As Sam Brown lay in the Afghan desert, engulfed in flames and soaked in diesel, he realized he was dying.
It was September 2008, and Mr. Brown, then a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, had led his platoon to help fellow soldiers who had been ambushed by the Taliban. Then his Humvee hit a roadside bomb. An explosion of fire and concussive noise changed Mr. Brown’s life forever.
“I remember lying face down in the dirt of the Kandahar Desert, trying to shovel dirt over myself to smother the flames but to no avail, and thinking to myself: How long will it take before I “What happens if I die?” Mr. Brown recalled in an interview with The New York Times. “And then literally make the decision to give up the will to live.”
But he survived. A fellow soldier, also injured in the explosion, rescued Mr. Brown and his platoon administered first aid until he could be evacuated to a hospital. In a burn unit in Texas, he underwent more than 30 surgeries over the course of his three-year recovery, leaving him with permanent scars.
Now Mr. Brown, 40, who retired as a captain for health reasons, is the leading Republican looking to challenge Senator Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, in what is expected to be one of the most competitive Senate races this cycle, with the potential to decide control of the Chamber. At campaign stops, Mr. Brown doesn’t dwell on his dramatic story, but instead focuses on inflation, which has been keenly felt by many Nevadans and is on the verge. But his experience is central to his appeals to his supporters as he works to raise the money needed to mount a statewide campaign against a well-financed incumbent.
His emails often contain lines like “God is real. I almost met him” and “They blew up my body, but they will never destroy my spirit.” He compared headlines about President Biden’s “fiery” demeanor to his own burn scars. “You want to see something fiery, friend? I’m literally on fire,” read one email, which included a photo of his scarred face. “I will stand in the fire. I will endure the flames.”
And Mr. Brown was inspired to run for office, he said, because he wanted to help people suffering in their lowest moments, just as a fellow soldier had saved him in Afghanistan.
“I see a lot of hopelessness in our country right now,” he said, “and I go into this Senate race with the perspective that I was the recipient and blessing of someone who came to my rescue when I needed it.” it the most.”
Mr. Brown, who failed in the 2022 Nevada Republican primary for Senate and has never held elected office, could face a formidable opponent in Ms. Rosen. Her campaign aims to highlight her bipartisan credentials while arguing that Mr. Brown’s relatively short time in the state — he moved from Dallas to Reno in 2018 — and the various startup, nonprofit and consulting jobs he has held over the past 12 years, Since he left the military, don’t think he’s the best person to help the people of Nevada.
Democrats are particularly keen to highlight Mr. Brown’s past opposition to abortion and his recent attempts to soften his stance. (A measure to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution is expected to be voted on in November, and Democrats nationally have been excited about the political importance of the issue in recent elections.)
Still, Mr. Brown may be avoiding some of the pitfalls of other recent nominees who were seen as too extreme for Nevada’s general electorate by avoiding a painful primary, said Amy Tarkanian, the former chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party.
With a large financial and polling lead – polls show him polling by double digits in the June 11 primary – Mr. Brown skipped a debate with his rivals. Although he attended some community events, he was not ubiquitous on the campaign trail. In February, he admitted to guests at a Nevada Republican Club luncheon in Las Vegas that he had held relatively few campaign events in the state as he traveled across the country to raise money. (His campaign, which raised $2.4 million last quarter, is aiming to raise a total of $20 million.)
What Mr. Brown has done is appeal to independents who could influence the general election, not just conservative voters, including by changing his rhetoric on abortion. He has also avoided tying himself too closely to former President Donald J. Trump, although he has been more vocal in his praise for Mr. Trump in recent months.
“I think it’s refreshing when you have a Republican who’s willing to step in and say, ‘No, this is what I believe.’ “I will not give in to the noise of the far right,” Ms. Tarkanian said.
His main rivals — and Ms. Rosen’s campaign — were less impressed. Mr. Brown waited until January to endorse Mr. Trump, a delay that did not go unnoticed by the right.
“He barely says President Trump’s name,” said Jeff Gunter, one of the main candidates and Trump’s ambassador to Iceland. “That’s part of the fraud — giving voters the impression that he’s somehow supporting the president, but he really, really isn’t.”
Mr. Brown has recently been more vocal about his support for Mr. Trump and his own conservative supporters, appearing on television networks such as OAN and Newsmax and on the podcast of Wayne Allyn Root, a right-wing conspiracy theorist. “President Trump’s policies have clearly, in my opinion, put Americans in a much better position than they are today,” Brown said. At a campaign rally in Reno on Saturday, he told reporters he was “extremely conservative.”
Mr. Trump has not endorsed the race, but he has shared several images on his social media page Truth Social that appear to show his enthusiasm for Mr. Brown. “Democrats are terrified of a joint Trump-Brown ticket in Nevada!” one post read. (Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, has endorsed Mr. Brown.)
On the issue of abortion, Democrats say no amount of moderate language can convince voters that his views have truly changed.
“Sam Brown’s record shows that he is pushing an extreme MAGA agenda that would hurt hardworking Nevadans,” said Johanna Warshaw, a spokeswoman for Ms. Rosen’s campaign.
During his run for the Texas Legislature in 2014, while living in Dallas, Mr. Brown supported a 20-week abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest, and in the past he has declined to say whether he would support a statewide ban would the procedure. After his first Senate run, he briefly served as chairman of the Nevada chapter of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a conservative Christian group that vocally opposes abortion.
More recently he has tried to clarify his position. In an interview with NBC News in February, his wife, Amy Brown, recounted her own difficult and emotional decision to have an abortion when she was 24 and had an unplanned pregnancy. In that interview, Mr. Brown said he would not support a statewide ban, agreed with Nevada’s current law allowing abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, and supported exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
In an interview with The Times, he reiterated that position while also saying that he believes abortion should be left to the states – a stance that Mr. Trump has also taken.
“I can’t do anything to change Nevada’s laws, and I’m not trying to change Nevada’s laws,” Mr. Brown said, adding: “I would not support a federal abortion ban.”
Some Republicans suggested that Mr. Brown still needs to make sure voters know his position on this and other issues — not just his life story.
“As people meet him or listen to him at meetings, they realize there must be more than just the military story,” Ms. Tarkanian said. “And he’s been in Nevada long enough now to run in a second election, whereas Jacky Rosen has been in Nevada, I think, for over 40 years.”
Mr Brown’s campaign argued that he had outlined his stance on a wide range of issues – including topics as esoteric as cryptocurrency – and that he had extensive experience beyond his military background, citing his degree in business administration and his time running a pharmacy benefit manager, a company that helped veterans get their medications.
The campaign hopes to turn the race into a referendum on Ms. Rosen, arguing that she has done little to help Nevadans struggling with high gas prices and housing costs.
Still, his success may ultimately depend on whether his personal story resonates with voters. Mr. Brown “has the ability to convey a message that every voter will know on Election Day,” said Jeremy Hughes, a Republican political strategist in Nevada. “Whether voters’ unique understanding of the sacrifice of Sam Brown’s military service is enough to win him the race will be the open question.”
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2024-04-29 03:17:10
www.nytimes.com
