Maggie Hassan

Hassan in April 2007

Hassan first ran for the New Hampshire Senate in 2002 after Democratic Party leaders suggested she run.[5] She lost to incumbent Senator Russell Prescott 54% to 46%.[7] In 2004, she ran against Prescott again and won 52% to 48%.[22] In 2006, she won re-election against Natalie Healy 60% to 40%.[8] In 2008, she defeated Lee Quandt 57% to 43%.[23] She served as the assistant Democratic whip, president pro tempore, and majority leader of the State Senate during her six years in office. She represented New Hampshire's 23rd district, which includes the towns of East Kingston, Exeter, Kensington, Kingston, Newfields, Newmarket, Newton, Seabrook, South Hampton and Stratham.

In November 2010, Hassan was defeated by Prescott in a second rematch, 53% to 47%,[24] as Republicans regained control of both the state House and state Senate.[25]

Hassan served on the Capital Budget Committee and the Budget Conference Committee.[26] Hassan helped pass the FY2008-FY2009 budget.[27]

In 2008, Senate President Sylvia Larsen chose Hassan to serve as Senate Majority Leader, the number two position in the New Hampshire Senate. Larsen chose Hassan for the position because she wanted someone who would fight to get the democratic caucus to support the same agenda, at times creating friction between Hassan and her Republican colleagues.[28]

During her tenure as majority leader, Hassan had a major role in legalizing same-sex marriage in New Hampshire.[28] Hassan presented three versions of a same-sex marriage bill, one of which narrowly gained enough support to pass both chambers.[28]

Hassan helped pass the FY2010-FY2011 budget.[29] This budget increased spending by over a billion dollars and contained thirty-three tax and fee increases, including taxing campsites like hotel rooms, a so-called "income tax" on New Hampshire business, and raising vehicle registration fees.[30][31][32]

• Capital Budget Committee
• Commerce, Labor and Consumer Protection
• Finance
• Public and Municipal Affairs (Chair)
• Energy, Environment, and Economic Development (Vice Chair)
• Internal Affairs Committee
• Executive Department and Administration Committee

A Maggie Hassan election sign.

In October 2011, Hassan announced her candidacy for governor of New Hampshire.[33] She won the Democratic primary with 53%, defeating former state senator Jacalyn Cilley, who received 39%.[34]

Hassan was also endorsed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.[35][9] Campaign themes included implementing the Affordable Care Act.[36]

In the general election, Hassan defeated Republican nominee Ovide M. Lamontagne by 55% to 43%, carrying every county in the state.[37] Her campaign was managed by Matt Burgess and senior consultants included media consultant Joe Slade White.[38]

Independent expenditure groups spent more than $11 million on Hassan's behalf. Major financial support for Hassan's election came from the Washington, D.C.-based Democratic Governor's Association, the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the National Education Association.[39]

In June 2014, Hassan filed to run for re-election.[40] She defeated Ian Freeman in the Democratic primary election on September 9, 2014, going on to defeat Republican Walt Havenstein in the general election by a margin of 52% to 48%. Hassan carried 7 of 10 counties.[41]

In August 2014, New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph Foster, a Hassan appointee, ordered her to return $24,000 in campaign contributions that violated New Hampshire campaign finance laws.[42] In October 2014, Hassan was ordered to return another $25,000 in funds a union donated to her gubernatorial campaign because the union had not properly registered with the state as a political committee.[43]

Hassan was sworn in as Governor for a two-year term on January 3, 2013. In December 2013, she was elected as vice chair of the Democratic Governors Association.[44] That year, Hassan signed a bill creating a state sea level rise commission.[45][46]

During a conflict between two sides of the Demoulas family, which owns the Market Basket grocery chain, Hassan urged the family to resolve the dispute, which threatened 9,000 jobs in New Hampshire.[47]

In July 2015, Hassan vetoed a bill that would have removed the licensing requirement for carrying concealed firearms in the state.[48] In response to New Hampshire's opioid crisis, she appointed Jack Wozmak as the state's "drug czar" in early 2015. He resigned one year later in response to complaints about his job performance.[49][50] Hassan also worked to preserve funding for Planned Parenthood clinics throughout the state.[51]

She resigned as governor at the end of January 2, 2017, to prepare for her swearing into the U.S. Senate. Senate president Chuck Morse assumed the gubernatorial powers and duties as acting governor.[52]

Hassan campaigning at a Hillary Clinton rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, in October 2016.

On October 5, 2015, Hassan announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2016. She challenged incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte.[53] The race was considered one of the most competitive U.S. Senate races of that year.[54]

Hassan was endorsed by the pro-choice Democratic political action committee EMILY's List, which also backed her two gubernatorial runs.[55] Hassan endorsed Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.[56] Hassan has said climate change and reproductive rights would be her top priorities if she were elected to the Senate.[57]

On November 9, 2016, the afternoon following Election Day, Hassan was declared the winner.[58] Ayotte conceded later that evening, choosing not to pursue a recount.[58]

She has announced that she will run for re-election in 2022. [59]

Hassan participated in a bipartisan, Trump administration taskforce to support the reopening of the economy during COVID-19 pandemic[60]

Hassan was in the Senate chamber on January 6, 2021, for the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.[61] After the Capitol was breached by rioters, Hassan, along with staff and other senators, was removed from the chambers to an undisclosed location.[62] Hassan called the event traumatizing and described it as an "insurrection" and "one of the grimmest days in the history of our country."[62][63] The following day, she called for Donald Trump to resign, calling him "unfit for office."[63] She also called for an investigation regarding the lack of security and poor response from law enforcement.[63] In addition, she also requested further investigation into how law enforcement treated the Trump supporters, which contrasted the treatment of Black Lives Matter protestors.[62]

• Committee on Finance
• Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
  • Subcommittee on Children and Families
  • Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security
• Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management
  • Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management
• Joint Economic Committee

Source:[64]

On the evening of June 19, 2018, a congressional intern was caught on video yelling, “Mr. President, fuck you!”, as President Trump walked through the United States Capitol for a meeting with Republican congressmen.[65] On June 25, Hassan's office confirmed that a Hassan intern, Caitlin Marriott, was the person caught on video swearing at the President. A Hassan spokesperson confirmed that Marriott had been suspended from her position for one week and was required to return her congressional intern ID badge.[66] Hassan refused demands that she terminate Marriott.[67]

In 2019, former Hassan staffers Jackson Cosko and Samantha Davis pleaded guilty to federal crimes. Cosko pleaded guilty to five felonies; following his termination from Hassan's staff, he illegally accessed Senate computers, obtained personal information about five Republican senators, and disseminated that personal information online because he was angry about the senators' roles in the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States. In June 2019, Cosko was sentenced to four years in prison.[68] Davis pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors in July 2019, acknowledging that she had given Cosko access to Hassan's Senate office after he was fired and that she had lied to investigators about it.[69]

Hassan has a "D" rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA) due to her rare support for pro-gun legislation.[70] She also supports a background check system to avoid gun sales to the mentally ill.[71] She was supported by Gabrielle Giffords and Michael Bloomberg in the 2016 election.[72]

In March 2018, Hassan was one of ten senators to sign a letter to Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Lamar Alexander and ranking Democrat Patty Murray requesting they schedule a hearing on the causes and remedies of mass shootings in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.[73]

In July 2019, Hassan cosponsored the Fallen Journalists Memorial Act, a bill introduced by Ben Cardin and Rob Portman that would create a new memorial that would be privately funded and constructed on federal lands within Washington, D.C. in order to honor journalists, photographers, and broadcasters that have died in the line of duty.[74]

As governor, Hassan signed legislation that legalized medical marijuana but opposed efforts to legalize recreational possession.[75] As of 2020, NORML, an organization that seeks legalization, gave Hassan a C- score as a U.S. senator due to her actions as governor.[76]

On February 3, 2021, Hassan announced she opposes raising the federal minimum wage to $15/hour as proposed in President Biden's American Rescue Plan legislation. [77]

On February 4, 2021, Hassan and a small group of Democrats voted with Republicans to approve an amendment aimed at keeping undocumented workers from receiving any pandemic assistance. [78]