One of the heavyweight bouts in the upcoming election is the U.S. Senate race in Nevada, between Donald Trump-endorsed Sam Brown, a retired Army captain, and incumbent Democrat Senator Jacky Rosen. But Brown's campaign has been sputtering of late, as my colleague in the Silver State, Brittany Sheehan, wrote in her column ahead of Thursday night's debate between the contenders:

The bellwether status of Nevada serves as a fire alarm for Republican Senate candidate Captain (Ret.) Sam Brown, who gained notoriety during the Republican National Convention when former President Donald Trump highlighted his sacrifices as a Purple Heart recipient, gravely injured in Afghanistan. 

However, Brown's path to victory appears increasingly challenging in this pivotal battleground. He has consistently failed to out-poll incumbent Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen and has struggled to match her fundraising efforts. The National Republican Senatorial Committee's recent decision to cancel $7.4 million in advertising for Sam Brown's campaign signals increasing concerns about his viability as a candidate. They have since reinvested about $1 million at a reduced rate, allowing for more ads but reflecting a cautious approach. Without significant improvements in polling and funding, Brown's chances of success appear to be dwindling.

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But, it ain't over yet. 

Brown's campaign, which has recently experienced a shake-up of personnel, has expressed optimism that Donald Trump can lend down-ballot momentum, a campaign spokesperson said in a statement:

We are confident that the Nevadans voting for President Trump will also support Sam and other Republicans down the ballot. Sam Brown will continue to close the gap and fight for each and every vote. The momentum is on our side.

Read more: Political Pulse in the Desert: Sam Brown Campaign Sputters Ahead of Debate - VIP

Indeed, his fortunes in the race seem to be going in the right direction. His numbers are moving up, as first-term incumbent Rosen's are trending downward. When we last checked in with Real Clear Politics in late Sept., in my colleague Adam Turner's round-up on the Senate, Rosen was running away with it by 10 percentage points, 50 percent to 40 percent.

Read more:  ANALYSIS: Returning to the Senate Races

Now that three new polls have come in (9/20 - 10/13), Brown appears to have, however slightly, started to close that gap to 5.5; Rosen leads 48.8 percent to 43.3 percent. But it's this cool moment from Thursday night's debate that's gaining the most attention for the Republican--a solid, knockout punch focusing on whether those we hire to represent us in D.C. deserve the trust we place in them.

Sam Brown turned a silly question about UFOs (likely because of Nevada's Area 51) into an attack on Rosen's allegedly sketchy, Nancy Pelosi-esque stock-trading.

Watch:

Sam Brown may have just won the Nevada senate race with this one moment at the debate. They asked if Congress should investigate UFOs, and he said they should instead focus on investigating his Democrat opponent, Jacky Rosen, for dirty insider trading

"What is Rosen trading on?… pic.twitter.com/ShxIszIf6E

— George (@BehizyTweets) October 18, 2024

Brown began by admitting he's "as curious as anyone" about the existence of UFOs, adding that he "never saw any sort of technology like that when I was in the service." He continued, saying that while he might not exactly trust Congress to get to the bottom of it, "maybe Elon Musk can."

Here's where his genius pivot happened, which you can watch in the clip, where he accused the senator of "violat[ing] the STOCK Act [Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012] multiple times." And Rosen tried to play it off, complaining that his answer didn't have anything to do with UFOs, then added:

I put myself through college as a waitress, I always worked hard; this has been debunked. All of this has been debunked.

Her campaign told the NY Times that Rosen "had not traded individual stocks in the last five years."

Stay tuned!