Candice Helfand-Rogers | Story Exchange
What happens to candidates for local office who end up running against the biggest political machines in their state?
Selena La Rue Hatch is about to find out. She currently represents Nevada’s 25th district in the State Assembly. And outside of that – since the office is a part-time gig in the Silver State – she’s also a teacher. “That’s why I ran” in the first place, she told The Story Exchange. “I saw all of the issues in the community through the lens of my kiddos, my students.”
When she launched that first campaign for State Assembly back in 2022, she was running to fill an open seat. It wasn’t a walk in the park, but her then-opponent’s right-wing culture-war messaging ultimately proved unappealing to the district’s voters, and she won by seven points.