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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
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	December 2, 1952 (1952-12-02) (age 55) New York, New York
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Gene Porter
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 defeated incumbent Republican Jeb Bradley of New Hampshire's 1st congressional district in the 2006 midterm elections in an upset victory to become the first woman ever elected to Congress from New Hampshire.

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 Political views 3 2006 election campaign 4 Upset victory 5 Votes in Congress 6 Election History 7 References 8 External links

Shea-Porter 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.

Shea-Porter is a strong supporter of a timetable for troop withdrawals.^[2] She also supports rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans 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.^[4]

Main article: New Hampshire's United States House elections, 2006

Shea-Porter faced three other Democrats in primary on September 12, 2006.^[5] She won with 12,497 votes (54%); Jim Craig, the New Hampshire House minority leader, finished second with 34%.^[6]

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%), despite Bradley's lead in the polls up until the election. Carol Shea-Porter was outspent 5-to-1 by Bradley and received very little support from the Democratic National Committee.^[7]

Outrage in New Hampshire over the War in Iraq, President Bush, and the Republican Party in general brought Shea-Porter to Congress, ousted the other Republican representative in Congress, Charles Bass with Democrat Paul Hodes, and gave control of New Hampshire's State Senate and House to the Democrats for the first time since the 1800s.

In her first two months as New Hampshire's first female representative, 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.

Year	Office	Election		Subject	Party	Votes	%		Opponent	Party	Votes	%
2006	Congress, District 1	General		Carol Shea-Porter	Democratic	100,837	51.31		Jeb Bradley	Republican	95,538	48.61

1. ^ Boston.com "Carol Shea Porter's unusual journey to Congress"(registration required)
2. ^ Statement on Politics NH.com
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ [2]
5. ^ Cite error: No text given.
6. ^ Secretary of State Results for New Hampshire 1st Congressional District, Democratic Primary, September 12, 2006
7. ^ Election 2006 Results

• U.S. Representative Carol Shea-Porter official site
• Carol Shea-Porter at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission no campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues — Carol Shea-Porter issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — Carol Shea-Porter campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Representative Carol Shea-Porter (NH) profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Carol Shea-Porter voting record
• 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)
• Carol Shea-Porter's unusual journey to U.S. Congress Beverley Wang, Associated Press Writer, The Boston Globe, November 8, 2006

Political offices
Preceded by Jeb Bradley	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire's 1st congressional district 2007–Present	Succeeded by Incumbent

New Hampshire's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators	Judd Gregg (R), John Sununu (R)
Representative(s)	Carol Shea-Porter (D), Paul Hodes (D)
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