Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) is expected to announce this month whether she’s seeking another term in the Senate, we’re told by multiple New Hampshire sources.
Shaheen is the last remaining Senate Democrat in a competitive seat who hasn’t publicly announced their plans for 2026.
Shaheen, 78, is keeping Democrats in the Granite State and Washington in the dark on her decision to run again. Shaheen recently assumed the position as the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has embraced the role as a leading voice on global affairs. Shaheen is keeping up a vigorous travel schedule and even visited Ukraine last month to show support for the embattled nation.
Shaheen was tight-lipped on Wednesday and told us she hadn’t come to a reelection decision yet. Here’s Shaheen’s response to our follow-up question on how she was weighing whether to run again:
“The way I always do — by talking to friends, family and supporters and thinking about the challenges we face.”
After losing their majority in November, Senate Democrats are seeking to avoid the prospect of defending another open seat in a battleground state next year.
In recent months, Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) announced they weren’t running for reelection, putting two open seats in play. With Democrats already mired in the minority, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is pleading with his rank-and-file senators to decide sooner rather than later if they’re running again.
Senate Republicans think the Granite State is in play in 2026 as well. The NRSC is already running ads targeting Shaheen over her defense of USAID funding that the Trump administration has cut. The Senate GOP campaign group has also held meetings with former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) — who lost to Shaheen in 2014 — about a potential rematch.
“Sen. Shaheen voted twice against banning males from competing in women’s sports and blatantly lied about waste at the USAID,” NRSC regional press secretary Nick Puglia said in a statement. “Shaheen is out of touch with New Hampshire.”
