Carol Shea-Porter

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Carol Shea-Porter
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire's 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 4, 2007
Preceded by	Jeb Bradley
Born	December 2, 1952 (1952-12-02) (age 56) New York, New York
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Gene Porter
Residence	Rochester, New Hampshire
Alma mater	University of New Hampshire
Occupation	Congresswoman / Social Worker
Religion	Roman Catholic

Carol Shea-Porter (born December 2, 1952) is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of New Hampshire. She was previously the City Chair of the Rochester, New Hampshire Democratic Party. On November 7, 2006, she narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Jeb Bradley of in the 2006 midterm elections in an upset victory to become the first woman ever elected to Congress from New Hampshire. She was re-elected to a second term in November 2008 defeating former Congressman Jeb Bradley for the second time.

[edit] Early life and career

Shea-Porter was born in New York City but grew up on the New Hampshire seacoast, and graduated from Oyster River High School. The Associated Press reports that a 16-year-old Carol Shea-Porter was advised by her high school guidance counselor to "forget about college and try secretarial school." Shea-Porter disavowed that advice and graduated from the University of New Hampshire.^[1] She earned a bachelor's degree in social services and a master's degree in public administration from the University of New Hampshire. In 2004, she worked on Wesley Clark's New Hampshire primary campaign and for Strafford County Democrats running for the Legislature. A social worker by profession, she directed senior centers in New Orleans and Maryland. She was a volunteer relief worker in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

[edit] Political views

Shea-Porter is generally considered to hold liberal views on most topics and is a strong supporter of a timetable for troop withdrawals.^[2] She also supports rolling back the Bush tax cuts to pay for additional social spending, and supports increasing the minimum wage.^[3] Regarding healthcare, Shea-Porter supports a change in the new Medicare Part D drug benefit to allow the government to negotiate prices for prescription drugs.^[3]

Congresswoman Shea-Porter recently received a perfect score of 100% from the New Hampshire Association for Retired Americans for her support for 10 issues of key importance to New Hampshire's seniors.^[4], referencing her votes in favor of blocking Social Security privatization, lowering Medicare costs, expanding access to affordable health care, stopping oil price gouging, and protecting voting rights.

[edit] Fund Raising

During her 2006 campaign, Shea-Porter received 85% of her campaign contributions from individuals; as of September 2008, 63% of her 2008 contributions have been individual.^[5]. While Shea-Porter does accept money from PACs, the campaign does not accept money from business PACs or lobbyists.

Carol Shea-Porter's Campaign set a fundraising record in 2008, by raising more in one quarter than any congressional campaign in New Hampshire's history. She totaled more than $260,000 from 2,589 donors, the bulk of which were individual donors.^[6]

[edit] 2006 election campaign

Shea-Porter faced three other Democrats in primary on September 12, 2006.^{[citation needed]} She won with 12,497 votes (54%); Jim Craig, the New Hampshire House minority leader, finished second with 34%.^[7]

at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, New Hampshire, 2007

She then defeated Republican incumbent Jeb Bradley in the general election, becoming the first Congresswoman from New Hampshire. Shea-Porter received 100,899 votes (52%) to Bradley's 94,869 votes (48%).

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Readiness
  • Subcommittee on Military Personnel
• Committee on Education and Labor
  • Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities
  • Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
• Committee on Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife
  • Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands

[edit] Votes in Congress

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In her first two months as a Congresswoman, Shea-Porter helped to pass the First 100 Hours legislative package and other bills: the Employee Free Choice Act, the Fair Minimum Wage Act, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, the College Student Relief Act, the Creating Long-Term Energy Alternatives for the Nation Act, and the Advanced Fuels Infrastructure Research and Development Act.

[edit] Election History

[edit] See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in New Hampshire, 2008#District 1

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carol Shea-Porter

• U.S. Representative Carol Shea-Porter official House site
• Carol Shea-Porter for US Congress official campaign site
  • Introduction from Listen Up New Hampshire (MP4 format)
  • Speech before June 2006 Democratic state convention (MP4 format)

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Carol Shea-Porter at the Open Directory Project
• Carol Shea-Porter's unusual journey to U.S. Congress Beverley Wang, Associated Press Writer, The Boston Globe, November 8, 2006