Summary

Jeanne Shaheen was born in 1947 and is currently serving as the senior United States Senator from New Hampshire. Senator Shaheen’s seat will be up for election in 2020.

Shaheen was the first female Governor of New Hampshire. She was elected Governor in 1996 and was reelected in 1998 and 2000. She ran a campaign to represent New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate in 2002 but lost the general election. She ran again in 2008 and she won the second bid. Between the two campaigns, Shaheen worked as Director of the Harvard Institute of Politics.

Senator Shaheen is currently serving on the Foreign Relations Committee; the Appropriations Committee; the Armed Services Committee; and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Below is Senator Shaheen’s voting record and public positions on issues important to the Jewish community. 

Senator Shaheen supported the Iran nuclear deal, considering it as the best available option for preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

She opposes the discriminatory Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, but she has not supported legislation that actively counters it. Nevertheless, she has cosponsored a resolution against the BDS movement and the delegitimization of Israel. Senator Shaheen supports the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Senator Shaheen opposed the U.S. embassy move to Jerusalem arguing that the announcement was harmful to both U.S. and Israeli interests. She cosponsored a resolution that objected the UN Security Council Resolution 2334.

In 2019, she voted against the Strengthening America’s Middle East Security Act which, among other things, strengthened Israel’s security and allowed a state or local government to adopt measures to divest its assets from entities that boycott Israel.