Sam Brown: The Republican Candidate with Hidden Wealth
Sam Brown, the Republican challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen in Nevada, first introduced himself to Silver State voters two years ago during his failed bid to unseat the state’s other Democratic senator, Catherine Cortez-Masto. He did it with an ad called “Duty.”
Not So Humble Beginnings
“I wasn’t born into power. I’m from small-town America,” he said in the 2022 ad.
What he didn’t say is that his extended family owns the Cincinnati Bengals, an NFL team worth $4 billion, and that his relatives have been supporting his political ambitions for a while now.
The Real Story
To hear Brown talk, he comes from the most humble of backgrounds. His was a “sort of working-class family,” he told radio host Ken Wall back in 2021 (at about the 22-minute mark). That same year, he told a local news host that he comes from “salt of the earth people,” not from a “dynasty” (at 23:48).
Speaking of dynasties, Brown’s great-grandfather, Paul Brown, founded the Bengals and his great-uncle, Michael Brown, is the current owner of the NFL team. So maybe a little bit of dynasty?
Financial Support from Family
In a 2023 interview with a local CBS affiliate, Brown said that he couldn’t take his family on vacation because he couldn’t afford gas. Maybe that’s true; it could very well be that his relatives are stingy when it comes to sharing the wealth with extended family. But they sure haven’t been stingy with Brown when it comes to his political career.
Just last quarter, Brown netted $13,200 from great-uncle Michael and his son-in-law, Bengal executive Troy Blackburn. They each donated $6,600—the maximum allowed. The Nevada Globe reported that during his 2022 race, Brown received “$10,000 from current owners of the team and their spouses, including a double max contribution ($2900 x 2 = $5800) from team owner Michael Brown, $2900 from his wife Nancy, $1000 from his aunt, Bengals Executive VP Katie Blackburn (Paul Brown’s granddaughter) and another $2900 from his uncle Paul Brown Jr., who is a Vice President of the team.”
That’s nice. It might help to make up for that family vacation Brown had to cancel.
Motivational Speaker Gig
His relatives even booked him as a motivational speaker for the Bengals at one point. It’s not clear how much of an honorarium he netted through this gig with “Speakers of Substance,” but the maximum fee is $10,000.
It’s all sounding less and less working class and a lot more dynastic, isn’t it?
