Conservative Rep. Dave Brat sought to nationalize his competitive race against Democrat Abigail Spanberger during a two-hour debate Monday, mentioning Nancy Pelosi’s name more than 15 times.

Spanberger, a former CIA officer, has closed in on Brat, turning the once-safe Republican seat into a real race. Recent polling shows the race is neck-and-neck but Spanberger has a monetary advantage, outraising Brat nearly three-to-one in the third quarter. During Monday’s debate, Brat, a member of the right-wing Freedom Caucus in Congress, tried to label the moderate Spanberger a liberal who would become a Pelosi foot soldier if elected.

“A vote for my opponent will be a vote for every single Nancy Pelosi agenda item, on and on and on,” Brat said.

“Do you want to turn Richmond into San Francisco?” Brat added a moment later, eliciting laughs and boos.

Spanberger ignored the attacks until 40 minutes in when Brat attributed an ad to Spanberger’s campaign that was in fact from a Democrat running in Pennsylvania against an incumbent Republican.

“I would remind the congressman that you’re running against me, not a Democrat in Pennsylvania and certainly not Nancy Pelosi,” said Spanberger.

Brat touted his shock victory over then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014, riding on the Tea Party wave and his combative relationship with party leadership. In an appeal to centrist voters, Spanberger repeatedly cited bipartisan immigration and gun control bills in Congress that she would support but Brat has not.

Brat countered that he and other Freedom Caucus members worked with Republican leaders on a “compromise” immigration bill. That bill was a compromise between Republicans. Republicans had little to no expectation that Democrats would sign on and did not work with them to write the bill.

“Republicans comprising is not bipartisanship,” Spanberger said. “I do not support safe havens for criminals or gangs.”

Where Brat name-checked Pelosi in nearly every answer, Spanberger hammered Brat on the GOP tax plan, telling voters that it added $1.9 trillion to the deficit.

“I hope you vote for results instead of resistance,” Brat said in his closing statement. “Everyone knows where the spending problem is, it’s on the failed Pelosi agenda.”

Spanberger pushed back, saying she’s not Pelosi or former President Barack Obama, but “a woman who grew up in Henrico County.”

“I am committed to policies that make sense and are fiscally responsible because to me it is absolutely hypocritical that we would have someone stand on stage talk about fiscal responsibility after adding $1.9 trillion to the deficit,” Spanberger said.

Democrats have attacked vulnerable Republicans like Brat on the GOP tax plan and their efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act in the final stretch of the 2018 cycle. Republicans have largely backed off talking points on their tax plan — 34 percent of the public approved of the tax law in a June poll — instead turning to red-meat issues like immigration and gun rights.