Jeanne Shaheen | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2021 | |
| United States Senator from New Hampshire | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2009 Serving with Maggie Hassan | |
| Preceded by | John Sununu |
| Chair of the Senate Small Business Committee | |
| Assumed office September 27, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Ben Cardin |
| Ranking Member of the Senate Small Business Committee | |
| In office April 2, 2015 – February 6, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Ben Cardin |
| Succeeded by | Ben Cardin |
| 78th Governor of New Hampshire | |
| In office January 9, 1997 – January 9, 2003 | |
| Preceded by | Steve Merrill |
| Succeeded by | Craig Benson |
| Member of the New Hampshire Senate from the 21st district | |
| In office December 5, 1990 – December 4, 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Franklin Torr |
| Succeeded by | Katie Wheeler |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Cynthia Jeanne Bowers January 28, 1947 St. Charles, Missouri, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse |
William Shaheen (m. 1972) |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Shippensburg University (BA) University of Mississippi (MSS) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | Senate website |
Cynthia Jeanne Shaheen (/ˈdʒiːn ʃəˈhiːn/ JEEN shə-HEEN; née Bowers, born January 28, 1947) is an American politician and retired educator serving as the senior United States senator from New Hampshire, a seat she has held since January 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, she also served as the 78th governor of New Hampshire from 1997 to 2003. Shaheen is the first woman elected as both a governor and a U.S. senator,[1] and the first woman elected governor of New Hampshire.
After serving two terms in the New Hampshire Senate, Shaheen was elected governor in 1996 and reelected in 1998 and 2000. In 2002, she unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate against Republican nominee John E. Sununu. She 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. She is the dean of New Hampshire's congressional delegation, serving in Congress since 2009.
Shaheen became the first Democratic senator from New Hampshire since John A. Durkin, who was defeated in 1980. In 2014, she became the second Democrat from New Hampshire to be reelected to the Senate and the first since Thomas J. McIntyre in 1972. She was reelected to a third term in 2020, defeating Republican nominee Bryant Messner.
- ^ Katharine Q. Seelye (January 1, 2013). "From Congress to Halls of State, in New Hampshire, Women Rule". The New York Times.