A Legacy of Immense Service and Immeasurable Impact
- Amplify NH
- Mar 17
- 5 min read
Last week, New Hampshire’s senior U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, announced she will not seek reelection next year. A giant in New Hampshire politics, Shaheen retires as both one of the most successful and impactful leaders the Granite State has ever seen.
Starting her career in elected office in the New Hampshire State Senate, Shaheen was then elected as the first woman to be elected as Governor of New Hampshire in 1996, going on to serve three terms in Concord. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008, making her not only the first woman to represent New Hampshire in this office, but also the first woman in American History to be elected as both governor and senator.
A political trailblazer throughout her career, Shaheen will leave office with a legacy of fighting to improve the lives of Granite Staters and all Americans. As Sen. Shaheen prepares to exit elected office, let’s take a look at the significant impact she has made and how her legacy of fighting for the hardworking people of New Hampshire has endured over the last 30 years:
A Legacy of Putting New Hampshire First
Throughout the various levels of government in which she’s served, Shaheen has always taken on the challenges faced by Granite State families, communities and businesses.
In a time in which more than half of all families live in child care deserts, Shaheen consistently advocated for more affordable and accessible child care, taking action to expand the child care workforce and ensure families in New Hampshire’s rural communities were not left stranded.
As Governor. Shaheen championed access to education, passing the largest expansion of public kindergarten as well as historic investments in public schools, job training and the state University System.
Shaheen’s reputation for working across the aisle to pass bipartisan legislation benefited Granite Staters’ access to critical health care resources. Over her time in office, she repeatedly helped to author and pass landmark legislation, leading to achievements like lowering premiums to make health insurance more affordable for patients, giving veterans new health care options closer to home outside the VA system, and capping Medicare out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35.
As the former Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Shaheen prioritized the success of New Hampshire small businesses throughout her career.
She created numerous programs intended to help Granite State business owners, including the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) to help small businesses in New Hampshire and across the country enter new markets, access export financing and attend trade missions. Her leadership has helped grow New Hampshire’s high-tech aerospace, defense, and biofabrication industry, helping New Hampshire Business have an impact in our nation’s national security and scientific research efforts.
A Champion for Granite State Women
During her tenures as both Governor and Senator, Shaheen has cemented herself as a staunch advocate for women’s reproductive rights and freedoms. Most notably in her first term as Governor, Shaheen signed the bipartisan bill SB 34, which removed abortion as a felony in New Hampshire.
With the continued attacks on reproductive rights and abortion in New Hampshire, the repeal of New Hampshire’s old felony abortion law in 1997 was critical in protecting reproductive rights in New Hampshire after the fall of Roe v. Wade. As Senator Shaheen maintains that the fight to protect these rights must continue, she has not hesitated to call out the extremism amongst New Hampshire’s Republican party and Republicans in Washington in regards to limiting women’s bodily autonomy.
“Sadly, what we’ve seen as a Republican Party that has moved so far right, that in order to hold office in the Republican party today, people have taken extreme positions on abortion and reproductive rights,” Shaheen stated last summer in an exclusive interview with the Granite Post.
In the Senate, Shaheen has championed policies set to better the lives of women and families across the nation. She has spoken on the Senate floor numerous times to advocate for protections to women’s reproductive health care, as well as stood up for the reproductive rights of our U.S. service members.
Shaheen’s advocacy for women’s rights reaches across the globe. For years, Shaheen served as the only woman on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), and this Congress, she became Ranking Member, becoming the first woman to lead either party in the SFRC. Her leadership on the SFRC highlights a career’s worth of work to promote global democracy and fighting to advance the rights of women and girls around the world. In 2017, she authored the bipartisan Women, Peace and Security Act, which was signed into law and put women at the negotiating table to resolve international conflict. A staunch advocate for the rights of Afghan women and girls, Shaheen also secured the largest one-time increase in the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program.
A History-Making Groundbreaker
In light of Sen. Shaheen’s immense legacy of public service, it may be easy to forget just how much she permanently altered the political landscape in New Hampshire. When Shaheen took office as Governor in 1997, Republicans had dominated New Hampshire politics for more than a century.
In the entire century before Shaheen took office, Democrats had only controlled the corner office for a total of 14 years, but since her election in 1996, Democrats have won 9 of 15 races for Governor. At the State House, Democrats had not held majorities in either the House or Senate since the 1920s, but after Shaheen’s first election as Governor, Democrats gained control of these chambers 8 times. And at the federal level, Democrats have now won 5 of the last 6 US Senate races and 17 of the last 20 races for US Congress.
Shaheen fundamentally altered the political landscape in the Granite State, providing both an example of how to connect with and fight for hardworking Granite Staters as both a candidate and an elected leader. Truly, Shaheen leaves a gigantic legacy of service and an impact that will last far beyond her final term in office.
Join Us on Bluesky!
Just like millions of Americans have done over the last few weeks, Amplify NH has now joined Bluesky! To make sure you’re getting the latest from Amplify, please make sure to follow us there, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Not signed up for Bluesky yet? Not sure how to best utilize this growing social media platform? Keep an eye out for our next Amplify NH training session on Bluesky early in 2025!
Sign Up For Granite Post’s Morning Digest!
Together, Amplify NH and the Courier News Network have brought Granite Post, a new social-media-first newsroom dedicated to factual, relevant, pro-democracy, local news, to New Hampshire. We’re excited to provide Granite Staters with important news and information, on top of coverage on all things New Hampshire politics!
Since its launch, the Granite Post has worked to add important new voices to New Hampshire’s media ecosystem -- not only fighting misinformation, but bringing important issues and unique stories to the attention of Granite Staters who don't get their news from traditional media sources.
Granite Post Newsletters are now publishing! Make sure you sign-up here. They are also on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, and TikTok.
Thank you,
Ryan Mahoney
Executive Director