RENO, Nev. (AP) – The bitter primary that saw nearly a dozen Republican Senate candidates go after the retired Army captain. Sam Brown is disappearing from sight of some, who say their quest to unseat Democratic incumbent Sen. Jackie Rosen trumps all intra-party grievances of the past 11 months.
Not finalist Jeff Gunter.
“The America First faithful had no interest in campaigning with him throughout the primary season, where he relied on his influence and money to slide into a nomination,” Gunter said Wednesday after his distant second place.
The dermatologist and former Trump-appointed Icelandic ambassador continued to attack Brown as an establishment candidate in a lengthy statement in which he bluntly predicted that Rosen earn. another term in November.
Gunter’s criticism could complicate early GOP efforts to coalesce around Brown. And it comes as the state Republican Party seeks to overcome divisions within the party in the primary to embark on what is expected to be one of the most closely watched Senate races of the year.
Gunter said former President Donald Trump’s late endorsement of Brown, which appeared in a social media post hours after his appearance in Nevada ahead of the primary, would not be enough to convince loyal Republicans to support the candidate , who avoided debates and did not engage with the 11 other candidates in the running.
“The base is smart and they don’t forget and I think he has a lot to prove before he earns their support,” Gunter said.
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One of Gunter’s most prominent supporters, Nevada GOP national committee member Sigal Chattah, struck a different tone. She said Wednesday it was a historic precedent where Nevada Republicans decrease Since Republican candidates They don’t like “died last night.”
“Any attempt to marginalize the elected candidate will be met with strong dissent from the party,” Chattah said.
For months, Brown faced criticism from within his own party, which chastised him for skipping debates and reversing his stance on the status of shelved candidates. Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, and called him an establishment candidate hand-picked by national Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Brown’s absence became More a theme than a single policy during the primary debates, with candidates explicitly urging voters not to vote for Brown.
Some of the criticism echoed Brown’s own message from two years ago, when he ran in the Republican primary against Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, which garnered dozens of high-profile endorsements . Laxalt defeated Brown in the primary, but then lost to the Democratic U.S. senator. Catherine Cortez Masto by 8,000 votes, winning the Democratic majority in the Senate.
Chattah previously criticized Brown for his “lack of integrity” and highlighted a CNN report that Brown had created a political action committee to help other Republicans and then funneled the money to reimburse her unsuccessful 2022 campaign. She said in an interview that her mission was now to defeat Rosen and discourage others Republicans from attacking Brown in the future.
“I don’t do covers. So that was my feeling,” she said when asked about the report. “Regardless of my feelings, I am the RNC committeewoman and I am a Republican. And I will support the Republican candidate unevenly.”
Brown did not recognize his opponents in his victory speech Tuesday and instead focused his attention on Rosen and President Joe Biden.
Brown’s campaign did so again in a statement Wednesday when asked about Gunter’s comments.
“Nevada voters are clearly united behind our grassroots campaign to end the Biden-Rosen American nightmare. And that’s what we’re 100% focused on,” said communications director Kristy Wilkinson.
Trump’s support for Brown two days before the primaries was a blow to many opponents who sought to align themselves with the former president, but none more so than Gunter, who had billed himself as “110% pro-Trump “.
In a Monday article on
Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita directly addressed Gunter in his response, saying, “You have a habit of making up shit. President Trump makes his own decisions and this is another example of him choosing wisely.
Among Brown’s opponents and detractors was former lieutenant governor candidate and Air Force veteran Tony Grady, who campaigned for Brown during his 2022 insurgent campaign. before racing against him this cycle. More recently, Grady called Brown a “fake politician.”
Grady said he saw Brown “among the people” more in 2022 than in his 2024 campaign, and that skipping debates didn’t mean “necessarily doing his best.”
“But the reality is he had a plan to run his campaign and he succeeded,” said Grady, who supported Brown immediately after his defeat and said Brown should have the votes of his supporters to go from there. Before. “At this point, it doesn’t matter what I think about him skipping the debates. He managed to win the primary.