Fralick’s political career began with Obamacare lawsuits

Adriana Guzmán Fralick, the Republican nominee for Nevada attorney general, said opposing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is what inspired her to run for political office.

Fralick served as Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons’ general counsel from 2009 to 2011. Gibbons’ office filed multiple lawsuits challenging Obamacare during this period despite objections from the state’s then-Democratic attorney general, Catherine Cortez Masto.

Fralick told Newsmakers on Aug. 25 that this experience was her first exposure to the type of work an attorney general does.

“We had to deal with Obamacare at the time and we really needed to get to the bottom of it and figure out how it was going to affect Nevadans,” Fralick said. “We had an attorney general who felt differently than we did. That’s when I reached out to outside counsel and we started these lawsuits with the administration. That was my first experience with that and it kind of planted a seed that it may be something I would one day want to do.”

More than 104,000 Nevadans have health insurance because of Obamacare. A KFF poll from July found that 51% of voters nationwide said health care costs were extremely important for candidates to talk about in this year’s elections. About 36% of respondents said they specifically want candidates to address the future of Obamacare.

In 2010, Gibbons was named to a list of the 11 worst governors in the country by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. A few months later, he lost his own party’s nomination for reelection.

Fralick may have other health care-related issues with her résumé.

From 2011 to 2020, she served on the board of directors for Nevada Health Centers, a nonprofit that provides community health services throughout the state. The organization was beset by financial problems in this period. The CEO’s salary rose from just over $300,000 to $700,000 over six years. At the same time, the organization operated at a financial loss and scaled back its obstetrics offerings.

Fralick’s Democratic opponent in November will be state Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro. A Fralick spokesperson declined to provide a response to this reporting.