. Brown and his wife Amy told NBC News earlier this year that she had an abortion before the two met and his website states that as a senator, Brown would not vote to overturn Nevadans’ decision.

Brown has tried to blame Rosen for the Biden administration’s economic policies, which Republicans say led to high inflation as the country recovered from the coronavirus pandemic.

Rosen released a new ad this week offering work to lower prescription drug costs, stop price gouging by supermarket chains and tackle housing costs.

Brown has closely associated himself with Trump, who disputed his narrow presidential election loss to Biden in Nevada in 2020. The state’s top elections official, a Republican, was later censured by the state GOP for saying the vote count was not marred by widespread fraud. .

Early voting begins in Nevada on Saturday.

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Associated Press writer Scott Sonner contributed from Reno, Nevada

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