Hunt attended Las Vegas High School and went on to the Westlake College of Music in Los Angeles, California. She began performing as a cabaret singer in
Reno, Lake Tahoe, and Las Vegas. She was successful and used some of her earnings to invest in real estate in Las Vegas. In 1968, she married fellow performer "Blackie" Hunt.
In 1972, the Hunts opened the Bootlegger Restaurant in Las Vegas on land that Lorraine had purchased. The restaurant became a landmark and later moved to a new location.
In 2006, she unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for governor.
Hunt was elected to the Clark County Commission in 1994. She was the first woman to chair the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. In 1998, Hunt was elected lieutenant governor and reelected in 2002. While serving, she worked for economic development of the state and increasing tourism to Nevada. Since Nevada's two-term limit barred her from running for a third term in 2006, she ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for governor.
