Jeanne Shaheen
Jeanne Shaheen (born Cynthia Jeanne Bowers; January 28, 1947) is an American politician and the senior United States senator from the state of New Hampshire, a position she has held since 2009. Shaheen, a member of the Democratic Party, 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. Instead of seeking a fourth term as governor, she opted 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 became the first Democratic senator from New Hampshire since John A. Durkin, who was defeated in 1980. In 2014, Shaheen became the first Democrat from New Hampshire to be re-elected to the U.S. Senate since Thomas J. McIntyre in 1972.