Nevada Senate Race Now Favors Democrat, Report Says

Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada, a Democrat seeking re-election to her seat for the first time, is pulling ahead of her Republican challenger, Sam Brown, in a race that was once considered a feasible pickup for the G.O.P., according to several polls released this week.

New polling from the Cook Political Report and the bipartisan team of BSG and GS Strategy Group, released Thursday morning, showed Ms. Rosen ahead of Mr. Brown by a wide margin. The race, once viewed as a tossup in Cook’s ratings, is now leaning toward the Democratic candidate.

The surveys, conducted between July 25 and Aug. 2, show Ms. Rosen with an 18-point lead. The groups’ surveys in May, before Mr. Brown had secured the G.O.P. nomination, showed Ms. Rosen leading a generic Republican candidate by a wide margin, although a poll from The New York Times and Siena College around that time showed a tight contest. The latest Cook poll aligns with results from a Republican strategist’s Nevada poll released on Tuesday showing Ms. Rosen with a 12-point lead.

Jessica Taylor, Cook’s editor for Senate and governor elections, said that Ms. Rosen’s 18-point lead was most likely an outlier but nonetheless showed a widening gap that Mr. Brown would have to overcome. She attributed the senator’s lead to heavy spending on advertising and to effective messaging about abortion and reproductive rights — a key issue for winning support from women and independent voters, from whom Ms. Rosen is drawing substantial support.

Although Mr. Brown has tried to soften his stance on abortion to appeal to independents, he previously supported a 20-week ban without exceptions for rape and incest. Democrats have seized the opportunity to brand him as an extremist in their public messaging.

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