Assm. Joe Dalia (D-Henderson) plans to run for state treasurer in 2026, telling The Nevada Independent on Tuesday that he wants to focus on increasing entrepreneurship opportunities and expanding the office’s work in housing and economic development.

A first-term member of the Assembly, Dalia is the first Democrat to announce his intentions to run for the open seat. Incumbent Treasurer Zach Conine, a Democrat in his final term, is making a bid for attorney general. 

Dalia, 34, told The Nevada Independent that in a time of economic uncertainty, the treasurer’s office plays a critical role in looking after the state’s budgetary and economic health. He said it’s a natural extension of the work he’s done as a lawmaker and an attorney in the venture capital and technology industries, most recently for Meta (which he left this week after three years at the company).

“I've shown in the bills I proposed, both during session and in the wake of session, that I'm willing to think outside the box and do what needs to be done to grow our economy and grow our state budget in a way that is tax-free to the extent possible and sustainable and socially responsible,” Dalia said in an interview. 

The state treasurer is responsible for managing state funds, administering the Millennium Scholarship program, maintaining state and property records and investing, along with facilitating tax-advantaged savings programs for future college students and people with disabilities.

In May, Republican Drew Johnson announced his candidacy for treasurer, saying that the campaign is building on his “strong showing in Nevada’s highly competitive 3rd District in 2024,” which he lost to Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) by 2.8 percentage points.

During the 2025 legislative session, Dalia sponsored the bill (AB239) that will make tweaks suggested by the state bar to state business and corporate law and a constitutional amendment to establish a business court (AJR8), which will need to pass again in 2027 to go before voters in 2028. 

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz cited both pieces of legislation as rationale for its move to Nevada, a decision that Dalia said will generate millions of dollars in revenue to the Silver State.

As treasurer, Dalia said he’d like to generally focus the treasurer’s five allocated bill proposals on lowering costs, increasing entrepreneurship and job access and wages, while building on Conine’s work with respect to asset and debt management. As for Conine’s 2022 commitment to divest from assault weapon manufacturers, Dalia said he would not overturn it, describing it as a “good line in the sand.”

Dalia said a key example of the type of legislation he’d like to bring if elected is the Homegrown Opportunity Act, which he announced earlier this summer in a joint op-ed with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA). As proposed, the act would convert unused commercial real estate properties into residential units for entrepreneurs, and provide two years’ worth of housing, food and services in exchange for starting a business. The plan calls for 75 percent of the housing to be reserved for low-income Nevadans.

“It's so important that we find solutions to our housing market, and I think it's important that we build a homegrown ecosystem of entrepreneurship,” Dalia said. “There are a lot of folks in our economy that could hang their own shingle and add new dimensions to our overall economy, but they are stuck just trying to get by.”

He also suggested that if elected, his office could seek to amend a section of the state Constitution to allow the state to lend entrepreneurs money to get their businesses off the ground in exchange for the state holding an equity interest in that business. He said that the loans would help entrepreneurs who don’t have enough assets to otherwise secure a loan.

Dalia, who moved to Henderson with his family when he was 10, was the first member of his family to graduate with a four-year collegiate degree, earning his bachelor’s degree from Boston University in political science and economics. He then served as the chief operating officer and chief financial officer of the small startup Ludiscope, a video game event app, before attending and graduating from the University of Michigan Law School in 2017. Since earning his law degree, he has worked as a privacy and technology attorney. Dalia lives in Henderson with his wife, Marina, and three daughters, Vivian, Audrey and Sloane.

When he dropped his daughter off at his old elementary school last year, Dalia said it reminded him of the importance of continuing opportunities for the next generation. 

Dalia said he doesn’t yet have a solution to the long-term solvency of the Millennium Scholarship, a merit scholarship for Nevada high school graduates that pays up to $10,000 in tuition for in-state colleges. The program, which was established with tobacco settlement dollars in 1999, has served more than 177,000 Nevada students. But Conine warned earlier in the year that dramatic steps would need to be taken to make it financially solvent as revenues from tobacco products decrease.

Though he’s only served one term in the Assembly, and won't be seeking re-election, Dalia said the position of treasurer has historically not been held by people who served in public office. He noted that even without his time in office, he was qualified for the role, given his nearly a decade as an attorney in the venture capital and technology industry, as well as his background in economics and experience working in a startup. 

“That legislative experience is yet another dimension to my qualifications,” Dalia said. “I now understand intimately the process of getting a bill through, of getting an economic and financial agenda through, and I can leverage that experience to be a force multiplier in this office.”

This story was updated on 9/3/2025 at 6:39 a.m. to include the names of Dalia's family members.