The daughter of a shoe factory manager and a church secretary, Jeanne Shaheen is the first woman in American history to be elected Governor and U.S. Senator.
The Keene Sentinel says, “Shaheen has provided strong leadership in Congress,” with a “common sense voice.” The Concord Monitor calls Shaheen “trusted, respected and effective,” a Senator who “can be counted on to be the adult in the room where others are acting like children.”
Jeanne is firmly rooted in New Hampshire. She and her husband, Billy, raised their three daughters here, and now seven grandchildren live nearby. Jeanne ran a small business and taught at Dover High School before running for office. Throughout her public service, Jeanne has been a fierce advocate for strengthening the economy and reducing the cost of health care.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jeanne Shaheen has worked with Republicans and Democrats to get resources to New Hampshire to address the devastating economic and public health impact.
As Governor, Jeanne Shaheen extended affordable health insurance coverage to tens of thousands of New Hampshire children, expanded public kindergarten, and balanced budgets without a sales or income tax. The first woman ever elected Governor of New Hampshire, she repealed a law making abortion a felony and signed legislation requiring insurance companies to cover birth control. She challenged the big utility companies to cut energy bills for consumers and small businesses, and she encouraged clean energy.
Now in the U.S. Senate, Jeanne is a tireless voice for New Hampshire and its residents. She successfully protected funding and jobs for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, secured funding to open the Berlin prison and widen I-93, and brought a first-in-the-nation effort to New Hampshire to protect clean drinking water from contaminants like PFAS. As a member of the Armed Services Committee, and the only woman on the Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne is a leading voice on national security matters, a global leader for women’s rights, and she helped pass legislation to give veterans more options for health care closer to home.
And Jeanne isn’t afraid to take on her own party. She challenged Democratic and Republican Presidents to address the opioid epidemic and led a bipartisan effort to increase funding tenfold to help New Hampshire’s treatment centers and first responders.
Jeanne will continue making a difference for New Hampshire, with pragmatic leadership that overcomes extreme partisanship and division to bring people together to get real results.
