National Republicans are making a late investment in the Nevada Senate race as polls show an improving environment for their nominee, Sam Brown.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC linked to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), will spend $6.2 million to advertise on TV, radio, and digital in the campaign’s final two weeks.
Until this point, the group had largely spent in more competitive states, like Ohio and Montana, but the funds signal newfound hope that Brown can pull off an upset with former President Donald Trump at the top of the ticket.
“Jacky Rosen has been a reliable vote for the Democrats’ extreme agenda and is a lackluster candidate,” Steven Law, the president and CEO of the Senate Leadership Fund, said in a statement. “President Trump is doing very well in Nevada and we think Sam Brown can too.”
Trump is virtually tied with Vice President Kamala Harris in Nevada, trading the lead with her in the most recent polling. But the race has trended 2 points in his favor since the start of the month, according to a RealClearPolitics average.
Brown, a combat veteran challenging first-term Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), still has ground to make up. He is 7 points behind in Senate Leadership Fund polling leaked earlier this month.
But Republicans have been encouraged by their ballot advantage in the first days of early voting in Nevada, a practice typically dominated by the Democrats.
The Rosen campaign predicted that Brown would struggle “no matter how much Mitch McConnell’s Super PAC decides to spend here.”
“The fact is that Sam Brown is a failed politician whose struggling campaign has been losing support from all sides thanks to his tenuous ties to Nevada, his extreme MAGA positions, and his disqualifying anti-abortion record,” Rosen spokeswoman Johanna Warshaw said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Democrats have committed $80 million to advertising in the Senate race, two-thirds more than their Republican counterparts.
The infusion of cash comes as Republicans, who are favored to retake the Senate majority without Nevada, direct their funds across the map.
American Crossroads, another McConnell-linked PAC, slashed $2.8 million in planned spending for Montana on Thursday as Republican Tim Sheehy takes a comfortable lead in his Senate race.
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Meanwhile, SLF and American Crossroads have made repeated investments in Pennsylvania, one of four “toss-up” states, including $1 million from each organization on Thursday.
As of now, the Cook Political Report rates the Nevada Senate race as “lean Democrat.”