The Human Rights Campaign PAC (HRC PAC) announced its endorsement of Senator Catherine Cortez Masto in her reelection to the U.S. Senate. Senator Cortez Masto, who was first elected in 2016, is the first Latina elected to the Senate.

“Since entering the Senate in 2017, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto has stood tall fighting for LGBTQ+ equality and continues to be a fierce advocate for the marginalized. Nevadans are fortunate to have Senator Cortez Masto fighting on their behalf,” said Human Rights Campaign Interim President Joni Madison. “Senator Cortez Masto has championed the essential federal non-discrimination protections in the Equality Act and worked to make Nevada and the nation, a better and safer place for all, proving herself as a leader and an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. We are proud to endorse Senator Cortez Masto for reelection.”

“Throughout my career in the Senate, I have consistently fought to both protect and expand the rights of the LGBTQ+ community,” said Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. “I look forward to continuing to work with the Human Rights Campaign to advocate for the fundamental freedoms of communities in Nevada that face discrimination.”

A Record as a Champion of Equality

Senator Cortez Masto has received near-perfect scores on HRC’s congressional scorecards since taking her seat in 2017. She is a three-time cosponsor of the Equality Act, legislation to create explicit non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people across key areas of life. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she pushed for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to collect data on sexual orientation and gender identity to ensure the LGBTQ+ community’s needs were understood and met and she’s supported LGBTQ+ rights abroad with her support of the International Human Rights Defense Act, legislation directing the Department of State to continue defending the human rights of LGBTQ+ people around the world.

HRC’s Commitment to Nevada

Equality Voters, including the 700,000+ in Nevada, are a voting bloc of demographically and geographically diverse Americans who are united by the advancement of LGBTQ+ equality. Equality Voters are younger, more racially diverse, and more female than the general electorate, they recognize and trust the HRC brand, and they are more likely to identify with issue-specific organizations than candidates or political parties.

Across the country, HRC PAC works every day to elect pro-equality leaders who support policies that will support the rights and lives of LGBTQ+ people. During the 2020 election cycle, HRC staff on the ground recruited 5,800 individual volunteers nationwide who completed 28,500 hours of voter contact in more than 2,650 volunteer events. HRC engaged in robust digital and online GOTV efforts, including sending over 2.7 million person-to-person text messages, a massive increase from 2018 when approximately 500,000 texts were sent. HRC sent over 2.5 million mail pieces, had over 930,000 phone conversations with voters, and engaged more than 200,000 voters through HRC’s voter dashboard at hrc.org/vote.