LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto reflected on working inside the U.S. Capitol the day rioters descended on the building as Congress certified the 2020 election.
Cortez Masto was on the floor of the U.S. Senate when armed protesters breached the building. The senator was about to give a speech about the validity of the election.
Three years later, the Nevada senator, who voters re-elected in 2022, said democracy remains on the minds of Americans.
“That played out in my re-election, that’s one of the reasons why I got re-elected and it wasn’t just Democrats it was just people, Americans,” Cortez Masto said. “I don’t care if you’re Democrat, Republican, Independent, man, woman, it was this visceral emotion that people have about that and they want to protect, rightfully so, our democracy.”
After the Capitol breach, Cortez Masto shared photos of the aftermath, showing her disheveled and looted office.
The events of Jan. 6 led to former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment. Cortez Masto and seven Republicans voted Trump guilty.
Six Nevada Republicans who submitted fake electoral certificates claiming Trump won the 2020 election have pleaded not guilty to the state charges filed against them.
Late last year, a Clark County grand jury indicted the group on charges of offering a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument, stemming from the submission of the documents in 2020. Both charges are felonies.
