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Was Nevada the first state to elect a Latina US senator?

By Kristyn Leonard
YES

Catherine Cortez Masto became the first Latina elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016.

She won 47% of the vote, defeating Republican Joe Heck and filling the seat left open by Harry Reid, who had retired.

Cortez Masto previously served two terms as Nevada’s attorney general and was only the second woman to hold that office when elected in 2007.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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