Nevada Becomes The First State With A Female Majority Legislature

By Ava Wrubel

Nevada became the first U.S. state with an overall female majority in its legislative branch on Tuesday, December 18th, when Nevada appointed two women to fill vacancies in the state’s assembly. The Clark County Board of Commissioners appointed two women, putting Nevada’s legislature in the history books. Commissioners chose Beatrice Angela Duran, the Culinary Union grievance specialist to take over for Assemblywoman Olivia Diaz. Diaz had previously resigned in December so that she could run for a seat on the Las Vegas City Council. They also selected Las Vegas attorney, Rochelle Nguyen to replace Assemblyman Chris Brooks, who was appointed to state Senate in November. Duran and Nguyen are both democrats. Women will now hold nine of twentyone seats in the state senate, falling short of the majority in that area. But, they will hold twenty-four of forty-two seats in the assembly, compromising over half and giving women enough numbers to make the two chambers an overall female majority. Women picked up seats in the Nevada assembly and senate during the 2018 November election but fell short of an overall majority. Vacancies created by lawmakers who won elections to other offices in November then allowed women to gain additional seats, which therefore lead to women gaining the majority position of the legislature.