Stefany Shaheen, daughter of senator, launches House bid in New Hampshire

Stefany Shaheen, a former Portsmouth, N.H., City Council member and the eldest daughter of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), announced Wednesday that she would be running for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District.

In a roughly two-minute ad, first reported by WMUR, Shaheen highlighted her medical research and health background while attacking the Trump administration over its efforts to cut funding for research through its Department of Government Efficiency and its management of a measles outbreak.

She noted how her daughter Elle’s Type 1 diabetes diagnosis “turned me into a fierce fighter for medical research and innovation to help Elle and millions like her,” which she said led her to later help start digital health company Good Measures.

She also criticized President Trump for “crushing medical research in our country,” described Elon Musk “with a chainsaw chasing out our best scientists and doctors” and argued that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was “allowing measles to run rampant because he believes in conspiracy theories instead of proven vaccines.”

“And when I see congressional Republicans slashing Medicaid, children’s health care and veterans’ health care, all to fund massive tax breaks for billionaires and corporations — well, I’m going to fight. And believe me, I know how,” she said. “There’s no one who fights harder than a mom for her kids, and that’s how I’ll fight for your family, too.”

New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District is being vacated by Rep. Chris Pappas (D), who is running for Senate to replace retiring Jeanne Shaheen.

Stefany Shaheen is the second Democrat to launch a bid for Pappas’s seat. Maura Sullivan, who served as assistant secretary at the Veterans Affairs Department during the Obama administration, is also running for the seat.

Stefany Shaheen’s status as the daughter of the retiring senator and former New Hampshire governor, however, may offer an advantage to her in the House Democratic primary.

Maureen O’Toole, a spokeswoman for the House Republicans’ campaign arm, in a statement described Stefany Shaheen a “nepo baby” and “DC elitist who is committed to the Democrats’ radical agenda that makes life more expensive and less safe” in response to the news of her campaign announcement.

“Granite Staters will resoundingly reject her and her out of touch policies,” O’Toole added.

The nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report rates Pappas’s seat as “likely Democrat.”

Updated at 2:19 p.m.