The sole debate between incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Republican Sam Brown in Las Vegas, Nevada was a steady affair that lacked the fireworks of other Senate matchups this season.
Brown, an army veteran, went on offense in their debate to try to shake up the race that had been in Rosen’s favor. Brown has trailed Rosen in polling of their Senate battle. A RealClearPolitics poll average shows Rosen with a more than five-point lead, 48.8% to 43.3%.
Brown continuously painted the incumbent senator as an out-of-touch elite who violated rules on stock trading. However, Rosen wasn’t rattled and tried to pivot the conversation back to policy.
The seat is a must-win for Democrats, who face an uphill climb to retain control of the Senate. But Republicans can still retake control of the upper chamber if Brown loses, given the other Senate races that feature more vulnerable Democrats.
Here are the top takeaways from Thursday’s matchup.
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1. Brown beats drum that Rosen is a ‘DC elitist’
Like other Republican candidates seeking to unseat Democratic incumbent senators, Brown sought to portray Rosen as a Washington D.C. “elitist” during the debate.
“Most of us can’t afford basic life at this point, and it’s easy for Sen. Rosen, as an elitist who lives in a gated community, who’s known to have violated the Stock Act multiple times, and has a $15 million trust to sit back and say, ‘oh let’s, let’s pursue these, these green energy policies’,” Brown said of the Democratic lawmaker.
He would use the phrase again mere moments later against Rosen while discussing other policies.
“We must extend the tax cuts that are set to expire that Senator Rosen won’t commit to extending at the end of 2025,” said Brown. “We’ve got to decrease regulations that add to the cost of our life. And these are issues that an elitist like Senator Rosen just doesn’t understand like the rest of us.”
Later on, Brown called her “an elitist from DC whose own neighborhood has more security than our border, with [a] gate and security guards.”
2. Rosen doesn’t support giving Israel an ultimatum
Unlike the most progressive and pro-Palestinian members of the Democratic Party, Rosen is not in favor of limiting American assistance to Israel as it fights against Hamas.
The Middle East battles have become a thorn for President Joe Biden and his party as Republicans remain united in assisting Israel.
Rosen also pushed back against the Biden administration giving an ultimatum to Israel to provide more humanitarian aid to help Palestinians in Gaza in the next 30 days or risk the suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel.
“I do not support the ultimatum. I believe that we need to support Israel in its fight against terror,” Rosen said. “But what I do support is our responsibility to help those civilians who are suffering in Gaza or to help limit civilian casualties. We can and we must do both fight terror and support innocent civilians.”
3. Brown raises logistics concerns about Trump’s mass deportation plan
Nevada is home to a sizable Latino population which could explain Brown’s moderation when discussing former President Donald Trump’s plans to enforce mass deportations to tamp down illegal border crossings.
“I’ll tell you what’s a good idea is securing the border on day one,” Brown said when asked about the issue. “When President Trump was in office, we saw record illegal crossings. We need that again.”
Brown then went on to attack Biden and Rosen for undoing Trump’s border policies and called for confronting drug cartels.
“This is a very serious issue that President Trump has a track record on,” he continued. “I will support making sure that criminals who are here illegally, like the 13,000 murderers that we just found, convicted murderers that we just found out were here, by the way, Sen. Rosen, why have you not told us about this? Congress has known they need to be deported immediately.”
Brown was asked again to respond to Trump’s mass deportation plans which he dodged.
“Look, I mean, that’s a very big logistical undertaking,” Brown said. “What I can tell you is, we start with securing the border and then we deport those criminals, like the 13,000 people who are convicted of homicide.”
“This is a huge undertaking, but it starts with securing that border,” he also said.
4. Rosen backs filibuster carveouts but not packing the Supreme Court
Breaking again with the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party, Rosen said she doesn’t want to increase the number of Supreme Court justices but she does support some exceptions to overturn the filibuster to pass federal abortion protections.
“We have supported carveouts for the filibuster to restore Roe v. Wade and restore voting rights, but I do support reforms that help make us less stuck in the Senate,” said Rosen. “There are ways that we can reform the filibuster that make it work for everyone, so that no one on an extreme side, on either side, can use it as a weapon, and we can continue to pass bills.”
On the Supreme Court Rosen, pushed for the justices to abide by an ethics code to avoid any outside political influence after Clarence Thomas came under scrutiny for his relationship with billionaire and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow.
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“I can tell you that our Supreme Court needs to be held to the same code of ethics that every other judge and elected official is held to in this country,” said Rosen. “I don’t agree with increasing the size of the Supreme Court.”
“Some people have talked about creating term limits for (the) Supreme Court so that there is a rotating group of Supreme Court justices,” Rosen further explained. “I do think we have to look at how the Supreme Court rules, and we absolutely 100% need to hold them accountable and transparent in their transactions for cases that become that come before the Supreme Court.”