Jeanne Shaheen
Encyclopedia
Jeanne Shaheen is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party
, and the Senior United States Senator
from New Hampshire
. The first woman in U.S. history
to be elected as both a Governor
and U.S. Senator, she was the first woman to be elected Governor of New Hampshire
, serving from 1997 to 2003. Shaheen ran for the United States Senate
in 2002
, but was narrowly defeated by Republican
challenger John E. Sununu
. She then served as Director of the Harvard Institute of Politics
, before resigning to run again for the U.S. Senate in the 2008 election
, defeating Sununu in a rematch. Shaheen is the first Democratic Senator from NH since John A. Durkin
, who was defeated in 1980, and is currently the most junior senior Senator.
. She is the wife of Lebanese-American attorney and political operative Bill Shaheen
. Together they have three children. She graduated from high school in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania
, and earned a bachelor's degree in English from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
and a master's degree from the University of Mississippi
. She taught high school in Mississippi
and moved to New Hampshire in 1973, where she taught school and owned a small business.
. In 1996, 1998 and 2000 she was elected governor of New Hampshire
.
In April 2005, Shaheen was named director of Harvard's Institute of Politics, succeeding former U.S. Representative and Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman
.
. Her opponent in 1996 was Ovide P. Lamontagne, then chairman of the State Board of Education. Shaheen ran as a moderate. Her campaign centered on the problems of New Hampshire's schools and her pledge to expand kindergartens so that more children statewide could benefit from them. She defeated Lamontagne by 57 to 40 percent.
In 1996, Shaheen was the first woman to be elected governor of New Hampshire. (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.)
In 1998, she was overwhelmingly re-elected by a margin of 66 to 31 percent.
In both 1996 and 1998, Shaheen pledged to veto any new broad-based taxes for New Hampshire, which taxes neither sales nor its residents' earned income. A school-funding crisis, however, pressured the state's reliance on property taxes.
Running for a third term in 2000, Shaheen refused to renew that no-new-taxes pledge, becoming the first New Hampshire governor in 38 years to win an election without making that pledge. 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 NH legislature.
In 2001 Shaheen tried to implement a 2.5 percent sales tax, the first broad-based tariff of its kind in history of New Hampshire. Unlike neighboring New England states New Hampshire does not have a sales tax. The state's legislature rejected her proposal. She also proposed an increase in the state's cigarette tax and a 4.5 percent capital gains tax.
in New Hampshire, Governor Shaheen expressed support for Al Gore
and her husband Bill Shaheen served as Gore's New Hampshire campaign manager. Gore won a narrow but critical victory in the New Hampshire primary over Bill Bradley
.
Gore named Jeanne Shaheen to his short list of potential vice presidential nominees, which also included Indiana Senator Evan Bayh
, then-North Carolina Senator John Edwards
, then-House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt
, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry
, and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman
. Shaheen quickly acknowledged that, while appreciative of the speculation, she would not be a candidate for vice president, and she urged the Gore campaign to withdraw her name from consideration. Gore went on to choose Lieberman as his running mate.
(and a fellowship in the Institute of Politics with former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift), she was named national chairperson of John Kerry
's 2004 presidential campaign
in September 2003. Kerry's campaign, stagnant at that point, won the nomination handily and Shaheen received much of the credit.
After she was elected to three two-year terms as Governor, Shaheen declined to run for a fourth term, instead choosing to run for the U.S. Senate in 2002 when she was defeated by Republican John E. Sununu
, by a 51 percent to 47 percent margin (19,751 votes). In a recent interview with the Concord 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.
In June 2004, former Republican consultant Allen Raymond
pleaded guilty to jamming Democratic Party lines
set up to get New Hampshire Democrats to the polls in 2002, an action that some (most notably former Senator Bob Smith
, whom Sununu had defeated in the Republican primary) believe may have contributed to Shaheen's narrow loss. 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.
Raymond alleged that James Tobin
, Northeast
field director for the National 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 after Tobin's lawyers appealed. In October, 2008, prosecutors filed two new felony indictments which charged that James Tobin lied to a FBI agent when he was interviewed in 2003 about his role in the phone-jamming case. These subsequent charges were summarily dismissed in 2009 after the federal judge in Maine's District Court found them motivated by 'vindictive prosecution.'
The race was the first time two candidates with Arab-American families, although Shaheen herself is not Arab-American, have squared off in a Senate race.
2008
In late 2006, analysts looking ahead to the 2008 U.S. Senate races
pointed to John E. Sununu
's seat in New Hampshire as a likely competitive contest. Democratic Governor of New Hampshire
John Lynch, who was re-elected with 74% of the vote in 2006, had ruled himself out of running against Sununu, leaving some to begin looking to Shaheen as the obvious candidate. On March 18, the Nashua Telegraph announced that several Democratic polls showed Shaheen the best candidate to defeat Sununu, who trailed the former Governor in several polls, one putting Shaheen ahead of Sununu by nearly 30 points (57–29). In early July 2007 through UNH, CNN and WMUR put out a poll regarding the New Hampshire 2008 Senate race. The poll showed that Gov. Shaheen would beat Sen. Sununu in a race (54–38). Other Democratic candidates did not have this type of lead, which led many to believe Gov. Shaheen would be the right choice to beat Sen. Sununu in 2008.
In April 2007, Shaheen met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
(D-Nevada) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer (D-New York) about a possible US Senate run. The Senators both said that she would have strong support from the DSCC if she ran. The move came as a sign that Shaheen was more than likely to seek a rematch against Sununu. Two months later, in June 2007, the Rothenburg Political Report stated that Shaheen was then "likely to run" for the US Senate. In addition, at the New Hampshire Democratic Convention, former New Hampshire Democratic Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan announced that she was forming a draft movement of several legislators, activists, and party organizers to convince Shaheen to run for the US Senate. Some of the announced candidates said that they would yield to Shaheen if she announced plans to run, while Shaheen's husband, Bill, said that Shaheen would make an announcement in September regarding her plans.
On September 14, 2007, Shaheen announced that she intended to run for the Senate against Sununu. On September 15, 2007, she formally launched her US Senate bid at her home in Madbury, New Hampshire
. Six days later, on September 21, EMILY's List
endorsed her campaign.
Shaheen defeated Sununu 52% to 45% (44,535 votes).
.
In June 2009, Shaheen cosponsored and voted for the bipartisan Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
, giving the Food and Drug Administration
the power to regulate the tobacco industry
. The bill requires companies to disclose all the ingredients used in their cigarettes and charges the FDA with policing the industry against youth-targeted advertising.
Also in 2009, Shaheen partnered with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in crafting and introducing the bipartisan Medicare Transitional Care Act, which provides follow-up care for discharged hospital patients in order to reduce the need for re-hospitalizations. The bill passed in 2010, and research at the University of Pennsylvania
predicts the measure will lower the cost of health care by as much as $5,000 per Medicare beneficiary while also improving health care quality and reducing re-hospitalizations.
In March 2010, Shaheen voted to pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act
, which increased Pell Grants while also ending the practice of distributing federal student loans through banks. The bill cuts out the middleman and institutes direct lending to students, a move that the OMB scored as saving taxpayers $68 billion over 11 years.
Following the BP oil spill
in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Shaheen proposed abolishing the Minerals 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. Shaheen also proposed legislation giving the President's bipartisan BP Oil Spill Commission
subpoena power in their investigation. She has been championing this issue over repeated, unexplained Republican objections and has argued that subpoena power is necessary to avoid another such disaster, emphasizing the spill's economic costs to the Gulf Coast region and the economy as a whole.
Shaheen said that she came to supporting the policy of removing Saddam Hussein from power after meeting with former Clinton-administration National Security Advisor Sandy Berger
. According to the Concord Monitor and Associated Press, the issue was a minor one in the race.
Shaheen later questioned George W. Bush
's handling of the situation in Iraq. In September, 2004 she said
On July 28, 2004, while serving as Chair of the Kerry-Edwards Campaign, Gov. Shaheen answered questions about her prior support of the Iraq war during an interview on C-SPAN.
as governor of New Hampshire. In 2009, however, she came out in favor of the legislative enactment of marriage equality for same-sex couples, and became a sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act
. She also voted in favor of the repeal
of Don't ask, don't tell
, and supports government recognition of same-sex spouses of military and other government personnel.
|+ U.S. Senate (Class II) elections in New Hampshire: Results 2002–2008
!|Year
!
!|Democrat
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|Republican
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|3rd Party
!|Party
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|3rd Party
!|Party
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
|-
|2002
|
| |Jeanne Shaheen
| align="right" |207,478
| |46%
|
| |
| align="right" |227,229
| |51%
|
| |Ken Blevens
| |Libertarian
| align="right" |9,835
| align="right" |2%
|
| |Bob Smith
| |Write-in
| align="right" |2,396
| align="right" |1%
| |*
|-
|2008
|
| |
| align="right" |358,947
| |52%
|
| |John E. Sununu
| align="right" |314,412
| |45%
|
| |Ken Blevens
| |Libertarian
| align="right" |21,381
| align="right" |3%
|
|
|
|
|
|
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, and the Senior United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. The first woman in U.S. history
History of the United States
The history of the United States traditionally starts with the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776, although its territory was inhabited by Native Americans since prehistoric times and then by European colonists who followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. The...
to be elected as both a Governor
Governor (United States)
In the United States, the title governor refers to the chief executive of each state or insular territory, not directly subordinate to the federal authorities, but the political and ceremonial head of the state.-Role and powers:...
and U.S. Senator, she was the first woman to be elected Governor of New Hampshire
Governor of New Hampshire
The Governor of the State of New Hampshire is the supreme executive magistrate of the U.S. state of New Hampshire.The governor is elected at the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along with bordering Vermont, to hold...
, serving from 1997 to 2003. Shaheen ran for the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
in 2002
United States Senate election in New Hampshire, 2002
The 2002 United States Senate election in New Hampshire was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Republican/Independent U.S. Senator Bob Smith decided to retire. Republican John E. Sununu won the open seat.- Background :...
, but was narrowly defeated by Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
challenger John E. Sununu
John E. Sununu
John Edward Sununu is a former Republican United States Senator from New Hampshire, of Lebanese and Palestinian Christian ancestry. Sununu was the youngest member of the Senate for his entire six year term. He is the son of former New Hampshire Governor John H...
. She then served as Director of the Harvard Institute of Politics
Harvard Institute of Politics
Harvard Institute of Politics was created to serve as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and inspire Harvard students into careers in politics and public service, much as President Kennedy was inspired during his days as a student at Harvard. The IOP also brings together the academic...
, before resigning to run again for the U.S. Senate in the 2008 election
United States Senate election in New Hampshire, 2008
The United States Senate election in New Hampshire was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John E. Sununu ran for re-election to a second term, but was defeated by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.- Background :...
, defeating Sununu in a rematch. Shaheen is the first Democratic Senator from NH since John A. Durkin
John A. Durkin
John Anthony Durkin was a Democratic U.S. Senator from New Hampshire from 1975 until 1980.Durkin graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1959 and Georgetown University Law Center in 1965...
, who was defeated in 1980, and is currently the most junior senior Senator.
Early life
Shaheen was born Cynthia Jeanne Bowers in Saint Charles, MissouriSaint Charles, Missouri
St. Charles is a city in, and the county seat of, St. Charles County, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 65,794, making St. Charles the 2nd largest city in St. Charles County. It lies just to the northwest of St. Louis, Missouri on the Missouri River, and, for a time,...
. She is the wife of Lebanese-American attorney and political operative Bill Shaheen
Bill Shaheen
Bill Shaheen is the husband of U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen. He is a prominent New Hampshire lawyer and co-founder of the Shaheen & Gordon law firm; he currently serves as a board member at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College...
. Together they have three children. She graduated from high school in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania
Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania
Selinsgrove is a borough in Snyder County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1787 by Captain Anthony Selin, who fought with Washington in the Revolutionary War....
, and earned a bachelor's degree in English from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, commonly known as Ship, or SU, is a public university located in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, 40 miles west-southwest of Harrisburg...
and a master's degree from the University of Mississippi
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
. She taught high school in Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and moved to New Hampshire in 1973, where she taught school and owned a small business.
Early political career
A Democrat, she worked on several campaigns before running for office in 1990, when she was elected to the state SenateNew Hampshire Senate
The New Hampshire Senate has been meeting since 1784. It is the upper house of the New Hampshire General Court. It consists of 24 members representing Senate districts based on population...
. In 1996, 1998 and 2000 she was elected governor of New Hampshire
Governor of New Hampshire
The Governor of the State of New Hampshire is the supreme executive magistrate of the U.S. state of New Hampshire.The governor is elected at the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along with bordering Vermont, to hold...
.
In April 2005, Shaheen was named director of Harvard's Institute of Politics, succeeding former U.S. Representative and Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman
Dan Glickman
Daniel Robert "Dan" Glickman is an American businessman and politician. He served as the United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1995 until 2001, prior to which he represented the Fourth Congressional District of Kansas as a Democrat in Congress for 18 years. He was Chairman and CEO of the...
.
Governor of New Hampshire
Shaheen's original decision to run for New Hampshire Governor followed the retirement of Republican Governor Steve MerrillSteve Merrill
Stephen E. "Steve" Merrill is an American lawyer and Republican politician from Manchester, New Hampshire.- Biography :Merrill was born in Hampton, New Hampshire. He studied at the University of New Hampshire, graduating from it in 1969. He received his J.D...
. Her opponent in 1996 was Ovide P. Lamontagne, then chairman of the State Board of Education. Shaheen ran as a moderate. Her campaign centered on the problems of New Hampshire's schools and her pledge to expand kindergartens so that more children statewide could benefit from them. She defeated Lamontagne by 57 to 40 percent.
In 1996, Shaheen was the first woman to be elected governor of New Hampshire. (She was not, however, the first woman to serve as New Hampshire's governor; Vesta M. Roy
Vesta M. Roy
Vesta M. Roy was a Republican New Hampshire politician, born in Dearborn, Michigan.As president of the state Senate, she served as acting governor of New Hampshire from December 29, 1982 until January 6, 1983 as a result of the death of Governor Hugh Gallen shortly before the inauguration of the...
was acting governor from December 30, 1982 until January 6, 1983.)
In 1998, she was overwhelmingly re-elected by a margin of 66 to 31 percent.
In both 1996 and 1998, Shaheen pledged to veto any new broad-based taxes for New Hampshire, which taxes neither sales nor its residents' earned income. A school-funding crisis, however, pressured the state's reliance on property taxes.
Running for a third term in 2000, Shaheen refused to renew that no-new-taxes pledge, becoming the first New Hampshire governor in 38 years to win an election without making that pledge. 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 NH legislature.
In 2001 Shaheen tried to implement a 2.5 percent sales tax, the first broad-based tariff of its kind in history of New Hampshire. Unlike neighboring New England states New Hampshire does not have a sales tax. The state's legislature rejected her proposal. She also proposed an increase in the state's cigarette tax and a 4.5 percent capital gains tax.
2000
During the 2000 Democratic presidential primaryDemocratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2000
The 2000 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2000 U.S. presidential election...
in New Hampshire, Governor Shaheen expressed support for Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
and her husband Bill Shaheen served as Gore's New Hampshire campaign manager. Gore won a narrow but critical victory in the New Hampshire primary over Bill Bradley
Bill Bradley
William Warren "Bill" Bradley is an American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, and former three-term Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in the 2000 election.Bradley was born and raised in a suburb of St....
.
Gore named Jeanne Shaheen to his short list of potential vice presidential nominees, which also included Indiana Senator Evan Bayh
Evan Bayh
Birch Evans "Evan" Bayh III is a lawyer, advisor and former Democratic politician who served as the junior U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1999 to 2011. He earlier served as the 46th Governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997. Bayh is a current Fox News contributor as of March 14, 2011.Bayh first held...
, then-North Carolina Senator John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
, then-House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt
Dick Gephardt
Richard Andrew "Dick" Gephardt is a lobbyist and former prominent American politician of the Democratic Party. Gephardt served as a U.S. Representative from Missouri from January 3, 1977, until January 3, 2005, serving as House Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995, and as Minority Leader from 1995 to...
, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
, and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman
Joe Lieberman
Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman is the senior United States Senator from Connecticut. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's nominee for Vice President in the 2000 election. Currently an independent, he remains closely affiliated with the party.Born in Stamford, Connecticut,...
. Shaheen quickly acknowledged that, while appreciative of the speculation, she would not be a candidate for vice president, and she urged the Gore campaign to withdraw her name from consideration. Gore went on to choose Lieberman as his running mate.
2004
After a short time teaching at Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
(and a fellowship in the Institute of Politics with former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift), she was named national chairperson of John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
's 2004 presidential campaign
John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004
The Presidential Campaign of John Kerry, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and the nominee of the Democratic Party challenged Republican incumbent President George W. Bush in the U.S. presidential election on November 2, 2004. Ultimately, Kerry conceded defeat in the race in a telephone call to Bush...
in September 2003. Kerry's campaign, stagnant at that point, won the nomination handily and Shaheen received much of the credit.
Elections
2002After she was elected to three two-year terms as Governor, Shaheen declined to run for a fourth term, instead choosing to run for the U.S. Senate in 2002 when she was defeated by Republican John E. Sununu
John E. Sununu
John Edward Sununu is a former Republican United States Senator from New Hampshire, of Lebanese and Palestinian Christian ancestry. Sununu was the youngest member of the Senate for his entire six year term. He is the son of former New Hampshire Governor John H...
, by a 51 percent to 47 percent margin (19,751 votes). In a recent interview with the Concord Monitor
Concord Monitor
The Concord Monitor is the daily newspaper for Concord, the state capital of New Hampshire. It also covers substantial portions of surrounding Merrimack and Belknap counties in New Hampshire's Lakes Region...
, 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.
In June 2004, former Republican consultant Allen Raymond
Allen Raymond
Allen Raymond is a Republican political consultant in the United States who spent three months in federal prison for his role in the 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal, for which he was convicted of making harassing phone calls across state lines, a felony.Raymond told...
pleaded guilty to jamming Democratic Party lines
2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal
The 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal involves the use of a telemarketing firm hired by that state's Republican Party for election tampering. The tampering involved using a call center to jam the phone lines of a Get Out the Vote operation...
set up to get New Hampshire Democrats to the polls in 2002, an action that some (most notably former Senator Bob Smith
Robert C. Smith
Robert C. "Bob" Smith is an American politician who has served in both the United States House of Representatives and the Senate. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life:Smith was born in Trenton, New Jersey...
, whom Sununu had defeated in the Republican primary) believe may have contributed to Shaheen's narrow loss. 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.
Raymond alleged that James Tobin
James Tobin (political operative)
James Tobin was President George W. Bush's New England campaign chairman. He was convicted on December 15, 2005, of telephone harassment "for his part in a plot to jam the Democratic Party's phones on Election Day 2002"...
, Northeast
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
field director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee
National Republican Senatorial Committee
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is the Republican Hill committee for the United States Senate, working to elect Republicans to that body. The NRSC was founded in 1916 as the Republican Senatorial Campaign 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 after Tobin's lawyers appealed. In October, 2008, prosecutors filed two new felony indictments which charged that James Tobin lied to a FBI agent when he was interviewed in 2003 about his role in the phone-jamming case. These subsequent charges were summarily dismissed in 2009 after the federal judge in Maine's District Court found them motivated by 'vindictive prosecution.'
The race was the first time two candidates with Arab-American families, although Shaheen herself is not Arab-American, have squared off in a Senate race.
2008
In late 2006, analysts looking ahead to the 2008 U.S. Senate races
United States Senate elections, 2008
Elections for the United States Senate were held on November 4, 2008, with 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate being contested. Thirty-three seats were regular elections; the winners were eligible to serve six-year terms from January 3, 2009, to January 3, 2015, as members of Senate Class II...
pointed to John E. Sununu
John E. Sununu
John Edward Sununu is a former Republican United States Senator from New Hampshire, of Lebanese and Palestinian Christian ancestry. Sununu was the youngest member of the Senate for his entire six year term. He is the son of former New Hampshire Governor John H...
's seat in New Hampshire as a likely competitive contest. Democratic Governor of New Hampshire
Governor of New Hampshire
The Governor of the State of New Hampshire is the supreme executive magistrate of the U.S. state of New Hampshire.The governor is elected at the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along with bordering Vermont, to hold...
John Lynch, who was re-elected with 74% of the vote in 2006, had ruled himself out of running against Sununu, leaving some to begin looking to Shaheen as the obvious candidate. On March 18, the Nashua Telegraph announced that several Democratic polls showed Shaheen the best candidate to defeat Sununu, who trailed the former Governor in several polls, one putting Shaheen ahead of Sununu by nearly 30 points (57–29). In early July 2007 through UNH, CNN and WMUR put out a poll regarding the New Hampshire 2008 Senate race. The poll showed that Gov. Shaheen would beat Sen. Sununu in a race (54–38). Other Democratic candidates did not have this type of lead, which led many to believe Gov. Shaheen would be the right choice to beat Sen. Sununu in 2008.
Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid is the senior United States Senator from Nevada, serving since 1987. A member of the Democratic Party, he has been the Senate Majority Leader since January 2007, having previously served as Minority Leader and Minority and Majority Whip.Previously, Reid was a member of the U.S...
(D-Nevada) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer (D-New York) about a possible US Senate run. The Senators both said that she would have strong support from the DSCC if she ran. The move came as a sign that Shaheen was more than likely to seek a rematch against Sununu. Two months later, in June 2007, the Rothenburg Political Report stated that Shaheen was then "likely to run" for the US Senate. In addition, at the New Hampshire Democratic Convention, former New Hampshire Democratic Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan announced that she was forming a draft movement of several legislators, activists, and party organizers to convince Shaheen to run for the US Senate. Some of the announced candidates said that they would yield to Shaheen if she announced plans to run, while Shaheen's husband, Bill, said that Shaheen would make an announcement in September regarding her plans.
On September 14, 2007, Shaheen announced that she intended to run for the Senate against Sununu. On September 15, 2007, she formally launched her US Senate bid at her home in Madbury, New Hampshire
Madbury, New Hampshire
Madbury is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,771 at the 2010 census.-History:Madbury was originally a part of Dover called Barbadoes, after the West Indies island of Barbados with which settlers conducted trade, sending wood and lumber in exchange for...
. Six days later, on September 21, EMILY's List
EMILY's List
EMILY's List is a political action committee in the United States that aims to help elect female candidates to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1984....
endorsed her campaign.
Shaheen defeated Sununu 52% to 45% (44,535 votes).
Tenure
On January 6, 2009, Shaheen was sworn into the United States SenateUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
.
In June 2009, Shaheen cosponsored and voted for the bipartisan Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, is a United States federal law that gives the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate the tobacco industry...
, giving the Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
the power to regulate the tobacco industry
Tobacco industry
The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all...
. The bill requires companies to disclose all the ingredients used in their cigarettes and charges the FDA with policing the industry against youth-targeted advertising.
Also in 2009, Shaheen partnered with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in crafting and introducing the bipartisan Medicare Transitional Care Act, which provides follow-up care for discharged hospital patients in order to reduce the need for re-hospitalizations. The bill passed in 2010, and research at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
predicts the measure will lower the cost of health care by as much as $5,000 per Medicare beneficiary while also improving health care quality and reducing re-hospitalizations.
In March 2010, Shaheen voted to pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act
Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act
The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 is a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives of the 111th United States Congress by Congressman George Miller that would expand federal Pell Grants to a maximum of $5,500 in 2010 and tie increases in Pell Grant maximum values to...
, which increased Pell Grants while also ending the practice of distributing federal student loans through banks. The bill cuts out the middleman and institutes direct lending to students, a move that the OMB scored as saving taxpayers $68 billion over 11 years.
Following the BP oil spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed unabated for three months in 2010, and continues to leak fresh oil. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry...
in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Shaheen proposed abolishing the Minerals Management Service
Minerals Management Service
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement , formerly known as the Minerals Management Service , was an agency of the United States Department of the Interior that managed the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf...
, the U.S. government agency tasked with regulating offshore drilling, arguing that reform had been insufficient and that a new agency was needed. Shaheen also proposed legislation giving the President's bipartisan BP Oil Spill Commission
National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling
The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling is a bipartisan presidential commission, established by Executive Order 13543 signed by Barack Obama on May 21, 2010, that is “tasked with providing recommendations on how the United States can prevent and mitigate...
subpoena power in their investigation. She has been championing this issue over repeated, unexplained Republican objections and has argued that subpoena power is necessary to avoid another such disaster, emphasizing the spill's economic costs to the Gulf Coast region and the economy as a whole.
Committee assignments
The Senator received the following committee assignments in the 111th Congress:- Committee on Foreign RelationsUnited States Senate Committee on Foreign RelationsThe United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It is charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. The Foreign Relations Committee is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid programs as...
- Subcommittee on African AffairsUnited States Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African AffairsThe Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs is one of seven subcommittees of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.-Jurisdiction:...
- Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy and Global Women's Issues
- Subcommittee on European AffairsUnited States Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European AffairsThe Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs is one of seven subcommittees of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.-Jurisdiction:...
(Chairwoman) - Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection
- Subcommittee on African Affairs
- Committee on Energy and Natural ResourcesUnited States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural ResourcesThe United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has jurisdiction over matters related to energy and nuclear waste policy, territorial policy, native Hawaiian matters, and public lands....
- Subcommittee on EnergyUnited States Senate Energy Subcommittee on EnergySenate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy is one of four subcommittees of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.-Jurisdiction:...
- Subcommittee on Public Lands and ForestsUnited States Senate Energy Subcommittee on Public Lands and ForestsSenate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests is one of four subcommittees of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.-Jurisdiction:...
- Subcommittee on Water and PowerUnited States Senate Energy Subcommittee on Water and PowerSenate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power is one of four subcommittees of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.-Jurisdiction:...
- Subcommittee on Energy
- Committee on Small Business and EntrepreneurshipUnited States Senate Committee on Small Business and EntrepreneurshipThe U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It has jurisdiction over the Small Business Administration and is also charged with researching and investigating all problems of American small business enterprises.-History:The...
- Commission on Security and Cooperation in EuropeCommission on Security and Cooperation in EuropeThe Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe , also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, is an independent U.S. Government agency created by Congress in 1976 to monitor and encourage compliance with the Helsinki Final Act and other OSCE commitments. It was established in 1976 pursuant to...
- Impeachment Trial Committee on the Articles against Judge G. Thomas Porteous, Jr.Thomas PorteousGabriel Thomas Porteous, Jr. is a former United States federal judge who served for sixteen years before being impeached and removed from office in December 2010.-Background:...
Offices
Senator Jeanne Shaheen
520 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-2841
Senator Jeanne Shaheen
1589 Elm Street
Manchester, NH 03101
Phone: 603-647-7500
Stance on Iraq War
In 2002, when Shaheen narrowly lost to Sununu, both supported "regime change" for Iraq.Shaheen said that she came to supporting the policy of removing Saddam Hussein from power after meeting with former Clinton-administration National Security Advisor Sandy Berger
Sandy Berger
Samuel Richard "Sandy" Berger was United States National Security Advisor, under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001. In his position, he helped to formulate the foreign policy of the Clinton Administration...
. According to the Concord Monitor and Associated Press, the issue was a minor one in the race.
Shaheen later questioned George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's handling of the situation in Iraq. In September, 2004 she said
“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, Gov. Shaheen answered questions about her prior support of the Iraq war during an interview on C-SPAN.
"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 Sept 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 county think that [there was a connection]… the fact is that’s not true."
LGBT rights
Shaheen initially opposed same-sex marriageSame-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
as governor of New Hampshire. In 2009, however, she came out in favor of the legislative enactment of marriage equality for same-sex couples, and became a sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act
Respect for Marriage Act
The Respect for Marriage Act, or RFMA , is a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and allow the U.S. federal government to provide benefits to couples in a same-sex marriage; the bill would not compel individual states to recognize same-sex...
. She also voted in favor of the repeal
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010
The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 is a landmark federal statute that establishes a legal process for ending the Don't ask, don't tell policy , which since 1993 prevented openly gay and lesbian people from serving in the United States Armed Forces.The Act did not immediately repeal the...
of Don't ask, don't tell
Don't ask, don't tell
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the official United States policy on homosexuals serving in the military from December 21, 1993 to September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while...
, and supports government recognition of same-sex spouses of military and other government personnel.
Electoral history
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em ; font-size:95%"|+ U.S. Senate (Class II) elections in New Hampshire: Results 2002–2008
!|Year
!
!|Democrat
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|Republican
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|3rd Party
!|Party
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|3rd Party
!|Party
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
|-
|2002
United States Senate election in New Hampshire, 2002
The 2002 United States Senate election in New Hampshire was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Republican/Independent U.S. Senator Bob Smith decided to retire. Republican John E. Sununu won the open seat.- Background :...
|
| |Jeanne Shaheen
| align="right" |207,478
| |46%
|
| |
| align="right" |227,229
| |51%
|
| |Ken Blevens
| |Libertarian
Libertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
| align="right" |9,835
| align="right" |2%
|
| |Bob Smith
| |Write-in
| align="right" |2,396
| align="right" |1%
| |*
|-
|2008
United States Senate election in New Hampshire, 2008
The United States Senate election in New Hampshire was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John E. Sununu ran for re-election to a second term, but was defeated by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.- Background :...
|
| |
| align="right" |358,947
| |52%
|
| |John E. Sununu
John E. Sununu
John Edward Sununu is a former Republican United States Senator from New Hampshire, of Lebanese and Palestinian Christian ancestry. Sununu was the youngest member of the Senate for his entire six year term. He is the son of former New Hampshire Governor John H...
| align="right" |314,412
| |45%
|
| |Ken Blevens
| |Libertarian
Libertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
| align="right" |21,381
| align="right" |3%
|
|
|
|
|
|
External links
- Senator Jeanne Shaheen official U.S. Senate site
- Jeanne Shaheen for U.S. Senate official campaign site
- Open Secrets – Jeanne Shaheen
- Profile at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government