FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - DATE: Thursday, March 29, 2012

Afghanistan War Veteran Takes Fight

to 7th Congressional District Race

South Carolina - On Thursday, Katherine Jenerette, a US Army Paratrooper and a former US Congressional Field Representative, who just returned home eleven weeks ago from a combat tour of duty in Afghanistan, announced her bid for the newly formed 7th District Congressional Seat.

 “I’m not the kind of person who sit’s on the sidelines when there’s a fight going on and work to be done for the people of our state, district and our country,” Jenerette said. “I’ve been places where you have to do a lot more than talk tough and whoever the people of this district decide to send to Washington had better be ready to hit the ground running and know when it’s time to dance and when it’s time to play hardball.”

Jenerette, a longtime Republican figure since her freshman college days at CCU is no stranger to hardball South Carolina politics; she nearly defeated long time State Senator Dick Elliot in 2004 when she beat him in Horry County but lost the seat in the western part of the district by a mere 1,800 votes out of over 30,500 cast in the election.

“That was a bare-knuckled-street-fight and I learned at a young age that getting into South Carolina politics is a lot like asking for trouble,” Jenerette laughed. “Since I’ve been in politics I’ve had people try to shake me down with threats of political scandals, got email threats warning me not to run for office and just a few months ago when a reporter asked me what its like to be serving as a female in the dirt and grime in one of the most dangerous places on earth – I thought she was talking about Horry County politics and she was really asking me about Afghanistan.”

Jenerette said the next election is shaping up to be a battleground with a lot of issues for the people of our district at every level of government and included things like the price of gas, taxes, jobs and the economy, healthcare, wars in the Middle East and issues all the way to the US Constitution itself.

“I don’t have to tell anybody in our district how messed up things are with Congress and the present administration and with our economy,” Jenerette said. “But, I’m not going to blow sunshine and claim that I’m going to reform Washington or put everybody back to work fifteen minutes after I’m elected. But, this much I can promise to the people of this district - I’ve got their back and I will fight for them and I will get things done as their Congressman. I will represent all of the people of this district from the small business owner in Florence, the family with four kids in Marlboro County, retired seniors in the South Strand, the biggest hotels and restaurants along the coast and I will serve all eight counties in the district. There is a lot of work to be done.”

Jenerette, from North Myrtle Beach, is a Captain in the US Army Reserve and was awarded the Combat Action Badge after an insurgent attack in Kandahar Province last fall. Jenerette has served two combat tours of duty; she joined the Army at 19-years old and after Iraq invaded Kuwait was deployed in Operation Desert Storm.

Jenerette, who is married and has four children is a graduate Coastal Carolina University and holds a Masters Degree from USC – Columbia and was a college history instructor before she deployed to Afghanistan. She has served as a U.S. Congressional Field Representative for South Carolina’s First District, a North Myrtle Beach Planning Commissioner, the CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Hospitality Association and was a Candidate for US Congress in 2010.

Katherine was recently named as one of THE 45 MOST ADMIRED REPUBLICAN WOMEN UNDER 45 by The Republican Security Council based in Washington, D.C. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.104023369696843.5156.101173139981866

She is presently a volunteer coach for the North Myrtle Beach High School Girl’s Track and Field Team and is active in regional veteran’s organizations and activities including support for Wounded Warriors projects.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.jenerette.com

Contact: media@jenerette.com   (843) 957-9697

Photo at: http://www.jenerette.com/jenerette_katherine.jpg