Republicans blitz Nevada Senate race with 11th-hour spending
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The Senate Leadership Fund is making a late $6.2 million play in the Nevada Senate race, betting that former President Trump can carry Sam Brown across the finish line.
Why it matters: Brown is still (significantly) down against Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) in all the public polls.
- But Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his super PAC are getting more and more confident Trump is going to defeat Vice President Harris in Nevada. They want to ride his potential coattails.
- That makes SLF's Nevada bet more of a parlay. It will only pay out if Trump also wins.
- "Trump is doing very well in Nevada and we think Sam Brown can too," said SLF President and CEO Steven Law.
Driving the news: The Nevada buy, first reported by NBC News, will add to the $42 million SLF is hurling at Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's blue wall of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the campaign's closing weeks, as Axios reported on Wednesday.
Zoom out: The presidential race in Nevada is deadlocked, with both candidates polling at an average of 47.2%, according to 538.
- But Republicans insist the presidential race is moving in their direction.
- SLF's own polling showed Brown down by seven percentage points earlier in October.
- With its transient population and changing demographics, Nevada is one of the most difficult states in the country to poll.
Zoom in: Democrats have long prioritized protecting Rosen, with the Senate Majority PAC, closely affiliated with Schumer, having spent or reserved $37.8 million there this cycle, according to AdImpact.
- "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," said Johanna Warshaw, a Rosen spokesperson.
- Republicans captured the governor's mansion in 2022, but the incumbent Democrat, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), won a narrow victory.
