Jim Marchant, a former Nevada state Assembly member, has announced his candidacy for the US Senate seat in Nevada, becoming the first major Republican to challenge incumbent Jacky Rosen. The announcement follows Rosen’s confirmation last month that she will be running for a second term. Marchant, who lost a bid to become Nevada’s Secretary of State in 2020, describes himself as a “MAGA conservative” and is known for organising a coalition of 17 GOP candidates who falsely claimed that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. In his campaign launch, Marchant emphasised the need to protect Nevadans from “the overbearing government, from Silicon Valley, from big media, from labour unions, from the radical gender change advocates.”
Marchant’s campaign has launched a webpage entitled “Stop Jacky Rosen From Destroying America.” Rosen, a moderate Democrat, welcomed Marchant to the race and tweeted that Nevadans need “a senator who will fight for them, not a MAGA election denier,” highlighting Marchant’s record on reproductive rights. Rosen won the seat in 2018 defeating Republican Senator Dean Heller and has not faced a party challenger since announcing her candidacy last month.
Marchant is a vocal supporter of Donald Trump and has previously disputed the results of the 2020 presidential election. In 2018, he lost a bid for Congress, which he unsuccessfully attempted to overturn in a lawsuit. He lost the Secretary of State campaign to Democrat Francisco “Cisco” Aguilar in 2020. Nevada is expected to be among the most competitive Senate races in 2024, with Democrats needing to defend 23 seats compared to 11 for Republicans.
