As a young teacher with three small children, Elizabeth Mercedes Krause marched alongside her union colleagues during rallies while pushing a stroller and holding signs with messages of support.

Her involvement with the teachers union gave her the courage to become an advocate for education equity, she said.

“I found a group of people that were taking action on things that are important to me,” Krause told The Nevada Independent in an interview. “So that's what really pushed me to start to speak up for specific things that were important to me and my community … That's where I started to feel some empowerment that I could do something different for my students.”

Ever since, she has joined and spearheaded advocacy and nonprofit work in education and in the Indigenous community as part of the Nevada Minority Affairs Commission, the Nevada Native Caucus, the Superintendent’s Advisory Cabinet for the Nevada Department of Education, and the Nevada Minority Health and Equity Coalition. 

Now, Krause has decided to bring that same spirit to the political realm. 

Krause, a Democrat, is running against longtime Republican incumbent Rep. Mark Amodei in Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District. The Northern Nevada district is made up of the state's capital Carson City, Churchill, Douglas, Elko, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Pershing, Storey, Washoe, White Pine counties and parts of Lincoln and Lyon counties.

Formerly a Clark County School District teacher who was born and raised in Las Vegas, Krause joined the more than 776,000 residents in the district earlier this year when she moved to Sparks. 

In the June primary, Krause emerged out of the Democratic primary with nearly 50 percent of the vote — just over 22,000 votes, less than half the nearly 50,000 votes Amodei received in the Republican primary. 

The district is home to many of Nevada’s tribal communities and has the largest Native population of any of the four congressional districts, with nearly 5 percent, or about 38,000 people. Krause is the first Indigenous woman to run in Nevada for a congressional seat as a dual-citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation.  

But Krause entered a tough race, as District 2 has always been represented by Republicans and has about 62,000 more registered Republicans than registered Democrats.  

She has yet to file a campaign finance report for July through September (earning a warning from the Federal Election Commission), but her second quarter report shows her campaign raised $10,405, of which $5,000 came from the SEIU Committee on Political Education. After paying herself back $800 for material expenses, she was left with $9,605 in cash on hand. 

Her opponent, Amodei, raised more than $148,000 in just the third quarter. And after spending about $278,700, of which about $41,000 went to campaign and fundraising consulting, Amodei’s campaign had nearly $168,000 in cash on hand at the end of the third quarter.  

But Krause said she is not new to big challenges. She recalled a group leadership and teamwork-building activity where she and her team had to find a way to climb over a “huge, huge, huge wooden wall” without any props or tools. 

Eventually, she said, the group came together and created a human chain link — holding and pushing each other up. And now her community is rallying behind her to prop her up, she said. 

Her philosophy for running for Congress stems from the idea of “windows and mirrors.” She explained that in her classroom experience, she learned (and taught children) to have “windows” through which to learn about other communities and cultures. But “mirrors” are also important, she said, because they provide someone to connect and identify with.  

“If you don't have a mirror in your classroom, you feel like you don't belong,” Krause said. “I experienced it as a child and my children have had that experience.” 

Advocacy

As chair of the statewide Native American Caucus, which aims to mobilize Indigenous residents across Nevada, Krause came to a realization about her own political involvement.

With Native and Indigenous people making up about 3.4 percent of the state population, Krause said Nevada’s statewide and local leadership roles should reflect the demographics of the communities they serve. 

When she decided to run for Congress, Krause said she told herself that if she is “going to ask other people to do something, then [she needs] to be willing to do it also.”

“It goes back to stepping up where you're asked to step up, where the need is. And this has been my path,” she said. “Native representation is so important. And the rural issues and tribal issues are aligned.”

As part of the Native American Caucus, she advocated for the passage of a bill in the 2021 legislative session that banned mascots deemed racially discriminatory from being used by teams and schools in Nevada. She also lobbied for another bill that sought to ensure school materials accurately portray the history and contributions made by Native Americans and other marginalized groups, such as the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants, refugees and people with disabilities from all kinds of backgrounds. 

“Seeing change happen. Seeing so many people coming together … We've had so many instances where the wrong thing just happens and feeling powerless,” Krause said. “And having that switch to feeling empowered and we can speak up and our voice will make a difference.”

Running for Congress

If she beats the long odds and wins, Krause said her priorities would be finding more funding for economic development, education and health care (including services for seniors and mental care) for District 2.

“Getting the funding and helping with policies directed toward things that Nevadans need and then making sure that I'm voting for things that are beneficial,” she said. “When I look at District 2, I see a community that has been underrepresented.”

When it comes to the economy and recent inflation, which some have pegged to the federal COVID-19 relief spending, Krause said the trade-off was needed to keep people afloat during a dire time. 

“Instead of pointing the finger at government spending, why not look more at what corporations are not doing their part?” she said, referring to the increasing cost of living and low-paying jobs. “We can look by state and see what minimum wage needs to be for someone to afford a clean, safe home. It's not even a fancy home. It's just a clean, safe home … Who can live on $12 an hour?”

Krause said she would like to see Nevada’s minimum wage go beyond the scheduled $12 an hour by 2024 (for those without health care benefits). In November, Nevadans will vote on Question 2 to set a flat rate of $12 per hour regardless of health insurance — starting July 1, 2024. The passage of Question 2 would also make $12 an hour a constitutional minimum, meaning the Legislature wouldn’t be able to lower the rate on its own. 

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

Krause also sees improving respect for tribal sovereignty and protecting Indigenous rights as priorities that align with her advocacy for “safe, clean, affordable housing, health care, access to education and economic opportunities.”

“We're not a racial group … but we are a political group because of our sovereign status, our citizenship. So it is about protecting tribal sovereignty and protecting our communities,” she said, adding that it is especially important because of historical discrimination and forced assimilation of traditions, language and identity. 

“Healing forward is healing backwards and it even helps us lift up our own,” she said.