REALITY CHECK: Brown and Sen. Rosen closer attack ads

Sam Brown attack ad on Jacky Rosen

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown, is running a series of new ads that try to connect incumbent Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen to Kamala Harris's record.

In this advertisement supported by the NRSC and endorsed by Sam Brown, we are fact-checking two key issues that matter to northern Nevadans: immigration and transgender athletes in sports.

"Kamala Harris and Jacky Rosen, whose side are they on? Kamala and Rosen gave taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal immigrants."

MOSTLY FALSE:

During the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, also called the COVID-19 Stimulus Package, as a part of the $1.9 trillion relief, the $1,400 stimulus checks would only go to someone with a social security number. However, they would go to the children of undocumented immigrants who do have a social security number.

However, for added context, in 2023 Senator Rosen supported making it easier for non-citizens to enter the country and receive welfare and food stamps because she voted against a Republican congressional joint resolution that sought to stop the Biden administration and Department of Homeland Security from lowering citizenship standards and providing welfare and food stamps to those immigrants.

"And [Senator Jacky Rosen] supported sanctuary cities that put criminal illegals back on the street."

MISLEADING:

Senator Jacky Rosen has never supported sanctuary cities, and Nevada has no sanctuary cities.

According to the Reno Gazette-Journal - Rosen was in favor of deporting undocumented immigrants who were members of "violent transnational criminal gangs and said regardless of immigration status, people who commit violent crimes should go to prison.

However, Senator Rosen was a co-sponsor of "the end mass deportation act," which was a vote to reverse a Trump executive order that would have taken all federal funding away from any sanctuary state, which obviously would have had major impacts on the nation.

Furthermore, Trump's Mass Deportation Act would have expanded the deportation of not just undocumented criminals but all undocumented individuals, including Dreamers and refugees.

"[If you think] that's bad, this is; Kamala and Rosen push the trans agenda. Putting men in girls' sports and men in girls' locker rooms. Radical and extreme, that's Kamala and Jacky Rosen. I'm Sam brown, and I approve of this message."

MOSTLY FALSE:

Senator Rosen voted against two failed amendments to broader funding bills. The amendments would have stripped federal funding from schools and colleges that allowed transgender girls and women to compete in sports matching their gender identity; they did not dictate athletic eligibility.

Federal law rarely dictates who is eligible for specific sports.

Trans athletes in women's sports are a hot issue in Northern Nevada, with the UNR volleyball team's recent boycott of a game against San Jose State because they had a trans woman on their lineup.

Senator Jacky Rosen did vote for the Equality Act, which offers broad protections for trans-Americans; however, we needed to identify clearly defined language regarding sports in the bill.

Jacky Rosen attack ad on Sam Brown

A key strategy for incumbent Senator Jacky Rosen's campaign against her Republican challenger, Sam Brown, has been to highlight his past statements.

As a fiscal conservative, Sam Brown has been hawkish in proposing cuts to federal agencies. While he has softened his stance in 2024, the Rosen campaign is leveraging his past statements regarding the Department of Education (DOE).

The Rosen campaign's "Latasha" ad highlights the anecdotal experience of a Nevada educator regarding the value of education.

"Education saved my life...I didn't know college until a teacher invested in me," says Latasha in the ad.

OPINION:

The Rosen campaign is attacking Republican candidate Sam Brown for his statements in multiple races in which he has said he wants to eliminate or make severe cuts to the Department of Education.

"Education is a necessity. We need that funding to ensure we're producing kids that can read, write, and be the future leaders of our world," says Latasha.

TRUE:

One example is in 2020, during a tele-town hall, when Sam Brown said, "I think that we need to see a major reduction and potentially even an elimination of the Department of Education eventually."

"Sam Brown, I think your plan is ridiculous. It's utterly asinine to want to take away from children," Latasha said.

MOSTLY TRUE:

In 2022, Sam Brown said multiple times he wanted to ax federal departments or agencies with state counterparts.

One federal report showed that the state received more than $873 million in Department Of Education funding in 2022, highlighting the department's importance to Nevada.

However, two years later, in campaign 2024, Sam Brown softened his stance and focused on giving parents more choices and reducing the influence of D.C. bureaucrats in Nevada classrooms.

In a statement to the Nevada Independent, Brown said "We need to get a handle on the out-of-control and ineffective budget from the U.S. Department of Education, kick D.C. Bureaucrats out of our classrooms, and let kids be kids."

"Jacky Rosen is fighting for lower costs and better opportunities for my students. That means a lot," Latasha said.

Check out our previous Reality Check segment covering attack ads from the Sam Brown and Senator Rosen campaigns.