As recently as last year, Elizabeth Mercedes Krause taught in the Clark County School District; a recent biography describes her and her daughters as born and raised in Las Vegas, and notes her membership on the board of the Las Vegas Indian Center.

Now, she said she lives in Sparks and is taking a break from teaching to run as a Democrat for Northern Nevada’s Congressional District 2 against longtime Republican incumbent Rep. Mark Amodei. The lean-Republican district is a tough one for Democrats; in 2020, Democrat Patricia Ackerman lost to Amodei by about 16 percentage points. 

Krause has been an “educator and union activist for over 20 years,” her website says. She has a history of advocacy and nonprofit work in education and in the Indigenous community as she holds dual citizenship of the Oglala, Lakota Nation, and co-founded the Indigenous Educators Empowerment, which serves Indigenous educators and students in Nevada. 

She also serves as chair of the Nevada Native Caucus and is vice chair for the UNLV Native American Alumni, among others. 

District 2, which includes the state's capital Carson City, as well as Churchill, Douglas, Elko, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Pershing, Storey, Washoe, White Pine counties and part of Lincoln and Lyon counties, has more than 776,000 residents. The district is home to many of Nevada’s tribal communities and has the largest Native population of any congressional district, with nearly 5 percent, or 38,061 people. 

“One of the goals of our caucus is to encourage and support Native American leaders in running for office, we know that voter participation is very important also,” Krause told The Nevada Independent. “And having a Native American candidate, someone who understands tribal issues, is important to voters and encourages voter participation.”

She said she has “targeted strategic priorities,” including issues affecting the Indigenous community and education in District 2 that are “in need of change.”

Editor’s Note: This story appears in Indy 2022, The Nevada Independent’s newsletter dedicated to comprehensive coverage of the 2022 election. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Updated on Aug. 18, 2022 at 2:30 p.m. to correct the counties that make up District 2.