LAS VEGAS — Freshman Nevada Democrat Sen. Jacky Rosen will debate her GOP challenger Sam Brown Oct. 17 — but only on her terms, a disappointed wannabe host said this week.
Las Vegas’ KLAS-TV will host the debate between Rosen, who turns 67 next week, and Brown, 40; Reno’s KTVN-TV will simulcast the event. The Rosen campaign said Univision is “a news partner” for the debate, which will “subsequently be translated and broadcast statewide in Spanish.”
“This debate will be an opportunity for Nevadans to see the clear choice in this election between my bipartisan and independent record delivering results for hardworking Nevadans, and my extreme MAGA opponent trying to impose a dangerous far-right agenda on our state,” Rosen said.
Brown’s campaign offered no immediate comment on the event. The combat-wounded Army veteran and entrepreneur trails Rosen by 4 points, per the RealClearPolitics average.
Nevada Independent CEO Jon Ralston, who’d offered the candidates a platform at the website’s annual IndyFest conference, had plenty to say.
“I invited both candidates, and Republican Sam Brown immediately accepted. But Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen’s team, after initially saying the senator would be open to a date in mid-October, then began to present demands,” wrote Ralston, a veteran Las Vegas political journalist.
He said the Rosen campaign demanded a live televised debate, one without a live audience, that be broadcast “in two languages.” Ralston said he could not promise to meet the bilingual or live-broadcast demands. As to having no audience, he said the IndyFest conference audience would likely refrain from applause or outbursts, which attendees at a 2022 gubernatorial debate observed.
Ralston wrote a promised list of “full conditions” from the Rosen campaign never materialized. Instead, he received an email saying the incumbent’s campaign “decided to go in a different direction.”
The Post has contacted the Rosen and Brown campaigns for comment.