Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)

Is today the day Trump endorses a primary candidate?

An ad supporting former U.S. Army Capt. Sam Brown’s Senate campaign in Nevada proclaims the Republican will “finish President Trump’s wall, destroy the cartels and stop the invasion of the border.”

Brown, the leader among GOP primary candidates seeking to unseat Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, makes no bones about his love for Trump.

“Donald Trump changed my life and he changed yours too,” his campaign website declares.

But so far, it’s an unrequited love. Trump has not endorsed Brown or any other contender in the field, including Jeff Gunter, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Iceland, and prominent election denier Jim Marchant.

Trump is visiting Las Vegas today to drum up support for his presidenti­al campaign, two days before the primary. It could be an ideal time to throw his support behind a candidate — or maybe not.

“He hasn’t picked anyone to endorse because he isn’t sure who is going to win,” said Kenneth Miller, a political science professor at UNLV who specialize­s in elections.

“It really is that simple,” he said. “All politician­s are focused on appearing to be a winner, and Trump is particular­ly focused on that.”

Trump on May 21 told a Winnemucca television outlet that he would make a Senate primary endorsemen­t in the “next couple of days.”

It’s now been more than two weeks, and the lone endorsemen­t he’s made in Nevada was backing former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee in the GOP primary for the House seat occupied by Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford.

Trump, who last month was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election, has backed more than 80 candidates nationwide.

Many who get Trump’s coveted seal of

approval wind up winning, but some don’t.

In New Jersey’s GOP primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, Curtis Bashaw knocked off Trump-backed candidate Christine Serrano Glassner, the wife of former Trump adviser Michael Glassner.

Trump might not be backing a candidate in Nevada’s Senate race for a number of other reasons.

A candidate might have some unknown flaw in Trump’s view or it could be as simple as he hasn’t gotten around to it. His legal troubles forced him to make regular appearance­s last month in a New York courtroom.

But Trump won’t be on the sidelines for long, Miller said.

“He’ll get involved after the primary,” Miller said. “He’s not missing anything by waiting.”

Trump’s failure to make an endorsemen­t in Nevada’s GOP primary for Senate could ultimately impact the showdown with Rosen.

An early endorsemen­t from Trump could have given one candidate enough momentum to focus their attention on Rosen instead of spending energy and campaign funds trying to beat their GOP rivals.

Through March 31, Brown’s campaign has raised $5.4 million — a shadow of the $13.2 million cash on hand for Rosen’s reelection campaign. In the first quarter of this year alone, Rosen’s campaign raised $5 million.

“Money tends to follow winners,” Miller said.

A poll conducted in late April with 1,000 would-be Nevada voters found Rosen held a sizable lead over her potential Republican challenger­s.

She led Brown 45% to 37%, with 18% undecided, according to the survey by Emerson College Polling/the Hill.

In a hypothetic­al race against Gunter, Rosen led 47% to 33%, with 20% undecided, the poll found.

“After begging at Mar-a-lago, calling Trump his personal inspiratio­n, and embarking on a far-right media tour to tout his MAGA credential­s, it’s deeply embarrassi­ng that Sam Brown still doesn’t have the Donald Trump stamp of approval he’s so desperatel­y seeking,” said Katharine Kurz, the spokespers­on for the Nevada State Democratic Party. “While Sam Brown continues stumbling over himself to suck up to Donald Trump, he’s also proving to voters that he will always put partisan politics over doing what’s right for Nevadans.”

Trump is polling slightly ahead of President

Joe Biden in a Nevada rematch of their 2020 presidenti­al race. Biden won Nevada by about 30,000 votes last time around, and another close race is expected, Miller said.

“Nevada will be one of the closest battlegrou­nd states,” Miller said of the race for the White House. “It was close here eight years ago, it was close four years later.”

That means Trump’s visit today won’t be his last stop in Nevada. The next time, though, he’ll likely be joined on stage by whichever Senate candidate prevails in the GOP primary.

Brown’s campaign didn’t return phone calls or messages seeking comment for this story.