Multiple Records Set in Nevada’s US Senate Primary
Jacky Rosen gathers unprecedented support and Sam Brown wins against a record-tying field
There was little suspense in Nevada last Tuesday as nominees were crowned in one of the key battleground states for control of the U.S. Senate next January.
On the Democratic side, Senator Jacky Rosen won with 91.5 percent of the vote – setting a state record for the largest support in a contested Nevada U.S. Senate primary.
Rosen eclipsed the 90.9 percent captured by fellow delegation member Catherine Cortez Masto in 2022 when she was renominated en route to a second term.
Nevadans have eclipsed the 90 percent mark four other times in contested U.S. Senate primaries:
- 1964: Republican Lieutenant Governor Paul Laxalt (90.3 percent)
- 1970: Republican Washoe County District Attorney Bill Raggio (90.5 percent)
- 1980: Republican U.S. Senator Paul Laxalt (90.3 percent)
- 2006: Republican U.S. Senator John Ensign (90.5 percent)
Republicans have won nomination to the office without opposition 10 times since the first primary in 1910 while Democrats have run unopposed 14 times.
In the GOP primary on Tuesday, retired U.S. Army captain and emergency pharmaceutical support small business owner Sam Brown won 60.1 percent of the vote in a party and state record-tying field of 12 candidates.
Brown, who placed second to Adam Laxalt in the 2022 Republican U.S. Senate primary, won by 45.4 points over ex-U.S. Ambassador to Iceland Jeff Gunter.
The 12 candidates in the Republican primary ties a state record set in 2010 when former State Assemblywoman Sharron Angle defeated former State Senator Sue Lowden and 10 other candidates for the GOP nomination.
No other U.S. Senate primary in the state has had more than nine candidates on the ballot.
Republicans have averaged 3.5 candidates across the 42 primaries held since 1910 while Democrats have averaged 2.5.
The independent filing deadline for the November general election is June 21st. Libertarian Christopher Cunningham, Independent American Party nominee Janine Hansen, and independents Joseph Destin, Chris Mazio, Allen Rheinhart, and Edmund Uehling have already filed paperwork with the Secretary of State’s office to join Rosen and Brown on the ballot.
The projected eight-candidate field would also tie the 2010 cycle for the largest number of candidates in a Nevada U.S. Senate general or special election.
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– If ’46’ carries the state in presidential balloting (NV has almost always voted R/D whenever it split its federal balloting) Senator Rosen seems certain to win a second six-year term, a feat every single first-term D senator since Key Pittman has succeed in, most recently her in-state colleague CCM.
– On the other hand, the Silver State is nearly as inexpensive as MT to campaign in, certainly cheaper than OH, MI, or for that matter MD – thus making it an extremely inviting target for relatively cash-strapped national MAGA partisans; key battleground indeed!