Assemblywoman Erica Roth

• The freshman Reno Democrat succeeds Assemblywoman Sarah Peters (D-Reno), who did not run for re-election in 2024.
• She represents District 24, which includes UNR, Reno’s Midtown area, portions of the city’s Old Southwest neighborhood, many of Reno’s casinos and the Reno-Tahoe International Airport. 
• The plurality of active voters in the district are registered Democrats (about 35 percent). Nonpartisan voters comprise the second-largest share of registered voters at 34 percent. Nearly 21 percent are registered as Republicans, and 10 percent are with minor or other parties.
• Roth defeated Republican Terisia Kolesnick by more than 26 percentage points in the 2024 general election.
• She is a member of the commerce, judiciary and revenue committees. 

Profile

Speaking at the Northern Nevada Literacy Council adult education graduation ceremony last winter, Erica Roth knew what the graduates were experiencing. 

Before she tried her first case in front of a jury, received her law degree or started her first job at a law firm, she had to accomplish the same task those graduates were celebrating.

“I am both a lawyer and a high school dropout. An advocate for the community, and a young woman who needed an advocate,” Roth, 35, said. “A champion for justice and someone who needed a champion.”

A little more than a year after the speech, sitting in the corner of a small Indigenous-owned coffee shop in her district, Roth said she ran for office to help people failed by the system and who might not otherwise have a voice in politics.

“I attended elementary, middle and high school in the state of Nevada and was a student who fell through the cracks,” Roth said. “I was drawn back to this community to provide the services I felt I needed as a kid growing up. And I take that very seriously.”

Born in San Francisco, Roth moved to Carson City when she was 7. She said her father, an elementary school teacher, and her mother, a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 IATSE, taught her the power of collective action and serving others. 

She attended schools in Carson City but after her father died, did not complete her high school graduation requirements.

Eventually, Roth earned her high school equivalency degree, then went on to complete an undergraduate degree in sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law, focusing on public interest law.

“I had a tough time growing up. I came from a relatively unstable household, and I've always felt this deep conviction to push back on institutions that aren't serving people, and to stand up for the little guy,” she said. 

Roth said the district is lucky to have a legacy of great lawmakers. She said her predecessor, former Assemblywoman Sarah Peters (D-Reno), cared deeply about mental health and that she wants to carry that torch forward, including proposing a measure this session to help ensure people within the criminal justice system receive timely mental health treatment.

As someone who worked in the Legislature as a lobbyist on behalf of the Washoe County Public Defender’s Office and as a former deputy general counsel to a governor, Roth has experienced the 120-day session from different angles. 

With a Democrat-controlled Legislature and a Republican governor, Roth said there’s often bipartisan agreement on issues the state faces but disagreement around solutions. 

She wants to start from a place of mutual understanding that everybody is working to make the community better. For example, she said legislators agree that there’s a mental health crisis in Nevada and she’s hoping the mental health bill she wants to propose resonates with her colleagues on either side of the aisle.

From a very young age, she said her father — who was born in 1941 in Nazi-occupied eastern France — instilled in her the importance of community service and upholding the tenets of democracy. She said those values underscore her work.

“I think about those tenets because I know the consequences when we as a community and society fall behind in that respect,” Roth said. “At my core, I believe in service to my community, and that work is ingrained in who I am.”

On the issues

Opportunity Scholarships 

Roth said students receiving Opportunity Scholarships — income-based state scholarships for students to attend private or religious schools — should be able to continue in the program, noting that not doing so would be too disruptive to their education. But she said extending the program would essentially allow public dollars (the program is funded by donations from private companies that receive an equivalent tax write-off) to continue to be allocated to private corporations without oversight. 

“Our public schools should always be the priority when allocating public dollars,” Roth said.

Health care

Roth said her priorities are fighting to lower prescription drug costs and expanding health care access overall. 

She is bringing a bill to hide the addresses of reproductive health care providers’ home addresses for their safety and another measure to reduce wait times for treatment aimed at restoring competency for people who are arrested and experiencing mental health issues. 

“It’s been a decade-long problem that we have been dealing with in this state,” Roth said. “It touches on the housing crisis, it touches on the mental health crisis, it touches on public safety.”

Elections

Following Gov. Joe Lombardo’s call to only count mail ballots received by the time polls close on Election Day, Roth said she is skeptical of any proposals limiting access to the ballot box.

Housing

Roth, who owns rental property, said the current summary eviction process (which requires tenants to make the first filing in an eviction case) doesn’t favor Nevadans struggling during the housing crisis. 

She said more than half of Assembly District 24 residents are renters, and the housing crisis significantly burdens them. Lawmakers worked to change the summary eviction process in 2023, but the effort was vetoed by the governor. 

“I look forward to advocating for increased protections this legislative session to ensure fairness and justice in the summary eviction process,” she said.