She pinpoints education and jobs as priorities
Margaret “Maggie” Wood Hassan, the second female governor in New Hampshire history, says education and jobs will be the focus of her administration.
The education part may not be surprising given that she used to serve on a state education commission and is married to the principal of prestigious Philips Exeter Academy.
An attorney and former New Hampshire state Senate majority leader, Hassan was a state senator from 2004 to 2010.
Hassan, 54, earned her bachelor of arts degree from Brown University in 1980 and her doctorate in law from Northeastern School of Law in 1985. She worked as an attorney from 1985 until 1999, when then-governor Jeanne Shaheen appointed her as a citizen adviser for the Advisory Committee to the Adequacy in Education and Finance Commission. Shaheen said she appointed Hassan to the role because of her experience as an attorney and mother of two children, one of whom has severe disabilities.
Hassan first ran for New Hampshire state Senate in 2002 but lost to incumbent Republican Sen. Russell Prescott.
She ran against Prescott again in 2004 and defeated him in a rematch, but after six years lost to Prescott in yet another rematch in 2010. During her tenure as a state senator, Hassan fought for low taxes, affordable health care and education. She helped pass a bill for universal kindergarten in the state and helped raise the legal high school dropout age to 18. Hassan fought to pass Conner’s Law, which requires insurance companies to cover treatment for autism.
As governor, Hassan has pledged to veto any state sales or income tax in New Hampshire. During the campaign, she was endorsed by former president Bill Clinton and the National Education Association for New Hampshire. She is only the second woman ever elected as governor of the state.
Hassan lives in Exeter with her husband, Thomas Hassan. They have two adult children.