RENO, Nev. — It’s no exaggeration to say the control of the U.S. Senate — and the White House — could be decided by “the biggest little city in the world.”
Centered in Truckee River Valley, the desert town of Reno, Nevada, also sits at the center of the national debate over inflation, immigration and federal abortion bans.
Few places have felt the impacts of the rising cost of living more. One out of five people in Nevada are immigrants. The state has a long tradition of choosing increased access to abortion.
And with Reno being the seat of the perennially purple Washoe County, which has often tipped the balance in this swing state, few places will have as much say as to what is done to address these issues at the federal level.
“To the rest of the country, this is where the White House will be won and the Senate will be taken back,” Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown told supporters on Tuesday. “We are the battleground of the nation.”
Come November, Reno residents will cast some of the most impactful votes in the country as Democratic incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen battles Brown over one of the four “toss-up” seats that will determine the state of divided government in Washington, D.C.
“Washoe has made or broken many, many, many races,” Zach Guymon, a Las Vegas-based GOP strategist at Reformation Strategies, told the Deseret News. “This race is going to be close. And I think Washoe is gonna be the one that determines it.”
But these voters, like the rest of Americans, have been hit with a wave of unprecedented developments in the presidential race over the past month, with the shift from President Joe Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris changing the calculus for down ballot races.
“When you’re running in a presidential year, it’s all about the top of the ticket,” said Kenneth Miller, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “People decide whether or not to participate in the election based on the biggest races.”
The last week has made it clear, Democrats and Republicans have their eyes set on Nevada.
Former President Donald Trump sent his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, to the state on Tuesday to criticize Harris’ role in overseeing immigration at the southern border. Meanwhile, the Harris campaign experienced a surge in volunteer support after she became the Democratic presidential candidate, with a message focused on abortion access.
Immigration and abortion have also formed the centerpieces for the campaigns of Nevada’s Senate candidates. But when it comes to the Nevada voters who are “truly independent” or “even remotely persuadable,” Guymon and Miller agree, the issues that matter most are kitchen table, not culture war.
What matters to Reno voters?
Rick Webster, who installs glass windows for a living, is not a “political guy.” But he knows which issue will motivate his political preferences this fall.
“Inflation, for sure,” he told the Deseret News in MidTown, Reno. “The biggest thing that’s impacted me is the cost of living. Particularly here in Reno, housing costs have gone through the roof. It’s impossible for a working man to buy a home.”
While he refuses to vote for Trump, saying his activity surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot should be disqualifying, Webster says he will vote for Brown in the Senate race if he continues to make the more compelling case on inflation and economic growth.
Mike Tozzi, a Reno transplant of six years, said he feels the strain of increased gas and food prices in his work at the local frozen food plant, Ponderosa Meat Company. Tozzi isn’t very familiar with Brown, but he plans on voting for him, in addition to Trump, because he trusts Republicans to cut spending and, hopefully, inflation.
“They’re more business oriented,” Tozzi said in the parking lot outside his workplace. “You need someone to actually implement the right way. You need a business person.”
The cost of living has also had the most direct impact of any issue on the life of Lindsey Forbes, a lifelong Nevada resident, who works as the director of transfer recruitment at the University of Nevada. But it’s the issue of abortion that has made her a firmly “decided” vote for Rosen this November.
“For me, women’s health, and the choices that women have are really important to me,” Forbes said. “It’s important at the federal level to continue fighting for these rights.”
Forbes said she also appreciates the first-term incumbent senator’s willingness to work across the aisle on “moderate legislation that can withstand the test of time.”
Who is running for Senate in Nevada?
Since entering the U.S. Senate in 2019 after unseating Republican Sen. Dean Heller, Rosen, the only Jewish woman in the Senate, has been one of the staunchest allies to Israel. Rosen is a former computer programmer with no political experience prior to her election to Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District in 2018.
Before entering politics, Rosen served as president of Congregation Ner Tamid, Nevada’s largest reform synagogue, making her the first former synagogue president ever elected to the Senate. Rosen’s reelection campaign has emphasized her willingness to buck the party line on veteran care and border security while seeking bipartisan compromise.
“Jacky Rosen’s campaign is focused on reaching Nevadans across the state to share her bipartisan record of results and her work to deliver on issues that matter to Nevada families — like lowering costs, expanding access to health care, and protecting our personal freedoms,” said “Rosen for Nevada” spokesperson Joe Bush in a statement to the Deseret News. “Voters here will have a clear choice between Senator Rosen’s proven record of putting Nevada first or MAGA extremist Sam Brown’s far-right, anti-abortion agenda.”
The issue of abortion has put Brown on the defensive in a state where 69% of voters describe themselves as pro-choice and 62% say abortion should be legal in most cases. Recent polls consistently show Brown trailing Rosen by several percentage points, and Rosen has raised — and spent — more than three times as much as Brown.
Brown is a retired Army captain who survived a near-death experience when he was hit by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. The explosion left him with third-degree burns on 30% of his body and left half of his body, including his face, covered in scars.
His recovery brought him closer to God and inspired a goal of public service, says Brown, who earned a Purple Heart for his bravery. Brown narrowly lost in the 2022 Republican Senate primary in Nevada before winning the nomination in 2024 against a crowded field on the strength of Trump’s endorsement and his promise to reverse what he sees as a broken status quo.
“Our senator Jacky Rosen sits on the Homeland Security Committee, and has done nothing on the border issue to help provide safety, security. It’s a crisis, it’s out of control. It’s hurting Nevadans, it’s hurting Americans,” Brown told the Deseret News following the Vance rally in Brown’s hometown of Reno.
“The spending that she’s passed has led to these higher prices and inflation,” Brown continued. “And she just continues to spend, spend, spend with no policy to actually address the issues that are impacting Nevadans.”
Brown backpedals on abortion
While attempting to drive home a message on national security, energy independence and lower taxes, Brown has been forced to address past support for a 20-week abortion ban with no exceptions in Texas.
In recent months, Brown has framed himself as a moderate on this issue, saying abortion law should be left to the states and sharing the story of his wife having an abortion before they met.
“He has given the appearance of someone who’s trying to change his public position after he has won his party’s nomination. So that’s hurting him,” Miller said.
Michael Neally, a retired Vietnam military veteran who has lived in Reno since 1990, said despite being a lifelong Republican, he is glad Brown has softened his stance on abortion.
“That’s what turned me off on him the first time around. But he’s starting to relax a lot,” said Neally, sitting outside Reno’s Veteran Affairs Medical Center.
Neally said he prefers less government intervention, including when it comes to abortion.
But “being retired and on a single income,” Neally said “the economy” is his top issue, and he will support Trump and Brown in November because “I’ve personally seen and felt when Trump was president I could survive on my retirement and not have to skimp and cut things out.”
Correction: The article previously said Brown had changed his tone on abortion in “recent weeks.” He sat down with NBC News to discuss his and his wife’s views on abortion in February.