Nevada Senate Candidate Running Against Trump-Backed Pick Says He’s Not Career Politician Yet Sought Office Several Times in 2 States

Sam Brown, candidate for U.S. Senate in Nevada, claims he does not “want to be a career politician,” despite seeking at least two — and possibly three — different offices in two states over the past seven years.

When asked about why he chose to run for U.S. Senate, Brown describes his sense of “duty” and a real “need” for him at the position.

Brown graduated from West Point U.S. Military Academy in 2006 and two years later went on his first deployment to Afghanistan. However, while on deployment in the Middle East, Brown suffered third-degree burns on close to one-third of his body.

“The reason I chose to run for the U.S. Senate is because we have a real need there,” he said during a November appearance on Nevada Newsmakers.

“Unfortunately, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is much more in alignment with Chuck Schumer – and the Democrat Party is moving further and further left each cycle. I don’t believe that represents Nevadans very well.”

If Brown defeats former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt in the Republican primary, he will face Democrat Senator Catherine Cortez Masto in the 2022 midterm elections. Laxalt was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, and most Republicans are backing the former Attorney General in the primary, in which he will face Brown. Laxalt is leading Cortez Masto in general election polling, and leading in the primary. 

However, with the support of Republican donor Don Ahern, Brown feels he is the candidate most aligned with former president Trump. “Trump’s biggest supporters in Nevada are backing Captain Sam Brown, not career politician Adam Laxalt,” Brown’s campaign told Breitbart News. “Adam Laxalt sold out President Trump and his supporters when he hired Mitch McConnell’s Washington operatives to run his campaign.”

Brown has repeatedly claimed on the campaign trail not to be a career politician.

This a purple state, very evenly divided between Republicans, Democrats and independents. And so, if you look at other races, Mark Amodei is our congressman and Heidi Gansert is our state senator. For me to be running for those offices would be part of a process of me being involved in politics for the sake of politics, as opposed to me trying to make a difference. The U.S. Senate is a place where I think there is a need for a change, on behalf of this state and behalf of the country. I don’t desire to be a career politician. I don’t want to climb the ladder to get somewhere else. [emphasis added]

Brown also said similar things in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“At the end of the day, I’m not doing this because I want to be a career politician. I’m doing this out of a sense of duty,” he said.

However, despite these claims from Brown, his record tells a different story.

Before Brown moved to Nevada in 2018, he lived in Texas for six years. While in Texas, he ran for Texas state representative during the 2014 midterm cycle.

Brown used a lot of the same rhetoric he is using now in Nevada when he was on the Texas campaign trail. In Texas, Brown berated “professional politicians,” distinguishing himself from those who are “looking for a lily pad to take a step to the next office.”

Brown told Glenn Beck in a 2014 interview in Texas:

You should vote for me because I have a vested interest in this community. You know there’s other politicians who are literally just professional politicians. That are looking for the next thing. I’m not looking for a lily pad to take a step to the next office. I love my community. I love this state. I’ve got kids that are going to be going to schools here.

Brown also said it would “literally take an act of God” to get him to leave the Lone Star state.

“I want Texas to continue to be the greatest place in this country, and like you, I’m not from here, but you will never get me out of here. It will literally take an act of God to get me out of Texas,” he said.

However, Brown ultimately left Texas to move to Nevada where he is now again running for office.

Brown’s campaign website describes his move from Texas to Nevada as a natural decision “to connect with people with shared values and interests.” 

In regards to his move, Brown’s campaign told Breitbart News, “the act of God was Sam Brown surviving his battlefield burns to start a family and experience the birth of his children. Sam Brown earned his MBA from SMU and accepted a job with Amazon in Reno.”

Brown often tells Nevadans that Reno is where he and his wife chose to “plant roots” for their family. However, Brown told Texans the same thing when he was running for Texas legislature. 

“My home is still Reno, it’ll be Reno. This is where, you know, when my wife and I had a chance to move and plant roots for a family, we chose Nevada. We chose Reno because this is where we want to be,” Brown recently told radio host Kevin Wall. 

Brown said eight years ago while running for office in Texas:

We said we want to stay in Texas. Texas has been good to us. Texas is really God’s country and let’s plant our roots in Dallas and really invest in the community there. I’ve got a vested interest in this community and I’m not going anywhere. I haven’t moved into this district. I’m not planning on moving out of the district. I’m here.

Brown’s Senate candidacy is not even the first office he considered seeking in Nevada. Once in the state, Brown initially approached people about running for Nevada State Assembly in the 2020 election, according to two Nevada sources familiar with the situation. He does not appear have actually launched that campaign, but did, according to these sources, investigate possibly running for it.

Disclosure: Breitbart News is represented by Cooper & Kirk, PLLC. Adam Laxalt is a partner at Cooper & Kirk. He is not actively engaged or working on any matters for Breitbart News.