Joy Hoover

Joy Hoover earned a high school diploma from Escanaba High School. Hoover's career experience includes being an entrepreneur.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Joy Hoover is a Las Vegas community leader, nonprofit founder, entrepreneur, and candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Nevada’s 1st Congressional District. For more than two decades, she has worked at the intersection of public safety, survivor advocacy, and community-based solutions.

Hoover founded The Cupcake Girls, a nonprofit organization serving individuals vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking, and later launched Esōes Cosmetics, a safety-focused company developing tools and education to help prevent drug-facilitated assault and violence. Over the course of her career, she has helped raise millions of dollars to support survivors, caregivers, and families in crisis.

After moving to Nevada more than 16 years ago, Hoover and her husband built their life in Las Vegas, where they are raising their two children. Her work has focused on strengthening neighborhoods, supporting kinship and foster caregivers, and expanding access to safety resources and economic opportunity.

Hoover says she is running for Congress to prioritize safer schools, safer homes, and safer streets; lower costs for working families; expand access to affordable healthcare; protect reproductive freedom; support small businesses and unions; strengthen democratic accountability; and ensure government works for everyday Nevadans.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Stability Builds Safety

Families cannot feel safe when their lives are constantly hanging by a thread. One medical bill, job loss, or disaster should not push a family to the brink. Joy supports healthcare access that is not tied to employment, expanded paid leave and unemployment protections, disaster relief and insurance reform, and emergency housing funding. Safety starts with a solid foundation.Options Build Opportunity

Your American Dream should be within reach. Wages have not kept up with the cost of living, and small businesses struggle while big corporations get bailouts. Joy supports investing in infrastructure and transportation so people can move more freely through their communities. She backs more access to SBA loans and grants for small and local businesses, paid apprenticeships tied to trades, and stronger worker protections so jobs lead to careers. She also supports limits on predatory lending so families aren’t trapped in cycle of high interest debt.Action Builds Trust

Hoover believes trust in government depends on accountability and clear rules. She supports banning stock trading in Congress, strengthening ethics and transparency laws, establishing term limits, and reforming campaign finance rules to reduce the influence of large donors. Trust is built when leaders live by the same standards as the people they represent.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I care deeply about violence prevention and public safety because I’ve spent decades working directly with survivors and families in crisis. I’ve seen how instability, whether it’s a lost job, a medical bill, or lack of support, can unravel a family. I’m passionate about policies that build real stability: healthcare access, housing security, paid leave, and economic opportunity for small businesses and working families. I’m also committed to ethical, accountable government that earns people’s trust through action.