Cortez Masto, Catherine

Catherine Cortez Masto represents Nevada in the U.S. Senate as a Democrat and serves as ranking member on two Senate subcommittees: Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection under the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Public Lands, Forests, and Mining under the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. As ranking member, she leads the Democratic opposition on these panels, shaping debate and directing minority party strategy on financial regulation, consumer protection, public lands policy, and natural resource management. Her background uniquely positions her for this work: she served as Nevada's attorney general from 2007 to 2015, where she built a record on financial oversight, including a major 2012 settlement with Bank of America over deceptive lending practices and a 2010 investigation into the company's interest rate practices affecting troubled borrowers. Before that, she worked as both a civil attorney and criminal prosecutor, including two years with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., giving her substantial experience in financial crimes and consumer protection law. Cortez Masto was elected to the Senate in 2016, becoming the first woman and first Latina to represent Nevada in the upper chamber, and was reelected in 2022. Her legislative focus spans financial regulation, energy policy, and public lands conservation, reflecting Nevada's economic and environmental priorities.