RENO, Nev. (KOLO) -A candidate for the Nevada Republican U.S. Senate nomination this week launched advertisements criticizing frontrunner Sam Brown.
One ad by Dr. Jeff Gunter links Brown to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and begins, “Scam Brown. The newest creature to emerge from the swamp.” It charges Brown got campaign contributions from McConnell, described as the “swamp king himself.”
That ad said Brown tricked campaign donors to pay off old campaign bills and that Brown was not sufficiently pro-Donald Trump. Gunter, a dermatologist appointed by Trump as ambassador to Iceland, described himself has 110% pro-Trump.
The ad ends with a close-up of Brown’s face and scars left from his 2008 combat injuries in Afghanistan.
The New York Times reported Saturday that Brown addressed Gunter’s attacks Thursday at a private fundraiser in Sparks.
“You might hear some noise out there, and people who show up from places like California from seven months ago, who want to name-call me this or that,” Brown told attendees, according to a recording obtained by The New York Times. “And that’s going to happen and we expect that out of people who were literally Democrats a year ago, to play that sort of game. But just keep your head down. You know who I am.”
Brown’s campaign did not immediately respond Saturday to a request for comment.
Gunter’s campaign responded Saturday that Gunter has respect for those who serve in the military, including Brown.
“. . . (T)hat does not mean that voters don’t deserve to understand that he just months ago did not want to share a ballot with President Trump and now pretends to support him, has multiple FEC complaints from taking money to pay off his previous failed campaigns, and is bought and paid for by the DC elites he once claimed to despise,” Gunter’s campaign said.
Brown’s alleged comments in Sparks reflect that Gunter was registered as a Democrat in California.
Politico reported Gunter’s 18-month stint as ambassador to Iceland had controversy. Among the issues, a 2021 report by the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General found Gunter created a “threatening and intimidating environment” at the embassy. And Politico reported four State Department officials said Gunter performed his ambassador duties from California during the pandemic.
“Dr. Gunter has been an active board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition for 17 years,” his campaign responded Saturday. “Claims that he is a Democrat, just like the absurd criticisms of his ambassadorship, are bogus.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is backing Brown in the election. NRSC Communications Director Mike Berg issued this statement:
“Jeff Gunter is polling in the single digits because he was a Democrat who lived in California until very recently. California Democrats typically support policies like defunding the police, opening our southern border, and letting violent criminals out of prison, so it would be surprising if Gunter caught on in a Republican primary.”
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