GOP Senate nominee tries to walk back lifetime of anti-abortion extremism

Sam Brown, the Republican nominee for Senate in Nevada, has been backpedaling as fast as he can from his political history as an anti-abortion activist, trying to convince the pro-abortion-rights state that it’s Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen who’s the extremist.

His latest effort is an op-ed in the Las Vegas Sun, published this past Sunday, in which he pledges to oppose a national abortion ban if it comes before Congress. However, he goes on to say that the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade was good for Nevada—where abortion is legal until the 24th week of pregnancy—because the ruling “strengthened Nevada’s protections for abortion by confirming this choice is decided by states.”

The people of Nevada aren’t convinced their abortion rights are safe, though. Last Friday, state officials declared that a measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution will appear on the ballot in November, after a successful push by abortion-rights organizers. Their petition drive collected more than 200,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot, easily surpassing the 103,000-signature threshold for qualifying. And if that weren’t clear enough, recent polling shows that 76% of Nevadans support the right to abortion in most or all cases—among the highest support in any state.