A Nevada congressional candidate’s former mother-in-law has demanded the pol drop out of the race — in part for “raising a teenage daughter who committed a brutal murder” after the youth and her boyfriend admitted to butchering the girl’s father nearly three years ago.
Republican Elizabeth Helgelian, 41, was dubbed the “worst congressional candidate ever” by Christine Halseth in a scathing op-ed published last week by the Nevada Globe.
In the piece, Halseth claimed Helgelian’s past was “more scandal-plagued and disturbing than any ad could ever convey: a past filled with infidelity, lies, abandoning constituents and raising a teenage daughter who committed a brutal murder.”
Christine Halseth is the mother of Helgelian’s former husband Daniel Halseth, who was stabbed 70 times by his 16-year-old daughter Sierra and her boyfriend, Aaron Guerrero, in April 2021.
The couple pleaded guilty to nine counts each, including murder and arson, and were sentenced in October 2022 to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 22 years.
Prior to sentencing, Sierra Halseth claimed her father had sexually and physically abused her, allegations that Helgelian has supported.
“My daughter was abused by her father,” Helgelian told the Globe after announcing her House candidacy in May last year. “That is a fact. That doesn’t excuse all of her actions. At the time, she was a minor and has taken responsibility like an adult. She is now facing the consequences like an adult.”
Christine Halseth fired back in last week’s op-ed, claiming that Sierra had persuaded Daniel Halseth to move back to Nevada from Texas in 2020 by “claiming she was experiencing mental and physical abuse at the hands of her mother [Helgelian].”
In response to the girl’s claims of abuse by her father, Christine Halseth claimed that on the day the lovers were sentenced, an attorney for Guerrero told her that over 18 months of investigation, “Sierra never mentioned any abuse by her father, and all evidence indicated that Daniel was a caring and loving father.”
Christine also noted that Elizabeth “had primary custody of the child for years and clearly failed in her role as a mother.”
Helgelian and Daniel Halseth had divorced in 2012 “after my son discovered she was serially cheating on him during her time in Carson City [as a state senator] while he stayed home in Las Vegas as the breadwinner and to take care of their three young children,” Chrstine wrote, adding: “It was quite the hypocritical turn for someone who was elected to state senate on a platform of family values and who called for then-US Sen. John Ensign to resign after his extramarital affair became public.“
Helgelian had been elected to the state Senate in 2010, and resigned in February 2012, saying at the time that she “simply cannot provide the level of service” that her constituents were entitled to. Her resignation followed complaints from her fellow lawmakers and conservative activists that she had not attended important meetings and had missed phone calls.
“While Elizabeth couldn’t find time to complete her job duties, she did manage to pose nearly nude for Maxim magazine just three months after she stepped down in embarrassment from the legislature,” Christine Halseth noted acidly.
The op-ed did not mention that Daniel Halseth was arrested in October 2011 on suspicion of “open and gross lewdness,” commonly defined as inappropriate touching.
A police report at the time claimed Halseth pulled down his wife’s pants while confronting her over a purported affair, “touched her vagina” and demanded she “f–k him,” according to the Daily Beast.
“What’s he got that I don’t have? Does he have a big c–k? I’m your husband. I just want to know what I’m up against,” Halseth allegedly shouted.
Daniel Halseth pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of coercion and battery — for which he received six months’ probation, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported at the time.
Elizabeth later remarried, to Tiger Helgelian, and the couple moved back to Nevada in 2018 after a spell in Alaska. She unsuccessfully ran for a state Senate seat that same year, falling in the Republican primary.
This cycle, Helgelian is seeking to challenge Democratic Rep. Susie Lee in Nevada’s 3rd District, which is widely seen as a competitive race which will help decide who holds the House of Representatives beginning in 2025.
Helgelian’s main rival in the GOP primary, to be held June 11, is former state Treasurer Dan Schwartz.
“Elizabeth raised a murderer, and now she wants to be a member of Congress,” Halseth concluded
“We cannot, in good conscience, allow Elizabeth Helgelian to represent honest, decent Americans in Congress.”
Helgelian’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post.