Catherine Cortez Masto names 7 senior staff for US Senate office

U.S. Senator-elect Catherine Cortez Masto on Monday announced the selection of seven senior staffers for her new office.

Cortez Masto, a Democrat, was elected to succeed U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who is retiring.

The staffers are:

* Scott Fairchild, the campaign manager in her Senate race, will be her chief of staff. Fairchild also has been national campaigns director for the League of Conservation Voters and a chief of staff in Congress.

* Laura Erickson Hatalsky was named deputy chief of staff. She previously served as policy director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

* Zach Zaragoza will be her state director. He has been executive director of the Nevada State Democratic Party since 2011. He also worked as a regional representative for Reid based in Las Vegas.

* Rey Benitez will be her communication director. Benitez is Reid’s senior adviser for Hispanic media.

* Kati Card was named digital director. She also did digital work in the campaign and has done press and research work for the Senate’s Democratic Policy and Communications Center.

* Josh Yearsley will be administrative director. He previously served as operations director for the office of U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.

* Hilary Barrett was named scheduler. She was deputy political director for the Democratic coordinated campaign in Nevada.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Follow @BenBotkin1 on Twitter.