Catherine Marie Cortez Masto, a remarkable American lawyer and politician, has been serving as the senior United States senator from Nevada since 2017. A dedicated member of the Democratic Party, Cortez Masto previously held the office of the 32nd attorney general of Nevada from 2007 to 2015.
Cortez Masto's academic background includes a degree from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law. Prior to her political career, she worked as a civil attorney in Las Vegas for four years and as a criminal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C. for two years.
In 2006, Cortez Masto was elected as Nevada's attorney general, succeeding George Chanos, and was re-elected in 2010. However, due to lifetime term limits established by the Constitution of Nevada, she was not eligible to run for a third term in 2014.
Cortez Masto's remarkable political journey continued in 2016, when she narrowly defeated Republican Joe Heck in the United States Senate election in Nevada, becoming the first woman elected to represent Nevada in the Senate and the first Latina elected to serve in the upper chamber. She took office on January 3, 2017.
In January 2019, Cortez Masto became Nevada's senior senator, following Dean Heller's departure from the Senate after his defeat. She was re-elected in 2022, narrowly defeating Republican nominee Adam Laxalt, and continues to serve as Nevada's senior senator.
