Nevada senator makes re-election bid official at union hall

Nevada U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen announced Monday at a union hall in Las Vegas that she has officially filed for re-election in a presidential battleground state that is a top GOP target in a challenging 2024 Senate map.

The first-term Democrat launched her campaign for a second term last year, and 10 Republican challengers have crowded the field to oppose her. Rosen has not drawn a top-name Democratic opponent.

Rosen was introduced by leaders of plumbers and pipefitters, firefighters, electrical workers and the powerful local hotel worker unions and told members their backing is going to be key to keeping Democratic control of the Senate “and stopping those MAGA Republicans from arguing every single bill.”

She also put the abortion debate at the center of her remarks. Democrats nationally have tried to focus voters on the Supreme Court decision in June 2022 to overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized the right to end a pregnancy.

“I am never going to back down when it comes to our reproductive rights, which are at risk,” Rosen said.

GOP hopefuls in the Senate race include Sam Brown, a retired Army captain who ran for Senate in 2022 and has backing from party leaders in Washington, D.C.

His campaign manager, Faith Jones, tied Rosen to Biden in a statement critical of unemployment, housing, and food and grocery costs.

Other GOP challengers include Jim Marchant, who lost a run for Nevada secretary of state in 2022 after emerging as an outspoken denier of Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election win over former President Donald Trump.

A Marchant campaign aide did not respond to messages about Rosen’s announcement.

Trump lost Nevada in 2020 by more than 30,000 votes to Biden, despite legal challenges from Republicans and campaign aides who claimed but did not provide evidence of election irregularities.

Nevada’s other U.S. senator, Catherine Cortez Masto, is a Democrat who was re-elected in November 2022.