Margaret Coldwell Hassan (; née Wood; born February 27, 1958) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from New Hampshire. A Democrat, Hassan was elected to the Senate in 2016 while she was serving as the 81st governor of New Hampshire, an office she held from 2013 to 2017.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Hassan is a graduate of Brown University and Northeastern University School of Law. After graduating from law school in 1985, she worked at the law firm Palmer & Dodge. She later worked as associate general counsel for Brigham and Women’s Hospital.Hassan first ran for the New Hampshire Senate in 2002. She lost to incumbent Russell Prescott, but ran against Prescott again in 2004 and won. Hassan was elected to a total of three two-year terms, representing New Hampshire's 23rd district from January 2005 to December 2010. She became the majority leader in 2008 before losing reelection in a 2010 rematch with Prescott.Hassan declared her candidacy for governor in October 2011. She defeated former state senator Jacalyn Cilley in the Democratic primary and faced the Republican nominee, attorney Ovide M. Lamontagne, in the general election. Hassan won with 55% of the vote, becoming the state's second female governor. She was reelected in 2014. After becoming governor, Hassan was elected vice chair of the Democratic Governors Association and served as a superdelegate at the Democratic National Convention.In 2016, Hassan ran for the U.S. Senate and narrowly defeated Kelly Ayotte, the Republican incumbent, by about a thousand votes (about 0.1% of the total). She is serving with Jeanne Shaheen, another former governor. Hassan and Shaheen are the only two women in American history to be elected both governor and U.S. senator, and both coincidentally in the same state.


== Early life and education ==
Hassan was born Margaret Wood in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Margaret (Byers) and Robert Coldwell Wood, a political scientist who served as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Lyndon Johnson administration. She has two siblings, including Tony award-winning actor Frank Wood.She grew up in Lincoln, Massachusetts. As a child she sang in school choirs and at church. Her parents were politically active and she collated mailers for the League of Women Voters. She attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, Sudbury, Massachusetts, and graduated with the Class of 1976. Wood then enrolled at Brown University, where she majored in history and graduated in 1980 with a B.A. degree. While there, she met her future husband, Thomas Hassan, also a student at the university. She received a J.D. degree from the Northeastern University School of Law in 1985.


== Early career ==
From 1985 to 1999, Hassan worked as an attorney. From 1985 to 1992, she worked at the Boston law firm Palmer & Dodge. From 1993 to 1996, Hassan was associate general counsel for Brigham and Women's Hospital.In 1996, Hassan began working as an attorney for Sullivan, Weinstein & McQuay, a Boston corporate defense and business law firm. In 1999, then-New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen appointed her as a citizen advisor to the Advisory Committee to the Adequacy in Education and Finance Commission.


== New Hampshire Senate ==


=== Elections ===

Hassan first ran for the New Hampshire Senate in 2002 after Democratic Party leaders suggested she run. She lost to incumbent Russell Prescott, 54% to 46%. In 2004, she ran against Prescott again and won, 52% to 48%. In 2006, she was reelected against Natalie Healy, 60% to 40%. In 2008, she defeated Lee Quandt, 57% to 43%. She served as the assistant Democratic whip, president pro tempore, and majority leader of the State Senate during her six years in office. She represented New Hampshire's 23rd district, which includes East Kingston, Exeter, Kensington, Kingston, Newfields, Newmarket, Newton, Seabrook, South Hampton and Stratham.
In November 2010, Hassan lost to Prescott in a second rematch, 53% to 47%, as Republicans regained control of both the state House and state Senate.


=== Tenure ===
Hassan served on the Capital Budget Committee and the Budget Conference Committee. She helped pass the 2008–09 budget.In 2008, Senate President Sylvia Larsen chose Hassan to serve as Senate Majority Leader, the number two position in the New Hampshire Senate. Larsen chose her for the position because she wanted someone who would fight to get the Democratic caucus to support the same agenda, at times creating friction between Hassan and her Republican colleagues.During her tenure as majority leader, Hassan had a major role in legalizing same-sex marriage in New Hampshire. She presented three versions of a same-sex marriage bill, one of which narrowly gained enough support to pass both chambers.Hassan helped pass the 2010–11 budget. This budget increased spending by over a billion dollars and contained 33 tax and fee increases, including taxing campsites like hotel