Nevada voters will choose between incumbent Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen (pictured above, left) and Republican challenger Sam Brown (pictured above, right) in the 2024 U.S. Senate election. Rosen, a first-term U.S. Senator, was elected in 2018. She faces Republican nominee Sam Brown, a retired U.S. Army captain.
In-person absentee voting, also known as early voting in Nevada, will be available from October 19, 2024, to November 1, 2024, leading up to the general election on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Nevada also offers same-day registration and voting from October 22 to November 5, 2024. Additionally, online voter registration is available until November 5, 2024, which is Election Day.
An estimated 145,000 LGBTQ people live in Nevada. Twenty-two percent of LGBTQ people in Nevada are raising children. Analysis shows LGBTQ voters played a deciding role in the 2020 election, flipping the Senate to a pro-equality majority. And estimates show that by 2040, greater than one in five voters in the state will be LGBTQ.
GLAAD urges the media to include LGBTQ issues in their questions to candidates, and consider them when covering the campaign. Research on the candidates’ records on abortion is also included, as abortion is an LGBTQ issue.
Research on the candidates’ LGBTQ records includes:
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D)
- Helped introduce the Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in areas like employment, housing, and public accommodations.
- Co-sponsored and voted to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which requires states to recognize all legally performed marriages, including same-sex marriages.
- Supported the Greater Leadership Overseas for the Benefit of Equality (GLOBE) Act to incorporate LGBTQ rights protections in U.S. foreign policy.
- Has spoken out against the Trump administration’s policies that negatively impacted LGBTQ individuals, such as revoking protections for transgender students.
- Recognizes Pride Month, calling for continued pursuit of full equality for LGBTQ Americans.
- Emphasized the importance of protecting LGBTQ Nevadans from discrimination and violence.
- The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has endorsed Rosen multiple times, including for her initial Senate run in 2018 and her re-election bid in 2024.
- Rosen has received perfect scores from the HRC for her voting record on LGBTQ issues.
- Joined efforts to keep anti-LGBTQ provisions out of government funding legislation.
- Supports Nevadans’ right to reproductive freedom, voted to protect women’s constitutional right to access birth control. and opposes attempts to ban abortion nationwide
- Helped introduce the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law and defend women’s access to critical reproductive care, saying in June 2024, “It is more critical than ever to restore Roe and protect reproductive rights in federal law.”
- Championed legislation to protect women and doctors from prosecution by anti-abortion states for seeking reproductive care in states like Nevada by helping introduce the Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act
- Opposes attacks from anti-abortion judges seeking to ban access to FDA-approved abortion medications that have been used safely by women for decades
- Helped introduce a resolution in September 2024 expressing that every patient has the basic right to emergency health care, including abortion care, regardless of where they live
- Blasted anti-choice extremists for pushing to overturn the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) in order to deny women access to emergency reproductive care
- Supports protecting IVF treatments under federal law
- Opposes partisan efforts to defund Planned Parenthood; and has been endorsed by trusted pro-choice organizations like Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Reproductive Freedom for All, and EMILYs List
- Silver State Equality, Nevada’s statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, has endorsed Senator Rosen and she has earned a 100% on Silver State Equality’s federal Congressional scorecard.
Sam Brown (R)
- Praised Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, framing it as necessary to prevent “indoctrination” in schools.
- As chairman of the Nevada Faith and Freedom Coalition, he opposed marriage equality and supported legislation allowing discrimination against same-sex couples under the guise of religious liberty. The organization has vehemently opposed marriage equality and backed legislation that permits discrimination against same-sex couples under the guise of religious liberty.
- When asked in a 2022 debate if same-sex marriage should be protected after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Brown refused to say it should be.
- Actively involved with Calvary Chapel Reno-Sparks, where the pastor has denounced LGBTQ acknowledgment as idolatry.
- Spoke at Las Vegas Calvary Church and Liberty Baptist Church, both known for anti-LGBTQ doctrines.
- Has claimed he is pro-life but opposes a federal abortion ban and supports exceptions for rape and incest
- Has said on his campaign website: “I will oppose any bill that pushes for federal funding of abortion, late term abortions, or abortion without parental notification.”
- Says he will not vote to overturn the Nevada law which protects abortions up to 24 weeks
- Previously supported a restrictive Texas law that banned abortions at 20 weeks with no exceptions for rape or incest, according to PolitiFact
- Said in 2023, “Every life is precious, and it is in our American interest that we protect the lives of unborn babies just as we would protect the life of any other American.”
- Said at a 2022 campaign event that he would not vote to confirm any judges that support Roe v. Wade, claiming “We’ve got to do everything we can to support the sanctity of life.”
Has promoted unfounded claims about the 2020 election and aligned himself with election denial rhetoric.