This morning in the Secretary of State’s Office, our Senior U.S. Senator, Jeanne Shaheen, filed for re-election. It was an exciting, noisy moment. The entire second floor of the State House was filled with cheering supporters. They were people of every generation, gender and occupation, from talented businessmen to retired teachers, and firefighters and public servants to students and young men and women beginning their careers. And there was Jeanne.
Our Senior Senator has had an amazing career (she is the first woman in the history of our country to serve as both Governor and U.S. Senator). From her start in the State Senate, to the Governorship, and then to the United States Senate, Jeanne has been standing up for the people of this state through thick and thin. As a young Governor, she saw that New Hampshire needed kindergarten for all its children. She brought legislators together from both sides of the isle, and New Hampshire got universal kindergarten. She fought for lower electric rates so that New Hampshire businesses might grow and prosper. She demanded real balanced budgets, and got them. When a murderous madman opened fire in the North Country, Jeanne Shaheen led us through a terrible time with dignity and determination.
And she has continued the hard work in Washington, as always a voice for co-operation in a nest of obstinate partisanship. It’s hard to imagine a more qualified and capable person to represent us in the Senate. Unlike guy who used to be from Massachusetts (and took positions there that he now repudiates), Senator Shaheen is the “real deal”, a voice for New Hampshire, an advocate for our business community, a pragmatic and determined politician who looks for ways to make things better, and then fights to make them so.
