Jeanne Shaheen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States Senator fromNew Hampshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office January 3, 2009 Serving with Maggie Hassan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | John Sununu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 78thGovernor of New Hampshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 9, 1997 – January 9, 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Steve Merrill | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Craig Benson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of theNew Hampshire Senate from the21st district | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office December 5, 1990 – December 4, 1996 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Franklin Torr | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Katie Wheeler | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Cynthia Jeanne Bowers (1947-01-28)January 28, 1947 (age 78) St. Charles, Missouri, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Democratic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Shippensburg University (BA) University of Mississippi (MSS) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | Senate website Campaign website | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cynthia Jeanne Shaheen (/ˈdʒiːnʃəˈhiːn/JEEN shə-HEEN; néeBowers, born January 28, 1947) is an American politician and former educator serving since 2009 as theseniorUnited States senator fromNew Hampshire. A member of theDemocratic Party, she served from 1997 to 2003 as the78th governor of New Hampshire. Shaheen is the first woman elected bothgovernor and a U.S. senator, and was the first female governor of New Hampshire.[1]
After serving two terms in theNew Hampshire Senate, Shaheen was elected governor in1996 and reelected in1998 and2000. In2002, she unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate againstRepublican nomineeJohn E. Sununu. She served as director of theHarvard Institute of Politics before resigning to run for the U.S. Senate again in the2008 election, defeating Sununu in a rematch. She has been the dean ofNew Hampshire’s congressional delegation since 2011, when SenatorJudd Gregg retired.
Shaheen became the first Democratic senator from New Hampshire sinceJohn A. Durkin. In2014, she became the second Democrat from New Hampshire to be reelected to the Senate sinceThomas J. McIntyre in1972. She was reelected in2020. On March 12, 2025, she announced that she would not seek reelection in2026.
Jeanne Shaheen was born Cynthia Jeanne Bowers inSt. Charles, Missouri, the daughter of Belle Ernestine (Stillings) and Ivan E. Bowers.[2][unreliable source?]
Shaheen graduated from high school inSelinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and earned a bachelor's degree in English fromShippensburg University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree in political science from theUniversity of Mississippi.[3] She taught high school inMississippi[4] and moved to New Hampshire in 1973, where she also taught school.[5]
Shaheen is married to William Shaheen, an attorney and judge. They have three children together. Their daughter Stefany Shaheen is a candidate forNew Hampshire's 1st congressional district in2026.[6] She publicly opposed her mother's position on the2025 federal government shutdown.[7]
Jeanne and William Shaheen formerly owned a store in New Hampshire that sold used jewelry.[8] In June 2025, theDepartment of Homeland Security (DHS) published a press release alleging that Senator Shaheen intervened to remove her husband from enhancedTransportation Security Administration (TSA) scrutiny. After she contacted TSA, he was reportedly removed from the list and exempted from enhanced screening. DHS characterized this as evidence of politicization in the Biden administration's watchlisting process and accused the program of being used to benefit political allies.[9]
As aDemocrat, she worked on several campaigns, including Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign, and as the New Hampshire campaign manager forGary Hart in 1984,[10] before running for office in 1990, when she was elected to thestate Senate for the21st district. She was electedgovernor of New Hampshire in 1996 and reelected in 1998 and 2000.[11]
In April 2005, Shaheen was named director of Harvard's Institute of Politics,[12] succeeding former U.S. Representative and Secretary of AgricultureDan Glickman.
Shaheen's decision to run for New Hampshire governor followed the retirement of Republican GovernorSteve Merrill. Her opponent in 1996 wasOvide M. Lamontagne, then chairman of the State Board of Education. Shaheen presented herself as a moderate. According to a PBS profile, she focused on education funding issues, and pledged to expand kindergarten. She defeated Lamontagne by 57 to 40 percent.[13]
Shaheen was the first woman to be elected governor of New Hampshire.[14] (She was not, however, the first woman to serve as New Hampshire's governor;Vesta M. Roy was acting governor from December 30, 1982, until January 6, 1983.)[15]
In 1998, she was reelected by a margin of 66 to 31 percent.[16][17]
In both 1996 and 1998, Shaheen took a no-new-taxes pledge. After a court decision preventing education from being largely supported by local taxes, "her administration devised a plan that would have increased education spending and set a statewide property tax."[18]
Running for a third term in 2000, Shaheen refused to renew her no-new-taxes pledge, becoming the first New Hampshire governor in 38 years to win an election without making that pledge.[19] Shaheen's preferred solution to the school-funding problem was not a broad-based tax but legalized video-gambling at state racetracks—a solution repeatedly rejected by the state legislature.[20][21]
In 2001, Shaheen tried to implement a 2.5% sales tax, the first broad-based tariff of its kind in New Hampshire, which has never had a sales tax. The state legislature rejected her proposal.[22] She also proposed an increase in the state's cigarette tax and a 4.5% capital gains tax.
During the2000 Democratic presidential primary in New Hampshire, Shaheen supportedAl Gore, and her husband served as Gore's New Hampshire campaign manager. According to theNew York Observer, the Shaheens were critical in helping Gore win a narrow victory in the New Hampshire primary overBill Bradley.[23][24]
Gore added Shaheen to his short list of potential vice presidential nominees, which also included Indiana SenatorEvan Bayh, North Carolina SenatorJohn Edwards, House Minority LeaderDick Gephardt, Massachusetts SenatorJohn Kerry, and Connecticut SenatorJoe Lieberman.[25] Shaheen responded to speculation by stating she wasn't interested in the job.[26] There has since been discussion over whether Gore would have won the election had he picked Shaheen as his running mate.[27][28]
After a short time teaching atHarvard University (and a fellowship in the Institute of Politics with former Massachusetts GovernorJane Swift), Shaheen was named national chairperson ofJohn Kerry's2004 presidential campaign in September 2003.
After three two-year terms as governor, Shaheen declined to run for a fourth, instead choosing to run for the U.S. Senate in2002. RepublicanJohn E. Sununu defeated her by a 51 percent to 47 percent margin (19,751 votes). In an interview with theConcord Monitor, Shaheen attributed her loss in part to "discussion about the job that [she] did as governor." At that time, early Republican advertisements slammed her support for putting a sales tax on the ballot or faulted her for failing schools.[29]
In June 2004, former Republican consultantAllen Raymond pleaded guilty tojamming Democratic Party lines set up to get New Hampshire Democrats to the polls in 2002, which some (most notably former SenatorBob Smith, whom Sununu defeated in the Republican primary) believe contributed to Shaheen's loss.[30] A judge sentenced Raymond to five months in jail in February 2005.Charles McGee, the former state GOP executive director, was sentenced to seven months for his role.[citation needed]
Raymond alleged thatJames Tobin,Northeast field director for theNational Republican Senatorial Committee, masterminded the plot. In December 2005, Tobin was convicted of two federal felonies arising from the phone-jamming and sentenced to ten months in prison, but that conviction was reversed on appeal. In October 2008, prosecutors filed two new felony indictments charging that Tobin lied to an FBI agent when he was interviewed in 2003 about his role in the phone-jamming case.[31] These charges were summarily dismissed in 2009 after the federal judge in Maine's District Court found them motivated by "vindictive prosecution".[32]
In early July 2007 through UNH, CNN and WMUR put out a poll[33] showing that Shaheen would beat Sununu in the 2008 Senate race (54–38). Other Democratic candidates did not have this type of lead, which led many to believe Shaheen would be the best choice to beat Sununu.
In April 2007, Shaheen met with Senate Majority LeaderHarry Reid andDemocratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ChairmanChuck Schumer about a Senate run. Both said she would have strong support from the DSCC if she ran. On September 14, 2007, Shaheen announced her candidacy.[34] On September 15, she formally launched her campaign at her home inMadbury, New Hampshire. On September 21,EMILY's List endorsed her campaign.
Shaheen defeated Sununu 52% to 45% (44,535 votes).
.jpg)
Shaheen ran for reelection in 2014, facing former Massachusetts SenatorScott Brown.[35]
In March 2014, Brown announced he was forming an exploratory committee to run against Shaheen. According to theBoston Herald, "Granite State Republicans are calling U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen a hypocrite for asking potential GOP challenger and former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown to keep "outside" money out of the campaign while she fills the Democratic war chest on the West Coast".[36]
In June 2014, WMUR reported that Shaheen had never released her tax returns in her 18 years of public service in New Hampshire. Shaheen said she would not rule out releasing her returns, but would like to see her opponent do so first.[37]
She was endorsed again by Emily's List.[38]
.jpg)
On election night, even as her party lost control of the Senate, Shaheen won reelection with 51% of the vote to Brown's 48%. As a measure of how Republican New Hampshire once was, Shaheen is only the second Democrat in the state's history to win two terms in the Senate.
Shaheen was reelected in 2020 with 57% of the vote to Republican nominee Bryant “Corky” Messner's 41%. She is the first New Hampshire Democrat elected to three full terms in the Senate. The only other Democrat to be popularly elected more than once from New Hampshire,Thomas J. McIntyre (who held the seat Shaheen currently holds), served the remainder ofStyles Bridges's last term before being elected to two terms in his own right.
On January 3, 2009, Shaheen was sworn in to theUnited States Senate. As a senator, she has sponsored 288 bills, five of which have become law.[39]
On January 6, 2021, Shaheen was participating in the certification of the2021 United States Electoral College vote count when protestersattacked the U.S. Capitol. She tweeted during the attack that she and her staff were safe and that "We will not be stopped from doing our Constitutional duty".[40] The day after the attack, Shaheen called Trump "unfit for office" and said that she supported impeaching him and removing him from office.[41]
In 2024, Shaheen was ranked among the top 10 most bipartisan senators.[42]
_(48424636752).jpg)
In 2009, Shaheen partnered with U.S. SenatorSusan Collins to introduce the Medicare Transitional Care Act, which provides follow-up care for discharged hospital patients to reduce re-hospitalizations.[47] The bill passed in 2010,[48] and research at theUniversity of Pennsylvania predicted the measure would lower the cost of healthcare by as much as $5,000 per Medicare beneficiary while also improving healthcare quality and reducing re-hospitalizations.[49]
In December 2009, Shaheen voted for theAffordable Care Act (Obamacare).[50][51]
Before the rollout of the ACA, Shaheen said that people who liked their current healthcare plans could keep them.[52] When asked about people who were losing their healthcare plans due to the ACA, Shaheen said they could keep their plans if they were "willing to pay more".[53]
.jpg)
In August 2019, Shaheen was one of 19 senators to sign a letter toTreasury SecretarySteven Mnuchin andHealth and Human Services SecretaryAlex Azar requesting data from the Trump administration to help states and Congress understand the potential consequences of theTexas v. United States Affordable Care Act lawsuit, writing that an overhaul of the present health care system would form "an enormous hole in the pocketbooks of the people we serve as well as wreck state budgets".[54]
In October 2019, Shaheen was one of 27 senators to sign a letter to Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell and Senate Minority LeaderChuck Schumer advocating the passage of the Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence (CHIME) Act, which was set to expire the following month. The senators warned that if the funding for the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF) was allowed to expire, it "would cause an estimated 2,400 site closures, 47,000 lost jobs, and threaten the health care of approximately 9 million Americans."[55]
On October 11, 2011, Shaheen voted to proceed with a proposed bill that included $446 billion in spending on infrastructure and schools and provided funding for state and local governments, as well as an extension of the payroll tax deduction. The spending would have been paid for by a 5.6% surtax on incomes above $1 million. The bill failed to obtain cloture.[56]
Shaheen used an earmark in a large appropriations bill to restore funding for a federal prison in Berlin, NH, despite a $276 million recommended cut.[57][58]
Shaheen supports making it illegal for individuals on the terrorist watchlist to buy guns[59] and voted in favor of a bill proposing to expand background checks for gun purchases.[60] She also voted to ban magazines of over 10 bullets.[61] In 2016, she participated in theChris Murphy gun control filibuster in the wake of theOrlando nightclub shooting. Shaheen said that "moments of sympathy are not enough" and that common-sense gun laws must be enacted.[62]
Following theBP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Shaheen proposed abolishing theMinerals Management Service, the U.S. government agency tasked with regulating offshore drilling, arguing that reform had been insufficient and that a new agency was needed.[63] Shaheen also proposed legislation giving the president's bipartisanBP Oil Spill Commission subpoena power in its investigation.[64] She argued that subpoena power was necessary to avoid another such disaster, emphasizing the spill's economic costs to the Gulf Coast region and the economy as a whole.[65]
On April 28, 2014, Shaheen introduced theEnergy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2014 (S. 2262; 113th Congress), a bill intended to improveefficient energy use.[66]
In March 2019 Shaheen was an original cosponsor of a bipartisan bill intended to mandate that the Environmental Protection Agency declare per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances as hazardous substances that can be addressed with cleanup funds via the EPA Superfund law and require that polluters undertake or pay for remediation within a year of the bill's enaction.[67]
Shaheen opposed theNord Stream 2, a pipeline for deliveringnatural gas from Russia to Germany.[68]
In 2002, when Shaheen narrowly lost to Sununu, she supported both the2003 invasion of Iraq and "regime change" for Iraq.[69] Shaheen said that she came to supporting the policy of removing Saddam Hussein from power after meeting with former Clinton-administration National Security AdvisorSandy Berger. According to theConcord Monitor and Associated Press, the issue was a minor one in the race.
Shaheen later questionedGeorge W. Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq. In a September 2004 televised interview as Kerry presidential campaign chair she said:[70]
George [W.] Bush has taken us in the wrong direction. He misled us into war in Iraq. That war has not made us safer and more secure at home ... You know, we have not stabilized Afghanistan. We have not stabilized Iraq. There is no plan to win the peace.
On July 28, 2004, while serving as Chair of the Kerry-Edwards Campaign, Shaheen answered questions about her prior support of the Iraq war during an interview on C-SPAN.[71]
George [W.] Bush said that the reason we needed to go to war in Iraq, the reason we needed to remove Saddam Hussein, was because he had weapons of mass destruction, weapons that could be used against this country, because he had ties to al-Qaeda and the terrorists who were responsible for the September 11 tragedy.What we know now and what George Bush and Dick Cheney have admitted is that in fact Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. (...) The links to al-Qaeda that the president talked about were not there. (...) While I appreciate that there was an effort to make people in this country think that [there was a connection] (...) the fact is that's not true.[72]
Shaheen opposed the2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan under PresidentJoe Biden.[73]
Shaheen initially opposedsame-sex marriage as Governor of New Hampshire, but in 2009 she came out in favor ofmarriage for same-sex couples and sponsored theRespect for Marriage Act.[74] She also voted in favor of therepeal ofDon't ask, don't tell, and supports government recognition of same-sex spouses of military and other government personnel.[75][better source needed]
On March 5, 2021, Shaheen voted againstBernie Sanders's amendment to include a $15/hourminimum wage in theAmerican Rescue Plan Act of 2021.[76]
In 2025, Shaheen was one of 12 Senate Democrats who joined all Republicans to vote for theLaken Riley Act.[77]
In October 2025, after theRapid Support Forces (RSF)captured al-Fashir inSudan, Shaheen denounced the RSFmassacre of local civilians, urged that the RSF be designated a terrorist organization, and harshly criticized theUnited Arab Emirates for its support of the RSF.[78]
Governor elections in New Hampshire: Results 1996–2000
| Year | Democratic | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct | 3rd Party | Party | Votes | Pct | 3rd Party | Party | Votes | Pct | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Jeanne Shaheen | 284,175 | 57% | Ovide Lamontagne | 196,321 | 40% | Fred Bramante | Independent Reform | 10,316 | 2% | Robert Kingsbury | Libertarian | 5,974 | 1% | |||||
| 1998 | Jeanne Shaheen (inc.) | 210,769 | 66% | Jay Lucas | 98,473 | 31% | Ken Blevens | Libertarian | 8,655 | 3% | Write-ins | Write-ins | 503 | <1% | |||||
| 2000 | Jeanne Shaheen (inc.) | 275,038 | 49% | Gordon Humphrey | 246,952 | 44% | Mary Brown | Independent | 35,904 | 6% | John Babiarz | Libertarian | 6,446 | 1% |
| Year | Democratic | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct | 3rd Party | Party | Votes | Pct | 3rd Party | Party | Votes | Pct | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Jeanne Shaheen | 207,478 | 46% | John E. Sununu | 227,229 | 51% | Ken Blevens | Libertarian | 9,835 | 2% | Bob Smith | Write-in | 2,396 | 1% | * | ||||
| 2008 | Jeanne Shaheen | 358,947 | 52% | John E. Sununu (inc.) | 314,412 | 45% | Ken Blevens | Libertarian | 21,381 | 3% | |||||||||
| 2014 | Jeanne Shaheen(inc.) | 251,184 | 51% | Scott Brown | 235,347 | 48% | |||||||||||||
| 2020 | Jeanne Shaheen (inc.) | 450,771 | 57% | Corky Messner | 326,229 | 41% | Justin O'Donnell | Libertarian | 18,421 | 2% |
*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 2002, write-ins received 197 votes.
Primaries
| New Hampshire Governor Democratic primary election, 1996 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Democratic | Jeanne Shaheen | 52,238 | 88% |
| Democratic | Lovett | 4,286 | 7% |
| Democratic | Woodworth | 2,609 | 4% |
| New Hampshire Governor Democratic primary election, 2000 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Democratic | Jeanne Shaheen (inc.) | 45,249 | 60% |
| Democratic | Mark Fernald | 28,488 | 38% |
| U.S. Senate Democratic primary election in New Hampshire, 2008 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Democratic | Jeanne Shaheen | 43,968 | 89% |
| Democratic | Raymond Stebbins | 5,281 | 11% |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Retrieved April 16, 2008.One of the big "what-ifs" of recent presidential politics is whether she would have been able to push Al Gore across the finish line in the 2000 election had he selected her as his running mate. ... Aside from Florida, New Hampshire was the closest Bush-won state in 2000—so it would not be hard to envision a Gore/Shaheen ticket getting New Hampshire's 4 electoral votes, which would have been sufficient for a narrow majority in the Electoral College overall.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of New Hampshire 1996,1998,2000 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromNew Hampshire (Class 2) 2002,2008,2014,2020 | Most recent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of New Hampshire 1997–2003 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 2) from New Hampshire 2009–present Served alongside:Judd Gregg,Kelly Ayotte,Maggie Hassan | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | Ranking Member of theSenate Small Business Committee 2015–2018 | Succeeded by |
| Chair of theSenate Small Business Committee 2023–2025 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Ranking Member of theSenate Foreign Relations Committee 2025–present | Incumbent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded by | Order of precedence of the United States as United States Senator | Succeeded by |
| United States senators by seniority 20th | ||
 | ||
| ||
| Select Committee (1950–1981) | | |
|---|---|---|
| Full Committee (1981–) | ||
| Class 2 | | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
Year of appointment in parentheses | ||||||||||||||
| Members of Congress |
|  | ||||||||||||
| Private citizens |
| |||||||||||||
| Non voting ex officio |
| |||||||||||||
| Former (reappointments italicized) |
| |||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
