The Nevada Senate race in November could decide control of the chamber, so it's no surprise that a conservative candidate is trying to triangulate on abortion despite their past public statements opposing bodily autonomy. Sam Brown, who won the Republican primary last week, says he is pro-life but also claims that, if elected, he would not vote for a national abortion ban. This is a pivot from his position before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade—when he said he would always protect life—and before he tried and failed to win the GOP nomination in 2022. Upon losing that race, he became president and chairman of Nevada Faith and Freedom Coalition, an anti-abortion group. After announcing his second Senate run, Brown left the organization off his disclosure forms. The Trump-endorsed Brown will face off against Sen. Jacky Rosen (D) in what's expected to be one of the most competitive Senate races this year, and where a constitutional amendment to protect abortion is likely to be on the ballot. (Abortion is currently legal in Nevada up to the 24th week). The strong possibility of an abortion ballot measure means Nevada could be a prime opportunity for a Republican candidate to try to convince people that they can vote for him and the abortion measure. After a decade of supporting abortion bans, Brown announced this change of heart during a February interview with NBC News. Brown and his wife Amy shared the story of her own abortion, which she got in Texas in 2008, months before they met. (They'd get married in 2009, after meeting while the former Army captain was recovering in a burn unit where she was working as a dietician.) Brown said his wife's abortion taught him that “we’ve got to lead with compassion." He added that he would vote against both a 15-week abortion ban and a total ban because doing so would override the will of people in Nevada, where abortion is legal through 24 weeks. “Nevadans also need to know, voters need to know here, that I’m not in a position to—nor do I want to—do anything that changes our existing law,” Brown told NBC. “I cannot change it. I will not change it. I respect the law that the voters put in place over 30 years ago that grants access for women up to 24 weeks.” “The [Nevada] law is stable and it’s not going anywhere,” he continued. “But I have seen and I expect that some people will try to use falsehoods and fear to make it an issue that probably in reality shouldn’t be used as a wedge issue.” This is misleading, and a reversal from the 2022 Senate campaign when he said "I'm pro life, and I always will stand on the side of protecting life." During that campaign, he also left the door open to voting for a federal ban, saying in a primary debate: "If there were any sort of legislation that would come forward, I’d want to see that specific language.” (Brown lost the GOP primary to former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who lost to the incumbent Democrat, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto by less than one point.) Five months before the NBC interview, in September 2023, Brown said he only supported abortion in the cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother. The Associated Press also reported in March that it wasn't the first time Brown "adjusted" his stance on abortion. In July 2021, Brown's campaign website said it is “in our American interest that we protect the lives of unborn babies just as we would protect the life of any other American.” But that statement…
