Veteran Sam Brown wins 10-Republican race to take on first-time incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev) in pivotal contest for control of Congress’s upper chamber.
Days after clinching an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, U.S. Army Afghanistan War veteran Sam Brown has won Nevada’s June 11 Republican U.S. Senate primary and will meet incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) in November’s general election.
“Thank you, Nevada!” Mr. Brown said on X moments after he was declared the winner. “Next stop: November 5th.”
In a race called by the Associated Press at 11:12 p.m. Eastern with 58 percent of results from precincts statewide counted, Mr. Brown collected 56.8, or 55,816 votes, to defeat Dr. Jeffrey Ross Gunter, 16.5 percent, or 16,230 votes; former Nevada state lawmaker Jim Marchant 6.8 percent, or 6,699 votes; U.S. Air Force veteran Tony Grady 5.4 percent, or 5,330 votes, and six other Republican hopefuls in the crowded party preliminary.
Former President Trump endorsed Mr. Brown on June 9, hours after he left Nevada following a campaign rally in Las Vegas.
“Sam Brown is a fearless American patriot, a Purple Heart recipient, who has proven he has the ‘pure grit’ and courage to take on our enemies, foreign and domestic,” the former president wrote June 9 on Truth Social.
Mr. Brown earned rave reviews from Nevada Republicans—and many Democrats, especially veterans—when he ran as a no-name candidate in the state’s 2022 GOP U.S. Senate primary against the heavily favored Adam Laxalt, a former state Attorney General with a polished resume and a well-known family name.
His grassroots ‘Duty First’ campaign traveled the dusty backwaters of the state, Mr. Brown—or, as he became widely known, Capt. Sam Brown—gained traction, drew donors, and earned the Nevada Republican Party Committee’s endorsement.
Despite being dramatically outspent, he garnered nearly 34 percent of the primary vote, ultimately falling by more than 20 percentage points to Mr. Laxalt, who would go on to narrowly lose the general election to incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.).
By John Haughey and Nathan Worcester
