Hassan, Maggie (1958-…), a Democrat from the northeastern state of New Hampshire, was elected to the United States Senate in 2016. At the time of the election, Hassan was serving as New Hampshire’s governor.
Margaret Wood was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on Feb. 27, 1958. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1980. At Brown, she began dating Tom Hassan, whom she later married. Meanwhile, Tom became a school administrator. The couple have two children, Ben and Meg.
In 1985, Maggie Hassan received a law degree from the Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts. She then began work as a corporate attorney. During the 1990’s, inspired by her son, who has cerebral palsy, she began working to support the rights of people with physical disabilities. In 1999, New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen appointed Hassan to serve on an advisory committee to the state Adequacy in Education and Finance Commission. In 2002, Hassan lost a campaign for a seat in the state Senate. She ran again in 2004 and won. She was reelected in 2006 and 2008, but lost in 2010. As a state senator, Hassan served as majority leader and as chairman of the committees on Commerce, Capital Budget, and Public and Municipal Affairs.
In 2012, Hassan won election as governor. She was reelected in 2014. As governor, she worked to increase health care coverage and address the problem of prescription drug addiction. In her 2016 campaign for a U.S. Senate seat, Hassan defeated incumbent Senator Kelly Ayotte by a margin of fewer than 1,000 votes. Hassan won reelection in 2022.
