Leslie runs for Senate; Benitez Thompson seeks her Assembly seat

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, who is barred from another Assembly run by term limits, has announced she will run for the state Senate.

Leslie, who first served in the 1999 session, is one of the Assembly's leading progressive Democrats and served this past session as vice-chairman of the Ways and Means Committee as well as a top lieutenant to Speaker Barbara Buckley.

She is running for the Washoe Senate District 1, which is being vacated by Bernice Mathews, also a Democrat and also termed out.

Leslie is a special courts administrator for Washoe District Court.

The district includes parts of central Reno and Sparks.

With Leslie's impending departure, her Assembly District 27 seat is open. Teresa Benitez Thompson, a longtime advocate for children and families, is announcing her intention to run for that position.

Thompson is a medical social worker in a hospice and the former adoption recruitment specialist for Washoe County.

She is also a former Miss Nevada.

District 27 covers west central Reno south of Interstate 80 including the downtown.