Lying in an Afghan desert, engulfed in flames and drenched in diesel fuel, Sam Brown realized he was about to die.

It was September 2008, and Mr. Brown, who at the time was a lieutenant in the US Army, had been leading his platoon to the aid of his fellow soldiers who had been ambushed by the Taliban. Then his Humvee hit a roadside bomb. In an explosion of fire and a sound of shock, Mr. Brown’s life changed forever.

“I remember lying there, face down on the ground in the Kandahar Desert, trying and failing to cover myself with dirt to smother the flames, and thinking: How long will it take to burn to death? What happens when I die? Brown recalled in an interview with The New York Times. “And then literally making the decision to give up the will to live.”

But he survived. A fellow soldier, also injured in the explosion, saved Mr. Brown and his platoon provided first aid until he could be evacuated to a hospital. In a burn unit in Texas, he underwent more than 30 surgeries during a three-year recovery and was left with permanent scars.

Now Mr. Brown, 40, who is medically retired as a captain, is the leading Republican seeking to challenge Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, in what is expected to be one of the most competitive Senate races this year. cycle, with the potential to determine camera control. At campaign events, Brown doesn’t dwell on his dramatic story, instead focusing on inflation, which many Nevadans have felt acutely, and the border. But his experience is a central part of his appeal to his supporters as he works to raise the amount of money needed to run a statewide campaign against a well-funded incumbent.

His emails frequently contain lines like “God is real. I Almost Found It” and “They Blow Up My Body, But They Will Never Destroy My Spirit.” He has compared headlines about President Biden’s “fiery” behavior to his own burn scars. “Do you want to see hot, friend? “I am literally passionate,” read one email, which included a photo of his scarred face. “I will stand in the fire. I will take the flames.”

And Brown was inspired to run for office, he said, because he wanted to help people suffering their lowest moments, the same way a comrade had saved him in Afghanistan.

“I see a lot of hopelessness in our country right now,” he said, “and I enter this Senate race with the perspective of having been on the receiving end and the blessing of having someone come to my aid when I needed it. it’s more”.

Brown, who came up short in the 2022 Republican Senate primary in Nevada and has never held elected office, could face a formidable opponent in Rosen. His campaign plans to emphasize his bipartisan reputation while arguing that Mr. Brown’s relatively short time in the state (he moved from Dallas to Reno in 2018) and the various consulting, nonprofit and startup jobs he has held for the past 12 years since leaving the military, does not make him best suited to help Nevadans.

Democrats are particularly eager to highlight Brown’s past opposition to abortion and his recent attempts to soften his stance. (A measure enshrining abortion access in the state Constitution is expected to be voted on in November, and Democrats nationally have been energized in recent elections by the political potency of the issue.)

Still, Brown may be sidestepping some of the pitfalls of other recent nominees who were perceived as too extreme for Nevada’s general electorate by avoiding a bruising primary fight, said Amy Tarkanian, former chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party.

With a huge financial and polling lead (polls show he was up in double digits in the June 11 primary), Brown skipped a debate with his rivals. Although he has attended some community events, he has not been especially omnipresent on the campaign trail. In February, he acknowledged to guests at a Nevada Republican Club luncheon in Las Vegas that he had held relatively few campaign events in the state while crisscrossing the country raising money. (His campaign, which raised $2.4 million last quarter, has set a goal of raising $20 million total.)

What Brown has done is work to appeal to independents who could influence the general election, rather than just conservative voters, in part by changing his rhetoric on abortion. He has also avoided associating himself too much with former President Donald J. Trump, although he has been more vocal in his praise of Trump in recent months.

“I find it comforting when you have a Republican willing to stand up and say, ‘No, this is what I believe. I’m not going to give in to the noise of the far right,’” Tarkanian said.

His main rivals – and the Rosen campaign – have been less impressed. Brown waited until January to endorse Trump, a delay that did not go unnoticed by the right.

“He barely says President Trump’s name,” said Jeff Gunter, a primary candidate who was ambassador to Iceland during the Trump administration. “That’s part of the scam: making voters think you’re somehow supporting the president, and you’re not.”

Recently, Brown has been more outspoken about his support for Trump and his own conservative bona fides, appearing on television networks such as OAN and Newsmax, and on the podcast of Wayne Allyn Root, a right-wing conspiracy theorist. “In my view, President Trump’s policies clearly put Americans in a much better position than they are today,” Mr. Brown said. At a campaign event in Reno on Saturday, he told reporters that he was “extremely conservative.”

Trump has not endorsed the race, but has shared several images on his social media site, Truth Social, that appear to indicate his enthusiasm for Brown. “Democrats are terrified of a united Trump-Brown ticket in Nevada!” a post read. (Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, has endorsed Mr. Brown.)

On abortion, Democrats say no amount of moderate language will convince voters that their views have truly changed.

“Sam Brown’s record shows he is pushing an extreme MAGA agenda that would hurt Nevada workers,” said Johanna Warshaw, a spokeswoman for Ms. Rosen’s campaign.

During a campaign for the Texas Legislature in 2014 while living in Dallas, Brown supported a 20-week abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest, and in the past has declined to say whether he would support a national ban. The procedure. After his first Senate bid, he briefly served as president of the Nevada chapter of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a conservative Christian group that openly opposes abortion.

More recently, he has sought to clarify his position. In an interview with NBC News in February, his wife, Amy Brown, recounted her difficult and emotional decision to have an abortion when she was 24 and in the middle of an unplanned pregnancy. In that interview, Ella Brown said that she would not support a national ban, she agreed with Nevada’s current law that allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy and she supported exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.

In the interview with The Times, he reiterated that position, while saying he believed abortion should be left to the states, a position Trump has also taken.

“I can do nothing to change Nevada laws, nor am I seeking to change Nevada laws,” Mr. Brown said, adding, “I would not support a federal abortion ban.”

Some Republicans suggested Brown still needs to make sure voters know where he stands on this and other issues, not just his life story.

“As people meet him or hear him present at meetings, they realize there needs to be more than just military history,” Ms. Tarkanian said. “And he’s been in Nevada long enough to run for a second election, while Jacky Rosen has been in Nevada for, I think, over 40 years.”

Brown’s campaign argued that he had detailed his stance on a variety of issues, including those as esoteric as cryptocurrencies, and that he has substantial experience beyond his military training, pointing to his business degree and his time running a benefits administrator. pharmacists, a company that helped veterans get their medications.

The campaign hopes to make the race a referendum on Ms. Rosen, arguing that she has done little to help Nevadans struggling with high gas prices and housing costs.

Still, his success may ultimately depend on whether his personal story resonates with voters. Brown “has the ability to convey a message that all voters will know on Election Day,” said Jeremy Hughes, a Nevada Republican political strategist. “The open question will be whether voters’ unique understanding of the sacrifice of Sam Brown’s military service is enough to win him the race.”