Democrat Stefany Shaheen, the daughter of retiring New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, is running for Congress.
Shaheen, a former Portsmouth city councilor, launched her campaign Wednesday to succeed Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in New Hampshire’s 1st District. Pappas is seeking to replace Shaheen’s mother in the Senate.
In her launch video, the younger Shaheen focused on her work as a health care advocate, highlighting her daughter’s diabetes diagnosis and criticizing the Trump administration’s approach to medical research and potential Medicaid cuts. Those two issues were what pushed Shaheen to enter the race, she said in an interview Wednesday.
“I’ve dedicated my professional life, following my eldest daughter Elle’s diagnosis, to innovation in health care and trying to make the health care system work better and accelerate better treatments for people living with chronic diseases, especially diabetes,” she said. “To be watching the NIH funding cuts and the impact, on top of the cuts to Medicaid, which means children’s health care, veterans health care. I just feel like I can’t stand by and not do more. I had to get in.”
Shaheen anticipates health care again becoming a key issue in the midterm elections. Democrats focused heavily on the topic during Donald Trump’s first midterms in 2018, when the so-called blue wave helped Democrats win control of the House.
“Everybody has their own story of having to interact or deal with the health care system, and many people are plagued by different challenges. The fact is those are just going to be harder to navigate,” she said.
In her campaign announcement, Shaheen highlighted her work as a Portsmouth city councilor to address PFAS contamination in the local water supply. She also previously served as chair of the Portsmouth Police Commission.
Shaheen said she expects economic issues to also be top of mind for voters. Trump’s proposed tariff policies could have a significant impact on small-business owners in the state who do business in neighboring Canada, she said.
Shaheen’s launch video and campaign website don’t directly reference her mother, who has been in the Senate since 2009 and served three two-year terms as governor before that.
Shaheen said in the interview that she was proud of her mother’s work, calling her “an incredible role model for me and, I think, for women, in particular, across the state.” But she signaled the race was hers to run.
“I’m the candidate in this race. I’m going to focus on the experiences I can bring,” she said.
The 1st District had previously been seen as the ultimate swing district, with the seat routinely changing hands between the parties until Pappas’ first election in 2018. He has since been reelected three times by comfortable margins, overperforming his party’s presidential and gubernatorial nominees. Democrat Kamala Harris carried the 1st District by 2 points last year, according to calculations by The Downballot, while Pappas won a fourth term by 8 points.
Republicans are targeting the 1st District, which they last won in 2014, though they have yet to land a major candidate in the race.
Shaheen is not the first Democrat to enter the primary for Pappas’ seat. Marine veteran Maura Sullivan launched her campaign last month and has the endorsement of Democratic veterans group VoteVets PAC. The former Obama administration official was the runner-up to Pappas in the 2018 Democratic primary.