LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui is running for lieutenant governor, pointing to a decade in the Legislature and 17 years working in housing policy as she makes affordability the centerpiece of her campaign.
Jauregui said she has served in the Nevada State Legislature for 10 years, including the last four as Assembly Majority Leader. She said she has carried bills on expanding access to voting and on health care costs, including a $35 cap on the cost of insulin.
Jauregui said she spent 17 years in housing policy professionally and has worked on housing legislation since she was first elected, citing homeownership as a path to generational wealth.
Housing affordability
Jauregui said that as lieutenant governor she would preside over the Senate and work with the Senate majority, which she expects to remain Democratic, on housing policy.
Jauregui said she hopes to reintroduce policies in the 2027 legislative session that passed in 2023 and 2025 but were vetoed by the governor, including a bill to end corporate homeownership. She said corporations and hedge funds own 375,000 homes in Nevada.
Jauregui said she has carried bills to reduce local government regulations on homebuilding to increase housing supply. She said she worked with Southern Nevada home builders and local governments on processes to bring more homes to market.
Jauregui said she was the lead legislator working with Gov. Joe Lombardo on Assembly Bill 540, the Attainable Housing Fund, in 2025.
Working across party lines
Jauregui said most bills passed by the Legislature are bipartisan and said she plans to work with whoever holds the governor’s office, citing Aaron Ford and Joe Lombardo by name.
Jauregui said that when policies she believes would benefit Nevada families are vetoed, such as ending corporate homeownership or universal school breakfast and lunch, she will make Nevadans aware and encourage them to pressure the governor.
Jauregui said housing affordability is not a partisan issue. She said she has traveled to multiple parts of the state, including Elko, Reno and Henderson, and heard consistent concerns from residents about housing costs. She said the average age of a homebuyer is now 41.
Tourism downturn
Jauregui, who would chair the Nevada Commission on Tourism as lieutenant governor, said tourism is the state’s economic engine. She said Canadian tourism to Nevada is down 30% and that visitor spending declined by more than $4 billion in 2025.
Jauregui said she would respond to the downturn by increasing marketing spending in Canada and said Nevada should communicate that it does not agree with federal policies affecting Canadian visitors.
Education funding
Asked about Clark County School District’s budget deficit and school funding, Jauregui said revenue from the state’s 2016 recreational marijuana tax has gone toward education. She said a scheduling issue initially delayed a portion of marijuana tax revenue from reaching the education budget, with funds held in the state’s rainy day account until the following legislative session, when the law was changed to direct the funds to education.
Jauregui said she supports more transparency in how school districts spend state funding once it is distributed to them. She said in the 2023 and 2025 sessions, lawmakers held back funds designated for teacher pay raises in a contingency account until school districts presented negotiated contracts before releasing the funds.
Data centers
Jauregui said Nevada needs a role in setting regulations for data centers. She said she supports requirements including no tax abatements for data centers, requiring data centers to pay for their own energy and infrastructure, requiring use of reclaimed water with full water recycling, community input on site selection, and use of union labor.
Jauregui said she expects data center legislation to be introduced in the next legislative session and said she supports statewide leadership on the issue rather than separate policies by county or city.
Gun violence prevention
Jauregui, a survivor of the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas, said she has focused on preventing a similar incident following that attack. She said her gun violence prevention legislation is focused on keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous individuals.
Jauregui said Nevada became the first state to ban ghost guns, which she said allow people to circumvent background checks. She said Nevada also banned bump stocks at the state level after a federal regulation on bump stocks was rolled back, noting bump stocks were used in the Oct. 1 shooting.
Jauregui said the state passed child safe storage laws, extreme risk protection orders allowing courts to temporarily remove firearms from a household, and a reduction in the blood alcohol content allowed while in possession of a firearm.
Voter ID
Asked whether Nevada should have voter ID, Jauregui said the decision is up to Nevada voters, noting the measure passed with significant support in the last election and will again go before voters this election.
Campaign pitch
Asked why voters should choose her for lieutenant governor, Jauregui pointed to her 10 years in the Legislature, saying she has worked on homeownership access, capping prescription drug costs and bringing universal school breakfast and lunch to students statewide.
“I’m going to continue fighting for Nevada families as lieutenant governor, the way I have for the last 10 years in the legislature,” Jauregui said.
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