Nicole Cannizzaro is a member of the Nevada State Senate, representing District 6. She assumed office on November 9, 2016. Her current term ends on November 8, 2028. Cannizzaro was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. She graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Nevada Reno and with a J.D. from the University of Nevada Las Vegas Boyd School of Law. After law school Cannizzaro worked as a civil litigator and began working for the office of the Clark County District Attorney in 2011. Cannizzaro first ran for office in 2016 when she won election to District 6 of the Nevada State Senate, defeating Victoria Seaman 50.9%-49.1%. Democrats flipped both chambers of the Nevada Legislature in 2016. Talking about why she ran for office, Cannizzaro said, "As someone who benefitted [sic] from the community around me, I found myself engaged by the very issues that were so instrumental to my own experience; things like giving students a quality education, ensuring good paying jobs exist here and supporting working families." In March 2019, the state senate's Democratic Caucus unanimously voted to elect Cannizzaro as state Senate majority leader after the resignation of Kelvin Atkinson. She became the first woman to hold the position.
