To fill the vacant lieutenant governor slot, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak picked an expert in the hot-button issue of education.
Longtime Clark County educator Lisa Cano Burkhead will fill the remainder of the term of former Lt. Gov. Kate Marshall, who resigned to take a job in the Biden administration.
"I plan to be a voice for educators, students, and parents, those that we want to prioritize if we want to move Nevada forward,” Cano Burkhead said after her appointment.
Nevada Public Radio’s legislative and Northern Nevada reporter Paul Boger said the appointment drew from two important constituencies needed by Sisolak and other Democrats: the education and immigrant communities.
“She's the daughter of immigrants,” Boger said. “Her father was a porter and blackjack dealer in Las Vegas. Her mother was a seamstress at the Las Vegas Hilton.”
Cano Burkhead, 50, retired this year from a long career teaching and in administration at the Clark County School District.
“For the past six years, she was a principal at Foothill High School and has been credited with turning that school around,” Boger said.
Cano Burkhead is expected to become better known around the state as she takes over the lieutenant governor’s role as head of the state tourism board, which recently distributed $13.5 million in federal tourism grants.
“That is big money to a lot of groups that need it right now,” Boger said, “especially when they're not seeing those tourism dollars come in like they did previously.”
Cano Burkhead said she expects to seek election to the job next year. Already running as a Democrat is Henderson Mayor Debra March, who has lined up support from many party leaders in Southern Nevada.
Paul Boger, news producer, Nevada Public Radio
