The Democratic Party’s Catherine Cortez Masto, 58, has been voted to a second term in office as a Nevada Senator, defeating the Republican Party’s Adam Laxalt. Her crucial win will help the Democrats retain control of the US Senate.
Cortez Masto is the first-ever Latina Senator of the United States. She first won her seat in 2016.
Who is Catherine Cortez Masto?
Catherine Cortez Masto was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 29, 1964. Her parents are Joanna and Manny Cortez. Her father was the head of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Cortez Masto studied at Ed W. Clark High School in Las Vegas, and attended the University of Nevada, Reno for her undergraduate studies in finance. She also attained a Juris Doctor degree from the Gonzaga University School of Law.
Cortez Masto began her professional career in 1990, on being admitted to the State Bar of Nevada. She was later admitted to Nevada’s U.S. District Court in 1991 and in 1994, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
She defeated the GOP’s Don Chairez in 2006 to become Nevada’s Attorney General. During her tenure, Cortez Masto’s office led an investigation against the Bank of America as well as then lieutenant governor of the state, Brian Krolicki of the Republican Party.
The newly re-elected Senator defeated U.S. Representative Joe Heck in 2016 and was sworn into her office by the then-former VP, Joe Biden. She had earlier declined to run for the position of Nevada governor in 2014.
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According to her official website, Cortez Masto “sits on the Committee on Finance; the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; and the Committee on Indian Affairs. Cortez Masto currently serves as the chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee.”
