Jeanne Shaheen

U.S. Senate, NH

Click here to view Shaheen's photo gallery.

Righting the wrongs of 2002. Democrats got their wish when former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen announced she would run against GOP rubber-stamping Sen. John Sununu in 2008. Shaheen narrowly lost to Sununu in 2002, but his victory was tarnished by the guilty pleas of GOP operatives who admitted they jammed Democratic phone lines on election day. Two Republican operatives served jail time for this conspiracy scheme. So helping Shaheen unseat Sununu in 2008 would be a double victory for Democrats -- moving another seat into the Democratic column, strengthening our Senate majority -- AND righting the wrongs of the 2002 election, which Sununu won thanks to Republican dirty tricks.

A vulnerable incumbent. The Washington Post calls Sununu “the single most endangered Republican incumbent in the country.” He has lost the trust of voters by voting in lockstep with Bush, including on the war in Iraq. He is radically anti-choice, even opposing embryonic stem cell research. He supports Bush’s failed economic agenda and efforts to roll back environmental protections. He accepted $210,000 from the oil and gas industry -- then voted against the Democratic energy bill that would have provided tax breaks for renewable energy. But Sununu has a $3 million war chest and a new seat on the Finance Committee to help him raise even more.

A record of changing lives. As a three-term governor, Shaheen made dramatic improvements to education and health care, and used her power to protect reproductive rights. In fact, one of Shaheen’s earliest acts as governor was to repeal New Hampshire’s 150-year-old law making abortion a felony. Polls consistently show Shaheen leading Sununu, but she will be the target of vicious and costly attacks by right-wing Republicans and corporate special interests desperate to keep Bush loyalist Sununu in the Senate. Jeanne Shaheen needs to raise $10 million to unseat this well-funded incumbent and answer the call of Granite Staters to become their first woman senator.

More About Jeanne Shaheen

Polls show a tightening race between Republican Sen. John Sununu and his challenger, former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, in New Hampshire. Remarkably, Shaheen has been leading the vulnerable incumbent for months, but massive third-party spending on Sununu’s behalf has turned this into an extremely tight race that could have profound implications for Democrats’ control of the Senate.

According to the Washington Post, Shaheen’s decision to challenge Sununu instantly made him “the single most endangered Republican incumbent in the country.” Concerned about Sununu’s ability to keep this seat, his right-wing allies have already spent more than $2.5 million attacking Shaheen, allowing Sununu to retain his considerable cash advantage and conserve his resources for the last few weeks of the campaign.

Republican dirty tricks helped Sununu edge out Shaheen for this seat in 2002 in a 19,000-vote victory that was tarnished when GOP operatives admitted to jamming the lines of Democratic get-out-the-vote phone banks on election day in an illegal scheme to suppress voter turnout. Two Republican operatives were convicted on conspiracy charges and served jail time.

Democrats’ determination to right this wrong has been steeled by Sununu’s slavish devotion to the Bush agenda and shameless pay-to-play antics. Sununu is radically anti-choice and a key Bush ally against funding for life-saving embryonic stem cell research. He has supported Bush on rolling back environmental protections and backed an economic agenda that has dragged the country into a recession. Sununu has consistently supported Bush on the war in Iraq. And Sununu has repeatedly taken money from oil and gas interests for his campaign, sometimes within 24 hours of voting their way on key legislation.

Sununu’s lockstep support for the administration has eroded the confidence of Granite Staters, and polling indicates they trust Shaheen to provide the kind of independent leadership and creative thinking they want from their senator. During three terms as governor (the first woman elected governor in state history), Shaheen expanded access to public kindergarten and extended health care coverage to thousands of uninsured children. One of her earliest acts was to repeal New Hampshire’s 150-year-old law making abortion a felony. A former school teacher, she was director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and national chair of John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.

The Political Situation

Republicans are rightly concerned about Sununu’s re-election. Polls show Shaheen with a narrow lead -- unusual for a challenger -- and pundits rate the race as a toss-up or lean takeover. But as the scion of a political dynasty (Sununu’s father was governor), Sununu has contacts throughout the GOP establishment and is raising millions from right-wing and corporate special interests. He’s taken $2.5 million in PAC money in this cycle alone, including contributions from defense contractors, mortgage lenders, insurance conglomerates, and other corporations appreciative of his votes in the Senate.

A loyal footsoldier to Bush, Sununu stood with the president in opposition to embryonic stem cell research and has voted repeatedly against withdrawing American soldiers from Iraq, including 12 times in 2007 alone. He voted to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and off the Atlantic coast. And Sununu is very much a part of the pay-to-play culture in Washington; while receiving $238,000 from the oil and gas industry, he helped defeat the Democratic energy bill that would have provided tax breaks for renewable energy. (In fact, Sununu accepted a campaign contribution from the Chevron Corp. PAC the same day he voted to protect tax cuts for the oil companies.) Last year, Senate Republican leaders rewarded Sununu with a seat on the Finance Committee, giving him access to even more sources for campaign cash.

A Shaheen victory will strengthen the Democratic Senate majority and right the wrongs of the 2002 election. Record-breaking voter turnout in the state’s 2008 Democratic presidential primary indicates strong enthusiasm heading into November. But Republican presidential nominee John McCain is popular in New Hampshire, complicating the situation for Democrats in this battleground state. Shaheen has been on TV and is keeping pace with Sununu in money raised, but the incumbent has a significant cash advantage, with $5 million in the bank to Shaheen’s $2 million as of June 30. Shaheen must raise $10 million to unseat Sununu and bring her bipartisan skills and balanced leadership to the Senate.

The Issues

“As governor, I worked with a Republican legislature to achieve sensible solutions that won support from both parties,” Shaheen says. “It will take years of hard work to reverse the deep damage of the Bush administration, but I know how to get results.”

Shaheen will bring to the Senate a lifelong commitment to public education. “As a former governor, I know what states, schools, and families need most from the federal government,” she says. This includes repairing infrastructure, building new schools, providing more support for early childhood education, and making higher education more affordable and accessible for middle-class families. Shaheen will fight for full funding for special education and to reform the No Child Left Behind Act.

“The majority of parents work, and it’s long past time our nation came to terms with this dynamic,” Shaheen says. “We need to make quality child care affordable and give parents the peace of mind that comes with knowing their children are safe.” As governor, Shaheen worked with business leaders to develop family-friendly workplace policies and launched an apprenticeship program to train child care providers. “We need to expand these efforts on the federal level,” she says. Noting that many families are caring for aging parents, Shaheen supports home and community-based options like adult day care.

Shaheen was the first New Hampshire governor to lead trade missions outside North America, securing investments that helped the state achieve one of the fastest-growing export rates in the nation. “We live in a global marketplace, and we must compete internationally for our economy to grow,” she says. She will advance trade agreements that contain enforceable labor and environmental standards.

“We must restore fiscal discipline in Washington,” says Shaheen, who always presented balanced budgets that made important investments in New Hampshire’s future. She opposes Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy and will work to restore tax fairness for the middle class. To jump-start the economy and avert a recession, Shaheen has proposed a short-term stimulus package that provides tax breaks for small businesses to make capital investments; tax rebates targeted at low- and fixed-income workers, Social Security beneficiaries, and veterans; and extended unemployment benefits to help people get back on their feet. Longer-term solutions include promoting investment in clean energy technology and stem cell and other medical research -- “new technologies that will create the jobs of tomorrow.” She will work in Congress to address the housing crisis that is driving the economic downturn.

Ending the war in Iraq is Shaheen’s top foreign policy priority -- one that will also have economic benefits. “By bringing our troops home, we can begin to invest the $12 billion a month we are spending on Iraq right here at home,” she says. Shaheen will advocate investing in the developing economies and increasing funding to combat global health epidemics, including HIV/AIDS.

“The most important military investment we can make is in our men and women in uniform,” she says, including higher salaries and benefits for troops and new equipment and technology. “And we must keep our promises to our veterans. Funding for health care and other benefits is especially important given the casualties from the Iraq war.”

As governor, Shaheen ended New Hampshire’s status as the only state that did not celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr., Day; signed into law hate crimes and equal pay legislation; added sexual orientation to anti-discrimination laws; and helped overturn a law preventing gays and lesbians from serving as foster or adoptive parents. “We must prosecute those who break civil rights laws and prohibit discrimination against any person on any basis, including sexual orientation,” she says.

When Shaheen was governor, New Hampshire had one of the lowest crime rates in the country. “The best way to fight crime is to prevent crime,” she says. “We need to help local law enforcement put more cops on the street and help communities provide quality after-school programs to provide alternatives to crime.” Shaheen will fight to strengthen and coordinate intelligence capacities to protect citizens from terrorism.

Shaheen helped bring the Children’s Health Insurance Program to New Hampshire over strenuous GOP opposition. “I stood up to big insurance and drug companies when I was a state senator and governor, and I’ll stand up to them when I’m a U.S. senator,” she says. As governor, Shaheen launched a pilot program to help senior citizens obtain discounts on prescription drugs. “It boggles the mind that the federal government has prohibited Medicare from negotiating for the lowest possible drug prices,” she says. “We need to change that, remove the barriers to generic drugs, and allow importation of safe drugs from Canada.”

Shaheen led efforts to dramatically reduce mercury emissions and remove MTBE, a gasoline additive, to protect New Hampshire’s water supply. “Our number one environmental priority must be to reverse global warming and achieve energy independence,” she says. “We must invest in renewable energy, increase energy efficiency, and end tax breaks and subsidies to big oil companies.” She has been endorsed by the Sierra Club.

Shaheen is a leader in protecting reproductive rights; her commitment is needed in the U.S. Senate.

September 2008