45 Facts About Maggie Hassan

Margaret Coldwell Hassan is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from New Hampshire since 2017.

Maggie Hassan later worked as associate general counsel for Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Maggie Hassan first ran for the New Hampshire Senate in 2002 after Democratic Party leaders recruited her.

Maggie Hassan lost to incumbent Russell Prescott but ran against Prescott again in 2004 and won.

Maggie Hassan was elected to a total of three two-year terms, representing New Hampshire's 23rd district from January 2005 to December 2010.

Maggie Hassan became the State Senate majority leader in 2008 before losing reelection in a 2010 rematch with Prescott.

Maggie Hassan defeated former state senator Jacalyn Cilley in the Democratic primary and faced the Republican nominee, attorney Ovide M Lamontagne, in the general election.

In 2016, Maggie Hassan ran for the US Senate and narrowly defeated Kelly Ayotte, the Republican incumbent, by about a thousand votes.

Maggie Hassan was reelected in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Don Bolduc.

Maggie Hassan is serving with Jeanne Shaheen, another former governor.

Maggie Hassan was born Margaret Wood in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Margaret and Robert Coldwell Wood, a political scientist who served as US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Lyndon Johnson administration.

Maggie Hassan has two siblings, including Tony award-winning actor Frank Wood.

Maggie Hassan's parents were politically active and she collated mailers for the League of Women Voters.

Maggie Hassan attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, Sudbury, Massachusetts, and graduated with the Class of 1976.

Maggie Hassan received a JD degree from the Northeastern University School of Law in 1985.

From 1993 to 1996, Maggie Hassan was associate general counsel for Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Maggie Hassan first ran for the New Hampshire Senate in 2002 after Democratic Party leaders suggested she run.

Maggie Hassan served as the assistant Democratic whip, president pro tempore, and majority leader of the State Senate during her six years in office.

Maggie Hassan represented New Hampshire's 23rd district, which includes East Kingston, Exeter, Kensington, Kingston, Newfields, Newmarket, Newton, Seabrook, South Hampton and Stratham.

Maggie Hassan served on the Capital Budget Committee and the Budget Conference Committee.

In 2008, Senate President Sylvia Larsen chose Maggie Hassan to serve as Senate Majority Leader, the number two position in the New Hampshire Senate.

Maggie Hassan presented three versions of a same-sex marriage bill, one of which narrowly gained enough support to pass both chambers.

In October 2011, Maggie Hassan announced her candidacy for governor of New Hampshire.

In October 2014, Maggie 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.

Maggie Hassan was sworn in as governor for a two-year term on January 3,2013.

That year, Maggie Hassan signed a bill creating a state sea level rise commission.

In July 2015, Maggie Hassan vetoed a bill that would have removed the licensing requirement for carrying concealed firearms.

Maggie Hassan resigned one year later in response to complaints about his job performance.

Maggie Hassan worked to preserve funding for Planned Parenthood clinics throughout the state.

Maggie Hassan resigned as governor on January 2,2017, to prepare for her swearing-in to the US Senate.

On October 5,2015, Maggie Hassan announced her candidacy for the US Senate in 2016.

Maggie Hassan was endorsed by the pro-choice Democratic political action committee EMILY's List, which backed her two gubernatorial runs.

Maggie Hassan endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.

Maggie Hassan said climate change and reproductive rights would be her top priorities if she were elected to the Senate.

Maggie Hassan was reelected in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Don Bolduc.

Maggie Hassan participated in a bipartisan Trump administration task force to support the reopening of the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maggie Hassan was in the Senate chamber on January 6,2021, for the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count when Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.

Maggie Hassan called for an investigation into the lack of security, poor law enforcement response, and how law enforcement treated the Trump supporters, which contrasted with the treatment of Black Lives Matter protestors.

The National Review reported that Maggie Hassan has a "D" rating from the National Rifle Association in 2012.

Maggie Hassan was supported by Gabby Giffords and Michael Bloomberg in the 2016 election.

In March 2018, Maggie 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.

In July 2019, Maggie 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, DC to honor journalists, photographers, and broadcasters who have died in the line of duty.

Maggie Hassan has two adult children, the older of whom has cerebral palsy.

Maggie Hassan is a member of the United Church of Christ.

Maggie Hassan has received honorary doctorates from the University of New Hampshire, Northeastern University, Southern New Hampshire University, New Hampshire Institute of Art, New England College, and UNH School of Law.