Flipping the District: A Conversation with Shenea Booth
Intending to flip a red district in the Las Vegas Metropolitan area blue, Shenea Booth is trading the podium for the polls this November. The former World Champion acro gymnast and circus performer is running as the Democratic candidate for Nevada Assembly District 22... and she is taking competition to a new platform.
District 22 is located in Henderson, Nevada, and includes areas of Cadence, Green Valley, and Seven Hills. The role runs every two years, and this year’s midterms are showing to be an important election.
I remember the name Shenea Booth circulating the walls of my California gym as a child. As a retired competitive gymnast myself, I was honored to sit down with her to discuss plans for the community.
Over Thai teas and lattes, we spent a Tuesday evening at La Luna Tea and Dessert Bar talking about her upbringing, career, and future in politics.
The World Champion acro gymnast unknowingly began her career at the age of eight. Inspired by Misty Copeland, she began ballet and was soon recruited to take acro classes at the same studio. The rest is history.
“Acro, acro, and more acro,” she jokingly describes her life.
Booth was among the first Americans to earn a medal at the 2001 World Games. She qualified for the 2002 and 2004 World Championships in the Mixed Pair event. Alongside partner Arthur Davis, they won the US National Sports Acrobatic Championships from 2002 to 2004. She was a finalist on America’s Got Talent 2006, a USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame Inductee in 2009, and a World Acrobatic Society Hall of Fame inductee. As the youngest of five, she also competed alongside her sister, Nicole Booth.
She transitioned to the circus circuit, becoming the first African-American and American female soloist to play a lead character in Cirque du Soleil's Varekai—a favorite of hers, she recalls.
Are you impressed yet?
But collecting accolades like infinity stones proved more complex than it looked, as her purpose led her elsewhere.
Her political endeavors came later, with her opening up about being a survivor of abuse within USA Gymnastics. “It was almost 10 years from start to finish with our criminal and civil cases, and it's really what got me here advocating, working on policy, testifying under oath, you know, being a part of the system, seeing where it's broken, also seeing where you can make a difference with your own personal story, and advocating for yourself.”
“It’s where I felt powerful and strong in my life. It opened up a portal for me where I felt this unlimited potential of being useful.”
She recollects her experience amongst the public regarding the abuse she faced as a child. “That shift really influenced me when I saw more people upset about me telling the truth; that will never leave me. I was met with a lot of people in absolute denial about the abuse, about how prolific it was, and not believing things that happened over those thirty years.”
Her objective became holding those responsible accountable, targeting the complicit, and protecting people who lack the resources to protect themselves. “Once you unpack all those things, you get angrier and angrier about institutions and organizations that are not transparent and equipped to protect their members and participants, and to know what it’s like to become very unpopular in a space where you were somewhat beloved.”
We discussed affordability in Nevada and how she plans to prioritize small businesses and education if elected. By strengthening business models, she aims to help people “weather whatever storm arises in their life, like for working-class people.”
SNAP benefits, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and rising rents have been the biggest concerns among the Nevadans she has spoken with. “There’s a lack of housing transparency. I think it’s an assault on average homeowners… and that’s what I’m looking at with the workforce bill,” which will assist small business owners, who make up a large population in her district.
She remains up to date on local cases of abuse victims in the school system and athletic facilities. “That is my purview over the last six years. We have been trying to bring those legislative solutions that have been successful on a federal level and bring them down to the state.” The proposed bill she mentions supports stronger protections for education, provides more funding, and supports students' mental health.
Hoping to expand smaller, existing programs, the bill also “utilizes workers from the strip, so that they can work in tandem with the schools.” Students can gain firsthand access to professional-level arts, which in turn will boost protections for circus performers, who currently lack a union.
She founded The Circus Arts Guild of America on the principle that “salary minimums and conditions of employment” are the baseline. This includes “safe and sanitary working conditions, health benefits, rehearsal and performance regulations, overtime provisions, travel stipulations,” etc. (Circus Arts Guild of America). COVID was a difficult time for many performers in our city, and its effects still show today, as Booth notes, in the recent closures of Wynn’s “Awakening” and Cirque’s “Mad Apple.”
She also plans to make veterans’ rights a pressing matter. “This is a very veteran-heavy state. A lot of my family are veterans. My partner is a Marine Corps vet, my brother-in-law just retired from the Navy, and my aunt, grandfather, and uncles are in law enforcement. I am the acrobat in the family,” she joked. She has spoken with female-led veterans groups focused on women veterans’ rights and protection.
“Everything is political; you just don’t know it yet.” We laughed in unison, sipping our drinks.
Booth’s perspective shapes every bill she plans to present. She is eager to maintain her uniqueness, making it an “edge” against her competitor.
“For me and this seat, a lot of people have told me, ‘Don’t run, that person owns that seat— you’ll never get it.’ That makes me want to run even harder. I’ve pushed back against that narrative because no one is anointed to anything.”
We covered the current administration and the difficulties she has faced, “rewriting and redrafting that language to get them to say yes” to federal bills, shifting her focus to the state. From rallying, phone banking, knocking on doors, and frequent self-funded flights to Washington, D.C., Shenea remains determined despite the noes.
It reminds us that, as Americans, we have the right to choose, and that voting in our local, state, and federal elections matters. Your voice matters.
They say “never meet your heroes,” but I respectfully disagree. Our lives are related in many ways, from growing up in Northern California to gymnastics and family. We also connected over fashion; through her legislative work for performers, she crossed paths with fashion industry labor laws. I left our conversation that night feeling inspired and hopeful not just for Nevada’s future, but for my own. I will never forget the experience, and I thank Shenea for taking the time to meet with me.
Shenea Booth is more than qualified and, I believe, will improve our community. Her one-of-a-kind campaign speaks to people across the board, from athletes and artists to middle-class families, veterans, and survivors.
Planned Parenthood, the Southern Nevada Central Labor Council, Plan Action, and many more endorse her. Early voting begins on Saturday, October 17th. Let’s show up and show out!
For more information on Shenea Booth, visit:
https://www.circusartsguild.com/
Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheneabooth/
