GOP Senate Candidates Are Racing To Rewrite Past Abortion Positions. Democrats Are Counting On Voters To See Through It.

Sam Brown, the likely Nevada Republican nominee to take on Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), is hoping that a splashy interview alongside his wife is enough to cancel out his anti-abortion record. Control of the Senate this November could hang on the success — or failure — of such a public relations gambit.

Brown, an Army captain wounded in the war in Afghanistan, and his wife Amy, sat for an extensive interview with NBC News in late February about Amy’s abortion prior to meeting Sam.

The interview had a clear objective for Brown: negate or minimize abortion as a major issue in his upcoming election in a pro-choice state . While personally opposed to abortion — with exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother — Brown vowed to respect Nevada law allowing abortions up to the 24th week of pregnancy.

For those skeptical of Brown’s position, he offered his empathy for his wife’s decision to end a pregnancy before meeting him as evidence of his sincerity. “We’ve got to lead with compassion. And this is not just a policy issue,” he told NBC News. “We’re talking about people’s lives.”

Pressed by NBC News to explain his past support for a 20-week ban in Texas, while running for the state legislature there in 2014, Brown characterized it as an extension of the same states’ rights approach that drives his respect for Nevada law. Left unaddressed: Brown’s recent tenure as volunteer head of the anti-abortion Nevada Faith and Freedom Coalition ; his refusal to articulate his stance on federal abortion restrictions as recently as July ; his attendance of an anti-abortion rights gala in October; and perhaps most importantly, the kinds of judges he would vote to confirm to the federal bench.

The disjunction between Brown’s