EXCLUSIVE — Retired Army Capt. Sam Brown is running to take on Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) in the Nevada Senate race. Here is where he stands on major economic issues.
Brown, 40, isn’t a newcomer to politics. He unsuccessfully ran for a House seat in Texas in 2014 but gained nationwide attention when he launched a Republican primary campaign in Nevada to win a seat in the Senate in 2022. Brown was beat out by a Trump-backed candidate who lost in the general election.
Brown, should he win the GOP nomination, will face Rosen, who is in her first term in the Senate. Brown, a Purple Heart recipient who was injured by an improvised explosive device while serving in Afghanistan in 2008, generally espouses fiscally conservative views.
Trade
Some in the Republican Party have drifted away from free trade advocacy, especially after former President Donald Trump’s first term in office, which was marked by his imposition of major tariffs. While some of the Trump-era tariffs were done to help U.S. manufacturers and fix the trade balance, others, particularly those against China, were also punitive in nature.
Brown told the Washington Examiner during an interview this week that he generally prefers free trade but said tariff policy with China is different as it is part of broader “economic warfare” because of the threat that China poses.
“My position is that anytime we can achieve free trade, I think that should be the ideal,” Brown said.
Brown warned that tariffs can become a tax on consumers. That echoes the views of supply-side economists, who argue that higher tariffs squeeze consumers because companies end up passing on the increased costs to them.
Notably, President Joe Biden has largely maintained the China tariffs imposed under Trump, and just this week, the president directed his trade representative to increase tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act on $18 billion of imports from China.
Taxes
Brown, like other Republican candidates, sees extending the expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, known as the Trump or Republican tax cuts, as the biggest tax priority heading into the Senate.
The law lowered taxes for both individuals and corporations. The provisions of the overhaul that affected individuals are set to expire next year.
Brown said he wants to see those provisions made permanent through action by Congress.
Brown said that by keeping taxes low, the federal government can raise more revenue because economic growth will accelerate. The idea that tax cuts can pay for themselves by spurring growth has been championed by supply-side economists like Art Laffer.
“I subscribe to the sort of tax and economics philosophy that raising taxes, while it does in theory and in practice sometimes produce more revenue, the best way to increase revenue for the government is actually by lowering taxes, lowering regulations, allowing the economy to boom,” Brown said.
The Senate hopeful said the excess revenue shouldn’t just go toward more spending but should be used responsibly and, in part, to help pay off the mounting national debt.
National debt and fiscal standing
This year, the government will be shackled with $870 billion in net interest costs. That is nearly 5.7% more than the $822 billion the government will spend on national defense, according to budget projections from the Congressional Budget Office.
Brown said tackling the debt is a major priority. He noted that many politicians throw around wide-ranging ideas but said there needs to be a debate over what actions to take to right the fiscal ship.
“Not just amongst the Senate and House, obviously, but there needs to be a national conversation about how we address this,” Brown said. “I think most people realize that it’s at a crisis; we have about a 10-year runway here before we’re sort of at the end of the runway. We’re at the end of the road there.”
The Medicare trust fund will be exhausted in 2036, and the combined Social Security trust fund will become exhausted in 2035, the programs’ trustees recently projected. The fact that the dates are still just over a decade away is another reminder of the fiscal cliffs that are looming large and the need for lawmakers to craft a plan to keep the programs solvent.
Energy prices
Inflation is the biggest problem on voters’ minds heading into the election, but Brown noted that higher inflation also goes hand in hand with higher energy prices facing Nevadans and said the issue is a major one for his potential constituents.
He noted that Nevada has some of the highest gas prices in the country. For instance, while the national average for a gallon of gas is about $3.60 per gallon, in Nevada, it is now more than $4.40 per gallon, according to AAA.
“That leads to higher costs not only just for a household but for businesses. It goes into the price of products that are moving across the country,” Brown said.
Brown also criticized the Biden administration for implementing regulations to curb climate change that he said are pushing up utility prices for many Nevadans.
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“It’s an enormous pressure on households, on businesses to really have to tighten the belt to be able to absorb those additional energy costs,” he said.
The Republican primary in Nevada will be held on June 11. Brown would face a tough challenge in Rosen, who first entered the Senate in 2019. The Cook Political Report lists the Senate race as a toss-up, one that could be a major factor in whether Republicans take control of the Senate.
