Nicole Cannizzaro

Nicole Cannizzaro

Democratic Party

Candidate, Attorney General of Nevada

Nevada State Senate District 6

Tenure

2016 - Present

Term ends

2028

Years in position

8

Predecessor

Mark Lipparelli

Compensation

Base salary

$130/legislative day

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 5, 2024

Next election

November 3, 2026

Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Personal Facebook

Personal Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Nicole Cannizzaro (Democratic Party) 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 (R) 50.9%-49.1%. Democrats flipped both chambers of the Nevada Legislature in 2016. She won re-election in 2020 with 50.5% of the vote, and in 2024 with 50.7%. 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 (D). She became the first woman to hold the position.

In March 2023, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Cannizzaro introduced a constitutional amendment to codify the state's existing abortion law — restricting abortion rights after 24 weeks — in the state constitution, thereby making it more difficult to overturn. The amendment passed the legislature in 2023 and would need to pass the legislature again in 2025 before appearing on voter's ballots.

In December 2024, Cannizzaro pre-filed a bill for the 2025 legislative session that proposed a $500 million plan to restructure parts of the state's education system, including establishing universal pre-K for all 4 year-olds, eliminating redundant reporting requirements, and creating standards for administrator-to-teacher staffing ratios.

During Cannizarro's time in the legislature, Nevada had a divided government from 2016-2018, and Democrats held trifecta control from 2019-2022. After the election of Joe Lombardo (R) in 2022, the state returned to a divided government. Democrats maintained control of both chambers of the Nevada Legislature throughout Cannizzaro's tenure.

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.

2023-2024

Cannizzaro was assigned to the following committees:

• Finance Committee, Vice Chair
• Senate Legislative Operations and Elections Committee

2021-2022

Cannizzaro was assigned to the following committees:

• Finance Committee
• Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice chair
• Senate Legislative Operations and Elections Committee

2019-2020

Cannizzaro was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Commerce and Labor Committee
• Senate Judiciary Committee, Chair

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Nevada committee assignments, 2017
• Commerce, Labor and Energy
• Judiciary, Vice chair
• Legislative Operations and Elections, Chair

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2026

See also: Nevada Attorney General election, 2026

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for Attorney General of Nevada

Nicole Cannizzaro, Zach Conine, and Danny Tarkanian are running in the general election for Attorney General of Nevada on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Nicole Cannizzaro (D)
		Zach Conine (D)
		Danny Tarkanian (R)

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

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2024

See also: Nevada State Senate elections, 2024

General election

General election for Nevada State Senate District 6

Incumbent Nicole Cannizzaro defeated Jill Douglass and Brad Barnhill in the general election for Nevada State Senate District 6 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nicole Cannizzaro (D)	51.7	37,171
	Submit photo	Jill Douglass (R)	45.5	32,730
	Submit photo	Brad Barnhill (Independent American Party)	2.8	2,017

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 71,918
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Nicole Cannizzaro advanced from the Democratic primary for Nevada State Senate District 6.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Nevada State Senate District 6

Jill Douglass defeated Joshua Stacy in the Republican primary for Nevada State Senate District 6 on June 11, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Jill Douglass	72.0	5,508
		Joshua Stacy	28.0	2,144

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,652
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Cannizzaro in this election.

2020

See also: Nevada State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Nevada State Senate District 6

Incumbent Nicole Cannizzaro defeated April Becker in the general election for Nevada State Senate District 6 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nicole Cannizzaro (D)	50.5	33,895
		April Becker (R)	49.5	33,264

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 67,159
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Nicole Cannizzaro advanced from the Democratic primary for Nevada State Senate District 6.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. April Becker advanced from the Republican primary for Nevada State Senate District 6.

2016

See also: Nevada State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for the Nevada State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on June 14, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 18, 2016. Incumbent Mark Lipparelli (R) did not seek re-election.

Nicole Cannizzaro defeated Victoria Seaman in the Nevada State Senate District 6 general election.

Nevada State Senate, District 6 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Nicole Cannizzaro	50.92%	28,733
	Republican	Victoria Seaman	49.08%	27,697
Total Votes				56,430
Source: Nevada Secretary of State

Nicole Cannizzaro ran unopposed in the Nevada State Senate District 6 Democratic primary.

Nevada State Senate District 6, Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Democratic	Nicole Cannizzaro  (unopposed)

Victoria Seaman defeated Erv Nelson in the Nevada State Senate District 6 Republican primary.

Nevada State Senate District 6, Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Victoria Seaman	62.79%	3,894
	Republican	Erv Nelson	37.21%	2,308
Total Votes				6,202

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Nicole Cannizzaro has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. Send a message to Nicole Cannizzaro asking her to fill out the survey. If you are Nicole Cannizzaro, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

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2024

Nicole Cannizzaro did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Nicole Cannizzaro did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Obama endorsement
During the 2016 election cycle Cannizzaro was one of the candidates endorsed by President Barack Obama
Full list of Obama's 2016 endorsements

Cannizzaro's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

“

Economy and Working Families: Building our economy requires us to support our local and small businesses. We need to support Nevadans who are willing to take a risk and start a new business. Education: It is no secret that the Clark County School District underperforms compared to other districts across the nation, and there is no single solution that will solve every problem within our public schools. Higher Education: Ensuring access to quality higher education is imperative to the success of our students and our state. I will support efforts to tackle the issue of student debt by providing Nevadans with more options to refinance loans, and will focus on efforts to keep our universities, colleges, and community colleges affordable. Job Training: I will support legislation to expand training programs and apprenticeships for Nevada’s students. Energy and Environment: Nevada has abundant renewable natural resources, and we should capitalize on them as a means of reducing our greenhouse emissions and spurring new economic growth. Nevada has the opportunity to be a national clean energy leader and even has the potential to export clean energy to other states.

”

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Nicole Cannizzaro campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Nevada State Senate District 6	Won general	$1,718,760	$0
2020	Nevada State Senate District 6	Won general	$1,364,250	N/A**
2016	Nevada State Senate, District 6	Won	$624,919	N/A**
Grand total			$3,707,929	N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Recall campaign

See also: Nicole Cannizzaro recall, Nevada State Senate (2018)

In August 2017, an effort to recall Sen. Cannizzaro was launched. The recall petition did not give an official reason for the recall against Sen. Cannizzaro. The recall was initiated by Neil Roth, Claire Roth, and Kathryn McKenzie. The recall sought to replace Cannizzaro with Republican April Becker. Two other Nevada state senators, Patricia Farley (nonpartisan) and Joyce Woodhouse (D), also had recall petitions filed against them. The recall against Sen. Farley ended on November 9, 2017, after recall supporters submitted insufficient signatures. On April 9, 2018, recall officials determined neither the Woodhouse or Cannizzaro recall campaigns had the required number of signatures to qualify for the ballot. According to documents filed by Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske (R) on April 6, each recall fell short of the signature threshold by at least 1,500 signatures. More than 2,300 people were removed from the recall petitions after Clark County District Judge Jerry Wiese ruled on March 15, 2018, that they could withdraw their names.

Recall supporters appealed Judge Wiese's decision and on April 19, 2019, the state Supreme rejected that appeal. The lawyers in the case argued over the constitutionality of allowing people to remove their names from a recall petition after it had already been turned in to state officials. The court said that Judge Wiese was correct in his decision to order a full recount of the signatures on the Woodhouse and Cannizzaro recall petitions. The court's decision officially ended the recalls against the two state senators.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Nevada

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Nevada scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show].
In 2024, the Nevada State Legislature was not in session.

2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].

In 2023, the Nevada State Legislature was in session from February 6 to June 5. Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada Legislators are scored on their stances on policies related to reproductive health issues. Nevada Conservation League: Senate and Assembly Legislators are scored on environment and conservation issues. Nevada Policy Research Institute Legislators are scored on their voting record concerning economic and education issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2022

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show].
In 2022, the Nevada State Legislature was not in session.

2021

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show].

In 2021, the Nevada State Legislature was in session from February 1 to June 1. Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada Legislators are scored on their stances on policies related to reproductive health issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues. Nevada Conservation League: Senate and Assembly Legislators are scored on environment and conservation issues. Nevada Policy Research Institute Legislators are scored on their voting record concerning economic and education issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2020

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show].
In 2020, the Nevada State Legislature was not in session. It was in special session from July 8 to July 19 and from July 31 to August 5. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

2019

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show].

In 2019, the Nevada State Legislature was in session from February 4 through June 3. American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada Legislators are scored on their votes on bills relating to civil liberties. Nevada Conservation League: Senate and Assembly Legislators are scored on environment and conservation issues. Nevada Policy Research Institute Legislators are scored on their voting record concerning economic and education issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2018

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show].
In 2018, the Nevada State Legislature did not hold a regular session.

2017

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show].

In 2017, the Nevada State Legislature was in session from February 6 through June 5. American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada Legislators are scored on their votes on bills relating to civil liberties. Nevada Conservation League: Senate and Assembly Legislators are scored on environment and conservation issues. Nevada Policy Research Institute Legislators are scored on their voting record concerning economic and education issues. RenewNV Legislators are scored on their votes on energy issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2016

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show].
In 2016, the Nevada State Legislature did not hold a regular session.

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Mark Lipparelli (R)	Nevada State Senate District 6 2016-Present	Succeeded by -

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