FACT BRIEFWas Nevada the first state to elect a Latina US senator?
By Kristyn Leonard on 03/11/2022
YES
Catherine Cortez Masto became the first Latina elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016.
She won 47% of the vote, defeating Republican Joe Heck and filling the seat left open by Harry Reid, who had retired.
Cortez Masto previously served two terms as Nevada’s attorney general and was only the second woman to hold that office when elected in 2007.
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Sources
Washington Post A ‘silver lining’ on election night: First Latina elected to U.S. Senate
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