Meet Mario Benavente

Mario Benavente is an army brat, a proud E.E. Smith Golden Bull, and a two-term member of the Fayetteville City Council. Mario’s story begins with his parents’ first meeting in Korea, where his father was stationed on a US Army Base. After being reassigned to Fort Liberty in Cumberland County, Mario’s father was injured and moved the family from the base directly into Fayetteville following a medical discharge from his service.

As the Benaventes struggled to make ends meet, Mario watched his father have to fight for the veterans benefits he was owed. During this time, the family was living in a trailer park and Mario’s mother took him and his siblings on frequent trips to the mall simply because it was somewhere they could access air conditioning—but even against great adversity, Mario’s father didn’t stop fighting until he was able to access his benefits and find work that allowed his family a slice of the American dream. For a young Mario, it was an object lesson in what a difference access to opportunity can make for a family and the importance of always fighting for what’s right.

After winning his benefits fight and taking a job with the US Postal Service, Mario’s father moved the family to The Greens, where Mario enrolled at Lucille Souders Elementary. While Mario spent weekdays in Cumberland County Public Schools, his mother made sure that he spent weekends at Sunday school and Korean school at their local church as well. Following his time at Lucille Souders, Mario came up through Nick Jeralds Middle School and E.E. Smith High School.

After graduating from E.E. Smith, Mario attended UNC Chapel Hill. Mario’s time at Chapel Hill was not without adversity—after seeing easy success in grade school, Chapel Hill taught Mario important life lessons about applying himself and working hard to overcome new challenges. At various times he found himself choosing between academics and working to make ends meet, but through his relentless spirit, Mario became the first member of his immediate family to graduate college, earning dual Bachelor’s degrees in Peace, War & Defense and Communications.

Following his stint in “the southern part of Heaven,” Mario returned home to Fayetteville while also pursuing a law degree at North Carolina Central University. During his third year as an NCCU Legal Eagle, Mario became involved in equal justice activism in Fayetteville amid the tense summer of 2020. His involvement in the fight for equal justice showed him how Fayetteville’s leaders were failing to live up to their promises, so he resolved to work for greater change by joining the City Council.

In the 2022 elections, Mario ran to represent his home of District 3 and won election to his seat by just six votes. On the City Council, Benavente has led the way on public safety and opportunity. He helped create the city’s Office of Community Safety, which responds to crisis situations with compassion. He pushed the city to study the true root causes of gun violence in our community, and he helped make public transportation a top 5 priority for the first time in city history. As Mayor, Benavente will continue his legacy to help make
Fayetteville the best city in North Carolina. He believes that together, we can all be the change in our community.

Outside of his work on the City Council, Benavente is an associate attorney at Rand & Gregory, where he focuses on family law and criminal defense, and is on the juvenile court-appointed list of attorneys. He is a Silver Life member of the Fayetteville NAACP and has served Fayetteville on numerous boards and commissions, with a special focus on youth mentorship.