Rep. Amodei’s mother, a familiar face to Nevada voters, dies at 80

Joy Longero Amodei died Tuesday at age 80.

She was the mother of Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., and Denise Amodei Boyden.

Services have not been scheduled.

Amodei’s staff issued a statement saying details will be forthcoming.

Amodei left Washington, D.C., late Tuesday to return to Carson City.

Joy Amodei’s face became well-known to Nevada voters during her son’s election battle with Treasurer Kate Marshall.

After Marshall put out TV ads charging that Amodei wanted to end Medicare, Joy Amodei appeared in a commercial with her son saying that wasn’t true.

After the ad stated that Amodei would protect Medicare, it ended with Amodei sitting with his arm around his then-79-year-old mother, saying, “I’m Mark Amodei, and I approve this message.”

“Me, too,” said his mother.

The ad helped Amodei defuse Marshall’s lead with seniors on the Medicare issue and win the congressional election by a margin of nearly 2-to-1.