LAS VEGAS (AP) - Assemblywoman Lucy Flores announced her candidacy Saturday in the high-stakes race for Nevada lieutenant governor, pledging to be a voice for the middle class.
The Las Vegas Democrat made the announcement to a group of supporters on the campus of the College of Southern Nevada, which she attended after dropping out of Rancho High School in Las Vegas and becoming a gang member.
One of 13 children in a low-income Hispanic family, Flores went on to turn her life around, graduating from the University of Southern California and law school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“I’m here to bring a vision and a voice to Nevada that hasn’t been heard before,” said Flores, a 34-year-old attorney. “I’m here so that every community in Nevada has a leader who understands the challenges we face.”
Flores drew immediate support from several key Nevada Democrats, including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Reps. Dina Titus and Steven Horsford, Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick and state Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis. They cited her efforts as a lawmaker to improve the state’s education system and economic opportunity for the middle class.
“Lucy Flores is the only candidate in this race who understands the struggles Nevada families face and will work tirelessly to improve the lives of the middle class,” Reid said in a statement. “Lucy’s story is an inspiration for thousands of Nevadans who are living paycheck to paycheck, who don’t know where their next meal will come from, or who simply strive to provide their children with a better life than they themselves inherited.”
The lieutenant governor’s race could become a springboard to the governor’s mansion should Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval win re-election this year and decide to seek national office in 2016.
Sandoval has endorsed Republican state Sen. Mark Hutchison in that race, but he’s being challenged by Sue Lowden, a former state senator who lost to tea party-backed Sharron Angle in a crowded GOP primary field in Nevada’s 2010 U.S. Senate race that saw Reid win re-election.
Flores, who is in her second two-year term in the Assembly, said Nevada needs more from a lieutenant governor, whose official duties are limited to tourism and economic development and presiding over the state Senate.
“They deserve an advocate, a community leader and a creative problem-solver,” she said. “Nevada needs more perspectives at the table because that brings about better policies for more people.”
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