Trump ally Jim Marchant announces bid for Nevada Senate seat

By David Wright, CNN

Nevada Republican Jim Marchant announced a campaign for US Senate on Tuesday, entering a critical race in the battle for control of the upper chamber in 2024.

Marchant is a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump and promoted his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. He is also coming off two consecutive losing campaigns in Nevada: mounting an unsuccessful US House bid in 2020 and an unsuccessful secretary of state bid in 2022.

“(T)he Battle Born state demands an America First agenda in Washington, DC,” Marchant wrote in a tweet promoting his campaign launch.

Marchant is seeking to challenge Democratic incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen, who is running for a second term. Rosen unseated GOP incumbent Sen. Dean Heller in the 2018 campaign, winning by 5 points in a favorable year for Democrats.

Rosen reacted to Marchant’s announcement in a statement, saying, “Nevadans deserve a Senator who will fight for them, not a MAGA election denier who opposes abortion rights even in cases of rape and incest.”

Marchant, who briefly served in the Nevada Assembly, is the first prominent Republican to enter the race to challenge Rosen. Another potential candidate is Sam Brown, an Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient who lost in the state’s 2022 GOP Senate primary.

Nevada is expected to once again be among the most competitive Senate races in 2024, after the 2022 battle between Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican Adam Laxalt was one of the last races to be called. Cortez Masto ended up winning by fewer than 10,000 votes out of about 1 million votes cast.

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