ANOTHER CHAMPION FOR NEVADA IN THE U.S. HOUSE: Susie Lee is a nonprofit leader and education advocate who has dedicated her career to helping her fellow Nevadans lead better, safer, and healthier lives. She is running for reelection to Congress to continue her life’s work of bringing people together to find and implement innovative solutions to the toughest problems facing Nevada’s working families.

Susie grew up the sixth of eight children in a working-class community. Susie got her first newspaper route at the age of eight, and began babysitting and lifeguarding as soon as she was old enough. With the help of Pell Grants, student loans, and scholarships, she paid her way through college; working in the cafeteria, the library, the copy room, and teaching aerobics while also competing on the swim team. Lee  graduated with honors from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, earning a master’s degree in public management.  Susie found mentors who gave her the affirmation and encouragement she needed to succeed as a young woman. This experience inspired her work as a nonprofit leader and education advocate, working tirelessly to ensure that Nevada’s most vulnerable children can turn to their school communities for support when they don’t have resources at home.

 After college, she worked in Massachusetts at an environmental and economic consulting firm that specialized in water resource issues. She moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1993, where she then worked as a campaign policy advisor to Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones and founded a homeless shelter for parents and children in need. In 2010, she became the president of the board of Communities In Schools of Nevada (CIS), a program that seeks to lower high school dropout rates. Lee has served on several other boards and committees in the Las Vegas area.

 Recognizing that many Nevada families struggle with housing insecurity, food insecurity, and other challenges, she helped launch a site coordinator program to give the most vulnerable students a dedicated advocate ensuring their needs are met inside and outside of school. Susie has proudly called southern Nevada home for over two decades.

Susie is focused on making a tangible positive impact on the lives of southern Nevada’s working families, and she worked tirelessly to help pass the American Rescue Plan. “This relief package is just the kind of big, bold action we need to build back southern Nevada’s economy, which has been absolutely devastated by this pandemic,” Susie has said. “We secured direct payments to working families, along with relief for unemployed workers, schools, small businesses, vaccine distribution, child care and unemployment tax relief, and more. And, at long last, we were able to secure over $4 billion in direct aid for Nevada, something our state desperately needs to provide critical services and prevent layoffs of teachers, law enforcement officers, and first responders. I’m also proud that legislation I supported to prevent surprise tax bills for unemployed Nevadans made it into this final package. This legislation will remove taxes on the first $10,200 of unemployment payments – a measure that will go a long way in providing relief to Nevada families who are struggling to make ends meet. With this relief, we’ll be able to crush this virus, get shots in arms, Nevadans back to work, our kids back in school, and our businesses open and thriving.” Well before the COVID-19 crisis, health care has long been a deeply personal issue for Susie. When she was a freshman in college, her father was laid off from his steel manufacturing job and never had another shot at economic security. Her parents couldn’t afford health insurance because of common preexisting conditions, and when her mother had a heart attack one month before reaching Medicare eligibility, the hospital bill was so large they risked losing their house. Susie understands that access to quality health care is a right, not a privilege, and she will continue to be a powerful advocate for all southern Nevadans.

Susie successfully fought to keep this swing seat blue when Senator Jacky Rosen vacated it in 2018, and she successfully defended it in 2020 in a narrow win that was one of the last to be called in the country. We cannot take anything for granted in this swing district, as Republicans do everything in their power to retake this seat — and the majority in the Senate. With so much of our progress at stake, let’s show Susie our full support and keep this champion for Nevada working families in the House and  the Democrats majority in the U.S. Senate.

SOURCE:  Emily’s List

“We ignite change by getting Democratic pro-choice women elected to office.”

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