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Jeanne Shaheen

Jeanne Shaheen

  • New Hampshire
  • Democratic
Career

U.S. Senate, 2009-present
Governor of New Hampshire, 1997-2003
New Hampshire state Senate, 1992-1996

Education

Shippensburg University
University of Mississippi

Details

Born: Jan 28, 1947

Governor State Senator U.S. Senator

Biography

Jeanne Shaheen assumed office as a United States senator for New Hampshire in January 2009. Shaheen is the first female U.S. senator from New Hampshire, the first woman to be elected governor of New Hampshire, and the first woman to be elected as both a U.S. governor and a U.S. senator. Shaheen announced in March 2025 that she will be retiring from public office at the end of her term.

Shaheen was born January 28, 1947, in Saint Charles, Missouri. She received her bachelor's degree in English from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania in 1969 and her master's degree in political science from the University of Mississippi in 1973. Prior to entering politics, Shaheen taught high school and owned a small business.

From 1991 until 1996, Shaheen served as a member of the New Hampshire Senate for the 21st District. She served as governor of New Hampshire from 1997-2003. In 2002, Shaheen ran for the United States Senate, losing to Republican John E. Sununu in the general election. She then served as national chair of John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign and then as director of the Harvard Institute of Politics, before resigning to run for the U.S. Senate again in 2008, this time defeating Sununu.

For information on Shaheen's policy subject areas, committee appointments and sponsored/co-sponsored legislation in the U.S. Senate, please visit her profile on https://www.congress.gov.

Sources:

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (n.d.). Shaheen, Jeanne (1947-). Retrieved on May 12, 2020, from https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=S001181.

McNamee, G. L. (n.d.). Jeanne Shaheen: United States Senator. In Britannica. Retrieved on May 12, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeanne-Shaheen.

Shaheen, J. (n.d.). About Jeanne. Retrieved on May 12, 2020, from https://www.shaheen.senate.gov/about/biography.

Vote Smart (n.d.). Jeanne Shaheen's Biography. Retrieved on May 12, 2020, from https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/biography/1663/jeanne-shaheen.

Speeches

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