Elizabeth Halseth

Elizabeth Halseth (born February 5, 1983) is an American politician. She was a Republican member of the Nevada Senate from November 2010 until February 2012. Halseth is the youngest woman in Nevada to ever have been elected to the Nevada Legislature.

Personal life

Halseth was born in Oregon in 1983, where she was raised by her mother. She graduated from North Salem High School in Salem, Oregon in 2001. She moved to Nevada in 2006. She earned her psychology degree from Corban University in 2014.

In May 2012 after her February resignation from the Senate, Halseth appeared in Maxim Magazine's "Hot 100" photo contest appearing in a bikini. Halseth did not win the "Hot 100" contest but was later profiled by Maxim in October 2012 with an additional photoshoot

Halseth married Tiger Helgelien in 2014.

Career

Halseth began her political career by running for the Nevada Assembly. However, at the last minute, she decided to shift her campaign goals on the Nevada Senate. Her successful campaign has been called "unlikely." During the primary campaign, Halseth, the more conservative candidate, defeated Dennis Nolan. Halseth released a message left by Nolan on the voicemail of Jaime Anderson Lawes, previous wife of Gordon Lawes, and sister of a sixteen-year-old girl he (Lawes) was accused of raping. Gordon Lawes had been sentenced to a ten-year prison sentence, and Nolan left the message to say it would be "very financially beneficial" if Jaime would "tell the truth" about the rape. The release of this message has been blamed for the failure of Nolan's campaign, and cited as a contributing factor to Halseth's success. She then went on to defeat Benny Yerushalmi, her millionaire opponent in the general election. While a Senator, Halseth was a member of the Senate Revenue Committee, Senate Commerce, Labor and Energy Committee, and the Senate Transportation Committee.

Halseth announced her resignation from office on February 17, 2012, citing issues with balancing performance of her senatorial duties with being a single mother. She also wrote in her letter of resignation that she will likely seek employment outside of Nevada due to issues with finding employment: personal attacks by bloggers and partisans, the high unemployment rate in Nevada, and issues with Nevada's economic growth that she attributes to President Barack Obama. Her resignation followed criticism that she was missing meetings and not returning telephone calls. Her then-husband Daniel Halseth was later indicted on two felony counts: one of coercion and one of battery; he was also indicted on one misdemeanor count of open and gross lewdness.