Catherine Cortez Masto

Cortez Masto declined to run for Governor of Nevada in the 2014 election.[22] When U.S. Senator Harry Reid decided not to run for reelection in the 2016 election, he endorsed her as his successor.[4] Cortez Masto's campaign relied heavily on the political infrastructure Reid had assembled.[23] Her Republican opponent was U.S. Representative Joe Heck.

Cortez Masto, who supports increased investments in renewable energy technology, was supported by the League of Conservation Voters.[24] She was also financially supported by End Citizens United, a political action committee seeking to overturn Citizens United v. FEC, and pro-choice groups such as EMILY's List and Planned Parenthood.[25]

Cortez Masto won 47% of the vote (520,658 votes) to Heck's 45% (494,427 votes). While Heck carried 16 of Nevada's counties and its equivalents, Cortez Masto won Clark County, home to over 70% of the state's population, by over 82,000 votes, almost three times her statewide margin of 27,000 votes.[1] She took office on January 3, 2017, becoming the first Latina in the U.S. Senate.[26]

117th Congress (2021-present)

Cortez Masto was participating in the certification of the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. She was on the Senate floor, preparing to speak, when the Capitol was breached. Cortez Masto could hear the attackers just outside the chamber, which was secured by Capitol Police. As the attackers neared the chamber, she and her fellow senators were moved to an undisclosed secure location.[27] Cortez Masto tweeted while sheltering in place, calling the attack "un-American and unacceptable."[28]

• Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Economic Policy (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection
  • Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
• Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Energy
  • Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests and Mining
• Committee on Rules and Administration
• Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
  • Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet
  • Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance and Data Security
• Committee on Indian Affairs
• Special Committee on Aging

• Congressional Hispanic Caucus[29]
• Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues

In April 2019, Cortez Masto was one of 34 senators to sign a letter to President Trump encouraging him "to listen to members of your own Administration and reverse a decision that will damage our national security and aggravate conditions inside Central America", asserting that he had "consistently expressed a flawed understanding of U.S. foreign assistance" since taking office and that he was "personally undermining efforts to promote U.S. national security and economic prosperity" by preventing the use of Fiscal Year 2018 national security funding. The senators argued that foreign assistance to Central American countries created less migration to the U.S. by helping to improve conditions in those countries.[30]

Cortez Masto recognizes the existence of human-caused climate change and believes that the federal government should limit power plants' greenhouse gas emissions.[31] She supports the growth of green jobs and increasing Nevada's reliance on solar power and other forms of clean energy. She opposes the use of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository.[32]

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has given Cortez Masto a F grade because of her support for gun control. During the 2016 election, the organization spent $1 million on an attack ad against her. Cortez Masto opposes allowing people on the terrorist watchlist to buy guns, saying that "makes no sense."[33]

In response to the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, she co-sponsored a bill with Dianne Feinstein to ban bump stocks. She said that it can be a start toward decreasing gun violence and mass shootings.[34]

Cortez Masto does not support the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare).[31] She does support improving upon the act, which she has called "imperfect." She has co-sponsored the Marketplace Certainty Act to bring more stability to the health insurance marketplace.[35]

In December 2018, Cortez Masto was one of 42 senators to sign a letter to Trump administration officials Alex Azar, Seema Verma, and Steve Mnuchin arguing that the administration was improperly using Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act to authorize states to "increase health care costs for millions of consumers while weakening protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions." The senators requested the administration withdraw the policy and "re-engage with stakeholders, states, and Congress."[36]

In April 2019, Cortez Masto was one of 41 senators to sign a bipartisan letter to the housing subcommittee praising the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 4 Capacity Building program as authorizing "HUD to partner with national nonprofit community development organizations to provide education, training, and financial support to local community development corporations (CDCs) across the country" and expressing disappointment that Trump's budget "has slated this program for elimination after decades of successful economic and community development." The senators wrote of their hope that the subcommittee would support continued funding for Section 4 in Fiscal Year 2020.[37]

In April 2018, Cortez Masto was one of five senators to send a letter to acting director of ICE Thomas Homan about standards the agency uses to determine how to detain a pregnant woman, requesting that pregnant women not be held in custody except in extraordinary cases after reports "that ICE has failed to provide critical medical care to pregnant women in immigration detention—resulting in miscarriages and other negative health outcomes".[38]

In June 2019, following the Housing and Urban Development Department's confirmation that DACA recipients did not meet eligibility for federal backed loans, Cortez Masto and 11 other senators introduced The Home Ownership Dreamers Act, legislation that mandated that the federal government was not authorized to deny mortgage loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or the Agriculture Department solely due to applicants' immigration status.[39]

In July 2019, Cortez Masto and 15 other Senate Democrats introduced the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, which mandated that ICE agents get approval from a supervisor ahead of engaging in enforcement actions at sensitive locations except in special circumstances, and that agents receive annual training in addition to being required to report annually on enforcement actions in those locations.[40]

Cortez Masto supports same-sex marriage.[31]

Cortez Masto is pro-choice.[31] In the 2016 election, she was endorsed by Planned Parenthood and funded by their action fund.[41]

Additionally, she does not believe that companies should be allowed to withhold coverage for birth control based on religious beliefs.[31]

In October 2017, Cortez Masto condemned the genocide of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar and called for a stronger response to the crisis.[42]

She cosponsored the bipartisan STATES Act proposed in the 115th U.S. Congress by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Colorado Senator Cory Gardner that would exempt individuals or corporations in compliance with state cannabis laws from federal enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act.[43]