Jeanne Shaheen

Who is Jeanne Shaheen?

Jeanne Shaheen is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and the senior United States Senator from New Hampshire. She is the first female U.S. Senator in New Hampshire's history, was the first woman to be elected Governor of New Hampshire and she is the first woman in U.S. history to be elected as both a Governor and a U.S. Senator.

After serving two terms in the New Hampshire Senate, Shaheen was elected Governor in 1996. She was re-elected in 1998 and 2000, forgoing a fourth term to run for the United States Senate in 2002, losing to Republican John E. Sununu. She then served as Director of the Harvard Institute of Politics, before resigning to run for the U.S. Senate again in the 2008 election, defeating Sununu in a rematch. Shaheen is the first Democratic senator from New Hampshire since John A. Durkin, who was defeated in 1980.