Former Assembly Majority Leader Teresa Benitez-Thompson (D-Reno) will run in the newly open 2nd Congressional District that spans Reno and rural parts of Northern Nevada, the latest development in the race to replace Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), who surprised many with his retirement announcement earlier this month. 

Now chief of staff to Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford (D), who is running for governor, Benitez-Thompson told The Nevada Independent in an exclusive interview that she had not thought about running for Congress before Amodei’s announcement.

“Knowing that the landscape is changing, it made sense for me to relook at the race and realize, ‘Hey, there’s a path forward here, if we have a committed person who is from the community and knows [the district] really well,’” she said. “That’s a path I want to walk.”

Democrats have never won the 2nd District, which The Cook Political Report rates R+7. But they say 2026 represents their best chance now that the seat is open for the first time in 15 years. The national political climate — with polling showing Democrats well-positioned for the midterms and some of them winning special elections in places President Donald Trump won by double digits — is also giving them cause for hope. 

“As a person who’s been living and working and raising a family in this community for decades, people are worried about their future and they’re scared,” Benitez-Thompson said. “They’re nervous about federal imposition into their own backyard and land in a way that … we’ve never seen before, in a way that we see playing out in other different parts of the country.” 

“People are ready for different leadership,” she added. “I think that’s ultimately why Amodei decided to retire.”

Benitez-Thompson is well-known after representing a Reno-area Assembly district for more than a decade. She named a few specific issues animating her campaign — including the ways she said last year’s Republican megabill shredded social safety nets, disrupted green energy programs and raised concerns for tribal communities, as well as the persistently high cost of living. 

“As a mom of four who goes to the grocery store, I wince when I see the cost of a carton of eggs,” Benitez-Thompson said. 

Benitez-Thompson was born in California and moved to Reno as a child. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from UNR and her master’s in social work from the University of Michigan before becoming a social worker. She is of Mexican descent and was also crowned Miss Nevada and was third runner-up for Miss America in 2002. 

She served in the Assembly from 2010 to 2022, serving as its first Latina majority leader (the de facto second-in-command) for the latter half of her tenure until term limits prohibited her from running again. She is particularly proud of her efforts to boost funding for schools, including her advocacy of WC-1, a 2016 ballot initiative that raised local sales tax to pay for new Washoe County School District infrastructure. She also mentioned pride in her work on behalf of families dealing with issues such as critical illness, adoption or foster care — the people she worked with in her career outside politics.

“More than anything else, being a representative from Northern Nevada, I learned that you have to move forward in a bipartisan way in order to get resources into your community,” she said. “I’m proud of the work that I did and that the vast majority of my legislation passed with bipartisan support.”

Calling herself a “budget hawk,” she said that her first priority in Washington would be to ensure adequate funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, health care programs such as Medicaid, tribal communities and veterans. 

“We have to fight to restore those dollars,” she said. “Our communities will not be OK unless we start putting dollars back into vital systems that every Nevadan relies on.”

Benitez-Thompson and her husband, KOLO-TV chief meteorologist Jeff Thompson, have been married for two decades and sent their kids through the Nevada school system. She said she loves her current job protecting Nevadans’ rights in the attorney general’s office. 

“I would not consider transitioning out of my position at the Office of Attorney General unless I knew I could engage in the fight in a bigger way, and I believe that running for [this district] is that path,” she said. 

Benitez-Thompson is not the only Democrat in the race. Several candidates have already filed with the Federal Election Commission, though official filing in Nevada doesn’t open until March. 

Wealthy investor Greg Kidd (D), who earned more than a third of the vote running as a nonpartisan against Amodei in 2024, is running as a Democrat and notched an endorsement from Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) on Friday. Former state party executive director Matthew Fonken (D) is also running and has the backing of Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom and Nevada State Sen. Edgar Flores (D-Las Vegas). Asked about the prospect of a growing field in interviews with The Nevada Independent last week, both candidates said they looked forward to a robust primary to energize Democratic voters. 

“Endorsements are nice, and I will welcome them,” Benitez-Thompson said. “But what really matters to me is what my neighbors think and what the people in the communities throughout the counties of [the district] think. I’m not going to rely on anyone’s individual testament of who I am.”

Amodei did not notify other Republicans of his decision to retire ahead of time, leaving the GOP primary unsettled. If the White House’s preferred candidate, 2024 Senate nominee Sam Brown (R), decides to jump in, he could quickly consolidate support. If not, the field may become crowded. 

Benitez-Thompson said she will be out in the community every day and she wants to make sure the district’s next congressperson truly represents the voters. 

“Regardless of politics, I really do believe that our rural communities are hurting right now and that they don’t feel like they’re being seen in Washington, D.C.,” she said. “I don’t think that the people of Fallon, or Fernley, or White Pine or Humboldt are being seen right now. And I want to make sure that every single part of [the district], that their voices can be heard in Washington, D.C.”

This story was updated on 02/17/26 at 9:12 a.m. to clarify Benitez-Thompson's heritage.