MANCHESTER, NH – In late May, Stefany Shaheen launched her campaign for the New Hampshire 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by Congressman Chris Pappas. She is a former Portsmouth City Councilor, an entrepreneur, and the daughter of New Hampshire U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen. The Senator has announced she will not seek re-election, and Pappas is running to replace her.
Stefany Shaheen is facing three rivals in the Democratic primary for a spot on the ballot in the fall of 2026. NH Democratic Party Vice Chair Maura Sullivan of New Castle, Hampton selectboard member Carleigh Beriont, and former Pentagon lawyer Christian Urrutia have all entered the race. State Representative Alice Wade of Dover has formed an exploratory committee but has yet to announce her candidacy.
On the Republican side, Melissa Bailey, who is the vice chair of the Bedford GOP Committee, and businessman and veteran Chris Bright of Derry have entered the race.
“Primaries are a great part of the process. It gives opportunity for voters to engage, and the more people, in my view, the better for voters. It gives people more options and opportunities to connect to the process. What differentiates me is my experience, my background, and my deep roots in this district. I was born and raised here, with the exception of the few years I left for college. I’ve been here my whole life,” said Shaheen during a recent interview. “I think ultimately having been born here, having raised my children here, having built my small business here, that distinguishes me from folks who either haven’t been here that long, or are not from the district.”
When asked about her motivation and reason for running for Congress, she replied, “I’m doing this because I want to wake up and recognize the country we live in again. I’m doing this because I have a daughter with Type 1 Diabetes, and she was diagnosed with that disease 17 years ago. The whole world changed, and I had to learn how to fight, literally, for her life. And still I’m fighting for her. And that experience taught me how to fight. And I want to be fighting not just for my daughter and our family, but for all of New Hampshire families. And I think what people want right now is someone who’s willing to fight back against what we’re seeing in Washington.”
Shaheen and her husband Craig have four children and reside in Portsmouth. In 2015, she published her book ELLE & COACH, which chronicled her family’s experience with Type 1 Diabetes. She is the co-founder of GOOD MEASURES, an online platform that connects people with chronic conditions to clinical experts, like registered dieticians and certified diabetes educators. NationBenefits acquired the company in November, and her role with that organization finishes at the end of this calendar year.
Currently, she is a volunteer with Break Through T1D foundation, which is investing in stem-cell treatment research being done in Manchester’s Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI). Vertex Pharmaceuticals of Boston recently reported success in curing diabetes in a small study in an application of that research. “They’ve actually treated 12 people, and of the 12, 10 are still insulin-independent because they got these cells,” said Shaheen.
Cutting-edge research and health care progress are now in jeopardy of losing ground due to the budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, which alarms the candidate.
“The disastrous cuts to the NIH funding, with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and Bobby Kennedy Jr., who actually doesn’t believe in public health, who doesn’t believe in vaccines. We’ve seen kids die from measles in Texas because they weren’t vaccinated. These are diseases we know how to prevent. My daughter’s disease I couldn’t have prevented,” she said.
“We don’t have a choice but to fight to take our country back. I think the reality is there’s a level of cruelty that has been unleashed in the last four months that I think good people need to speak out and stand up against. And that’s what we’re seeing, people across the country – across the district, across the state – showing up and saying ‘this cannot continue,'” she said.
Shaheen acknowledges the shadow of her mother’s political career and welcomes questions about that relationship, saying, “I think there’s a cynicism implied about why you would want to get into this work. And what I’ve observed in watching my mom is that it’s always been about the opportunity to serve the people she seeks to represent. It’s not been about her. But I’m a candidate in this race. I’m obviously very proud of all she’s accomplished. But it’s my name on the ballot, and I’ve got to work twice as hard to reach people and explain why I’m the most qualified, why I’m the best person to represent this district,” Shaheen said.
Discussing the stakes of this race, she said, “It’s more important than ever that we control the majority in one body in the legislature, at least. And I think we’re going to have the best shot of doing that in the House, which is why we have to win this seat – which is why I’m so motivated to run, and why I think it’s so important that we have people stepping up right now to win,” Shaheen said.
“In terms of what we do, I think we need to paint a vision for what’s possible again. I don’t think it’s enough for us to say we want to restore what we had. Because what we had wasn’t working for a lot of people,” she said. “And I think we’ve got to bring forward the promise of what this country can be and engage people on that front.”