FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2020, file photo, Democratic presidential candidate, Pete Buttigieg, speaks at a culinary workers union hall in Las Vegas. A Nevada state lawmaker who escaped the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history says she's endorsing Buttigieg for president. Democratic Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui said Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, she believes the former South Bend, Ind., mayor has a diverse coalition attractive to Nevada residents, including women and Latinos. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2020, file photo, Democratic presidential candidate, Pete Buttigieg, speaks at a culinary workers union hall in Las Vegas. A Nevada state lawmaker who escaped the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history says she's endorsing Buttigieg for president. Democratic Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui said Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, she believes the former South Bend, Ind., mayor has a diverse coalition attractive to Nevada residents, including women and Latinos. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada state lawmaker who escaped the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history announced Thursday she’s endorsing Pete Buttigieg for president.

Democratic Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui of Las Vegas said she believes the 38-year-old former South Bend, Indiana, mayor has a diverse coalition attractive to Nevada residents “of all backgrounds, geographies and political parties.”

“Pete’s agenda to better support and empower women and Latinos shows that he understands the needs of marginalized communities and the unique barriers we face,” Jauregui said in a statement released by the Buttigieg campaign.

ADVERTISEMENT

Jauregui, 36, is a former staffer to then-U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

She fled uninjured from an open-air Las Vegas Strip music festival in October 2017 when a gunman opened fire from a high-rise casino hotel. Fifty-eight people died and more than 850 were injured.

Jauregui won an Assembly seat in 2016 and has backed tighter gun safety regulations, including a new “red flag” law allowing firearms to be taken from people deemed a threat to themselves or others and a requirement for guns to be securely stored away from children.

In July, Jauregui endorsed U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California for the Democratic nomination. Harris dropped out of the race in December.