LAS VEGAS \u2014 GOP candidate Sam Brown spent Thursday\u2019s Nevada Senate debate taking shots at Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen as he still faces a polling deficit with Election Day creeping nearer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On three separate occasions, Brown called Rosen an \u201celitist\u201d and an \u201cinsider\u201d as he tried to cast himself as the outside force taking the people\u2019s voice to Washington, D.C. In contrast, Rosen spent the evening focusing largely on her track record and roots in Nevada, hoping to stay above the fray and ride her polling lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brown was so eager to attack Rosen that he even used a question about potential alien life to get in a jab in a theme that persisted throughout the debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tension blew over early in the debate when the two candidates tackled the issue of housing, with rising prices making homeownership less attainable for Nevadans. Rosen proposed holding corporate investors accountable for buying up real estate and pricing people out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re in a housing shortage and these corporate investors come and buy up all the homes and they jack up the prices to unreasonable rates, that\u2019s hurting your community,\u201d said Rosen, touting her proposed legislation called The Home Act<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re going to fine them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown said: \u201cIt\u2019s interesting that Senator Rosen would mention a desire to want to fine greedy corporations. What if we fine greedy politicians who make things more unaffordable for us?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another focus of the debate was immigration, as candidates were asked about former President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation policy proposal<\/a>, border security and immigration reform. Almost 29% of Nevada\u2019s population is Hispanic or Latino, according to 2020 census data<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMass deportations, who would get caught in that?\u201d Rosen asked. \u201cHow many innocent people would get rounded up?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have to be thoughtful about what we do, not use it as a political football,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown replied, \u201cThis is again what you would expect out of an elitist from D.C. whose own neighborhood has more security than our border, with gate and security guards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur border deserves that, too. Our communities deserve that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And when moderators asked Rosen and Brown whether Congress should conduct an independent investigation into UFOs, Rosen answered the question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI do think it\u2019s important that we do our independent investigation in the Senate,\u201d said Rosen, who represents the state home to Area 51.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown said: \u201cI\u2019m just as curious as anyone. I\u2019d love to know what\u2019s going on.\u201d The he pivoted hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut when you\u2019re talking about secrets, here\u2019s the sort of secrets I think Nevadans deserve to know about, and that is why Sen. Rosen has violated the STOCK Act multiple times,\u201d Brown charged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While Rosen spent the evening touting her bona fides as a senator and reminding the audience she has been a Nevadan all of her life, she did take a swipe at Brown when the issue of reproductive rights came up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Abortion is already legal until the 24th week of pregnancy in Nevada. Fearing that such rights could be undone in the future, reproductive rights advocates gathered enough signatures this summer<\/a> to put a measure on the ballot to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. That has made reproductive rights a cornerstone of the Nevada political landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked for his position, Brown said, \u201cI come at this as someone who is informed by my wife\u2019s experience.\u201d His wife, Amy Brown, shared her abortion story with NBC News<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI also stand by Nevada\u2019s law that allows for abortion up to 24 weeks,\u201d he said. \u201cNevadans made our law clear 34 years ago. I stand by that law, and I would not vote for a national abortion ban.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Rosen brought up Brown\u2019s past positions on abortion. Brown, who ran for the Texas Legislature in 2014 but lost, supported a 20-week abortion ban when he was a candidate in that race. \u201cHe has a decadelong record of saying that he\u2019s against any exceptions on abortion,\u201d Rosen said of Brown\u2019s changing stance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t believe that he would support a nationwide abortion ban, then I\u2019ve got some oceanfront property to sell you on the Las Vegas Strip,\u201d she quipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n