For Immediate Release
Reno, Nevada – (Wednesday, June 24) Today, Teresa Benitez-Thompson’s campaign kicked off the General Election with a volunteer cleanup on BLM land in Sparks.
“Our public lands are a vital part of every community across Northern Nevada,” Benitez-Thompson said. “We need to protect them in our community, and we need a representative in DC who will fight to protect them federally. That’s why I’m starting the general election campaign by rolling up my sleeves and getting to work. Whether for hiking, sports, hunting, camping, or supporting the growth of our community through tourism and affordable housing, federal lands represent the best of Northern Nevada. Public lands are important to everyone, from families like mine to veterans, small business owners, and from sportsmen to the Girl Scouts. My campaign is about bringing together the community, and public lands are a perfect place to start.”
A full pickup truck’s worth of trash was collected by 18 people who showed up to volunteer with the event. Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful (KTMB) provided materials and helped to identify the area most in need of cleanup.
Background
Teresa Benitez-Thompson is a longtime Reno resident. She and her husband are raising their four children in Northern Nevada and are proud to call Reno their home. Teresa is a licensed social worker, and former state assemblywoman who worked across the aisle to create change for Northern Nevada. Of the primary bills she sponsored, 87% earned bipartisan support.
Teresa earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Nevada and her masters degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Teresa funded her education by waitressing and winning scholarships from the Nevada Women’s Fund and the Miss Nevada Scholarship Program. Notably, Teresa was named Third Runner-Up at the 2003 Miss America Pageant.
Professionally, her career started with finding adoptive families for children with special needs. Then Teresa moved to the medical field supporting terminally-ill patients, working across five Northern Nevada counties. She ran for the Nevada State Assembly in 2010 and spent 12 years there, rising to serve multiple terms as Majority Leader — the first woman from Northern Nevada to hold that role. After being termed out, she served as Chief of Staff in the Nevada Office of the Attorney General. Now she is running for Congress because Northern Nevada needs someone who will fight for our region to be an affordable, thriving place to call home.
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