Jeanne Shaheen

Jeanne Shaheen
Official portrait, 2021
United States Senator from New Hampshire
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2009 Serving with Maggie Hassan
Preceded by	John Sununu
Chair of the Senate Small Business Committee
Incumbent
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 (1947-01-28) January 28, 1947 (age 77) 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
Shaheen's voice Shaheen on her support of Julianne Smith to be U.S. Ambassador to NATO Recorded November 18, 2021

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]

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.