U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) attends the grand opening of the Nevada Veterans Business Outreach Center Monday, Nov. 20, 2023.
Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 | 11:39 p.m.
RENO — Seven Republicans seeking to challenge Nevada Democratic U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen in November’s general election made their most public case yet why they should be their party’s nominee on Thursday — and did so in the absence of the perceived primary frontrunner.
Speaking from the Atlantis Casino, the candidates who did attend each lambasted retired U.S. Army Capt. Sam Brown for skipping the debate. Brown has earned the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the fundraising arm of Senate Republicans, and is the lead fundraiser among all of Rosen’s GOP challengers, having raised $1.85 million as of December.
Brown’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
“Mitch McConnell is the fed and deep state, and his candidate Sam Brown, needs not to be elected,” said candidate Bill Conrad, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and former mayor of Modesto, Calif., taking aim at the Senate minority leader. “And his candidate, Sam Brown, needs not to be elected. He needs to be elected by the people of this state, not Mitch McConnell and his people.”
Thursday’s event was hosted by the conservative group Redmove Nevada, of which Conrad is a cofounder. He was not given questions ahead of time, according to Ray Rocha, Redmove’s other cofounder.
Migration at the Southern Border, abortion and federal spending were among the most talked-about issues, with each candidate accusing President Joe Biden of weak leadership that has led to higher crime and a worse economy than his predecessor and 2024 GOP candidate, Donald Trump.
Along with Conrad, the others who participated in the debate were real estate agent Stephanie Phillips, former Nevada Secretary of State nominee and vocal election denier Jim Marchant, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Tony Grady, attorney Ronda Kennedy, ex-gubernatorial candidate Barry Lindemann and Fred Simon, a retired surgeon.
Lindemann suggested closing the Southern Border to put economic pressure on lawmakers to find a consensus amid record surges of immigration, and Phillips called the influx of migrants an “invasion.” Others suggested changing asylum laws or taking aid from countries whose citizens flee for the U.S.
“We need to stop giving people who have entered the country illegally free stuff,” Grady said to applause. “This human trafficking — it’s modern-day slavery. We need to stop that. Fentanyl is the largest killer for people ages 18-45, we have to stop that.”
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. And while they conceded abortion access was not affected by the overturning of Roe, no candidate stated whether they would support a national abortion ban.
The candidates also took aim at what they considered was a bloated federal budget and agreed more needed to be done to cut the federal deficit. They all supported dismantling the Federal Reserve, and Marchant suggested returning the U.S. to the gold standard.
Others supported severing aid to Ukraine for its war against Russia, as well as gutting federal agencies like the IRS and the Department of Justice and eliminating the Department of Education.
“We need to cut back the government,” said Kennedy. “We have thousands upon thousands of government employees who really don’t have a place or a purpose in our government.”
Polling this cycle’s GOP primary has been scant. But a November poll by the Tarrance Group and commissioned by the NRSC found Brown getting 24% support in a Senate GOP primary, compared to 9% from former Assemblyman Jim Marchant, 5% for retired Air Force Lt. Col. Tony Grady, and 1% for former U.S. Ambassador to Iceland Jeff Gunter, who also skipped the debate due to a scheduling conflict, according to a campaign spokeswoman. Forty percent were undecided.
Analysts largely agree that Rosen is among the most vulnerable Democrats seeking reelection. Democrats currently hold a one-seat Senate majority, while Republicans hold a seven-seat advantage in the House.
That same poll found Rosen leads Brown by five percentage points in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup. And that might present a chance for another candidate to make inroads ahead of the June 11 primary.
“When we look at trying to unseat an incumbent, we need to have a compelling reason,” Grady said in his closing pitch. “And it’s important that we beat Jacky Rosen.
