LAS VEGAS — Lesia Romanov, the assistant principal at an at-risk elementary school on the outskirts of town, is running for the Nevada state assembly against a brothel owner and self-proclaimed pimp, Dennis Hof.

The paradox could not be greater. And for women in Nevada — and across the country — the opportunity for political advancement in this year's election season is growing by the day.

Hof, the owner of the infamous Bunny Ranch brothel calls himself the “Trump from Pahrump,” but in a year when women are running for office — and winning — in record-breaking numbers, this race is a test of Trump-style politics in the era of the Women’s March and the #MeToo movement.

Romanov says that despite her uphill chances in the solidly Republican district that stretches from the outskirts of Las Vegas to rural Pahrump, women of all political stripes are taking stock in her campaign.

“I’ll tell (people) my opponent and it’s like a gasp. People don’t just say ‘I’ll support you,’ they’re like ‘What can I do for you? You’re mine. Whatever you need I’m there for you!’” Romanov enthusiastically said. “It’s been amazing.”

What makes Romanov’s race even more notable is that Nevada women are on the verge of breaking a major barrier. The state could be the first in the nation to have a female-majority legislature by the end of this year's election cycle. Of the 42 seats in the state assembly, women are running for 31, and seven women are running for the state Senate's 10 open seats.

That would be quite a feat considering only 25 percent of state legislators in the U.S. are women, according to Rutger’s Center for American Women and Politics.

Currently, women make up 38 percent of Nevada’s legislature. Only Arizona and Vermont have a larger percentage, both at 40 percent. Because so many women in Nevada won their primary races in June, the coming election puts the purple state that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 within reach of breaking the barrier. (If enough women win their primary on Tuesday in Arizona, women there could also be in position to break the majority threshold.)