Nevada’s Senate Rivals Spar in a Debate Heavy on Policy and Light on Fireworks

Nevada’s Senate Rivals Spar in a Debate Heavy on Policy and Light on Fireworks

Senator Jacky Rosen and her Republican challenger, Sam Brown, met for their only debate, focusing on the cost of living, abortion and other issues.

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By Kellen Browning and Benjamin Oreskes

Reporting from Las Vegas

Sam Brown, the Republican vying for Nevada’s competitive Senate seat, entered the debate on Thursday night with a sizable deficit in surveys and a clear mission: rattle his Democratic opponent, Senator Jacky Rosen, and forcefully make the case that he was the candidate who would fight for working people.

In a policy-heavy hour, Mr. Brown repeatedly sought to harness the persistent economic malaise in Nevada to his benefit, arguing that he understood blue-collar voters’ woes over the price of gasoline and groceries, and that Ms. Rosen was out of touch.

“Most of us can’t afford basic life at this point, and it’s easy for Senator Rosen, as an elitist who lives in a gated community” to support green energy sources, he said at one point.

Ms. Rosen, a first-term senator, often hit back, and she was prepared with a litany of accomplishments and bills she had supported, saying she had championed more affordable housing and would attack the corporate interests that she blamed for high prices. She suggested Mr. Brown “wants to inflict pain” on Nevadans by raising interest rates, and hammered him on his past opposition to abortion.

Both candidates came across as relatively mild-mannered — despite moments of contention and interruptions — and it was not clear that any of the attacks would leave a lasting mark, which could spell trouble for Mr. Brown, who is trailing in polls. Republicans have been privately griping about his campaign’s chances, and were watching for him to make a forceful case against Ms. Rosen onstage, though the moderators at KLAS, a local television station, quickly cut off any extended exchanges or arguments.

Mr. Brown landed several punches, turning questions about housing policy, renewable energy and even U.F.O.s into jabs about his opponent’s wealth; Ms. Rosen is a multimillionaire with a wide portfolio of stocks and index funds, though her campaign said she had not traded individual stocks in the last five years.

“It’s interesting that Senator Rosen would mention a desire to want to fine greedy corporations,” he said. “What if we fine greedy politicians who make things more unaffordable for us?”

He did not offer a particularly in-depth vision of what he would do differently from Ms. Rosen, and she mostly seemed content to promote her accomplishments without rebutting his claims.

Eventually, she pushed back, complaining after he repurposed a question about aliens into an attack that his answer “had nothing to do with U.F.O.s.” She then played up her working-class roots.

“I put myself through college as a waitress, I always worked hard; this has been debunked,” Ms. Rosen said. “All of this has been debunked.”

Ms. Rosen was at her most aggressive on the topic of abortion, a vulnerability for Mr. Brown. He mentioned that his wife had gotten an abortion earlier in her life, after an unplanned pregnancy, and said he would not vote for a federal ban on the procedure.

But Ms. Rosen pounced, noting that Mr. Brown had indicated he was “not for changing our existing law,” referring to a ballot measure that would enshrine access to abortion in the state’s constitution, and that he had in the past expressed a vocal opposition to the procedure.

“If you don’t believe that he would support a nationwide abortion ban, I’ve got some oceanfront property to sell you on the Las Vegas Strip,” she said.

Mr. Brown, a relative newcomer to Nevada who has struggled to raise his profile against a better-funded incumbent, seemed to miss several opportunities to introduce himself to voters in front of what was most likely the largest local audience of his campaign.

An Army veteran, Mr. Brown was nearly killed by an explosion in Afghanistan and was left permanently scarred after a three-year recovery that included more than 30 surgeries. He has woven his life story and near-death experience into his pitches on the campaign trail. But he did not do so on the debate stage, even during questions about veterans’ health care and overseas conflicts, especially in Israel and Gaza.

“As someone who has seen the horrors of war, I can tell you that no one should have to go through that,” Mr. Brown said, the closest he got to bringing it up.

And he waited until about 20 minutes into the debate to bring up former President Donald J. Trump, who is polling well ahead of Mr. Brown in Nevada.

If Mr. Trump is returned to the White House, Mr. Brown eventually said, “I can be an ally of his in the Senate.”