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These female politicians are shattering the glass ceiling in Nevada

It’s a historic election year in the U.S., and for voters in Nevada, doubly so. Not only is there a woman at the top of the ticket for a major political party, but voters in Assembly District 29 (the area that encompasses part of Clark County) can choose a whole roster of women up and down the ballot for the first time ever on November 8.

Former Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto is running in a hotly contested race to fill Sen. Harry Reid’s Senate seat. If she wins, she’ll be the first Latina U.S. senator in history. Refreshingly, Nevada women making history isn’t new; the first Latina woman in the U.S. House of Representatives was Barbara Vucanovich, who was elected back in 1983 and remained in her seat until 1997.

This year it isn’t just the presidential and Senate spots that are dominated by strong women. Down from the top of the ticket, Democrats in Assembly District 29 are putting forward a mix of political veterans and hopefuls. Joyce Woodhouse is running for state Senate, bringing a decade of experience as the state senator in Clark County District 5. Newcomer Jacky Rosen is running for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, and family law attorney Lesley Cohen is running for State Assembly.

“I really like to think that this is the century of the woman,” Stephanie Schriock, the president of Emily’s List, told VICE News at an interview in Nevada. “We are here to add new perspectives to our governing tables, and as I sit here in Nevada, I think about some of these amazing women who are running for the Assembly and the state Senate this year who have never brought those type of perspectives to the debates here in Nevada. And, who knows? The future president might be standing in this room today.”

But it’s not just Democrats — the Republicans have some strong female candidates of their own, including Victoria Seaman, the first Latina Republican elected to the Nevada Assembly, who’s running this year for State Senate District 6. VICE News spoke to her, along with other women running in the state, to find out how much of a boy’s club attitude still lingers in Nevada — or if women have made serious dents in the state’s glass ceiling.