Nevada Republican Senate primary candidates take aim at absent front-runner in debate

By GABE STERN
Associated Press/Report for America

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Seven Republicans vying for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in Nevada circled the familiar talking points of GOP politics at a debate, while also taking shots at the front-runner, who made an apparently strategic decision not to attend. The debate in a Reno casino ballroom on Thursday focused on increased border security, anti-abortion stances and cutting government spending and size. But candidates also criticized retired Army Capt. Sam Brown, whose backing in Washington, D.C., and formidable 2022 campaign have made him a fundraising juggernaut above the crowded primary field. Nearly every candidate called out Brown for his absence and described him as an establishment candidate not willing to face voters.