The First 100 Days of a Jeanne Shaheen Presidency: What the Record Suggests

Hero photo: 14 August 2010 in New Hampshire State Capitol, Concord, NH — File:14 August 2010 in New Hampshire State Capitol, Concord, NH.jpg, via Wikimedia Commons.

01 The scenario

Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire is the Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a former governor, and a third-term senator who has announced she will not seek re-election in 2026. This article asks a hypothetical question: if she were ever sworn in as president, what would the first 100 days look like based on her documented record? This is a scenario analysis, not a prediction that the person will become president and not an endorsement or criticism of the person.

The premise rests on a specific 2025 record: leading opposition to the administration's tariffs, sustained support for Ukraine security assistance, transatlantic alliance work, and a long substance-use-policy record. A reasonable inference from these positions is that a Shaheen White House would open with the levers a president actually holds — security assistance flows, sanctions enforcement, export controls — while asking Congress to codify the restraints on tariff authority she has spent 2025 demanding.

02 The record: who Jeanne Shaheen is

Shaheen is a Democrat and New Hampshire's senior senator, in the Senate since 2009. Her biography is a trailblazer: she was the first woman in U.S. history elected both governor and U.S. senator. She served as New Hampshire's 78th governor from 1997 to 2003, was a state senator from 1990 to 1996, and directed Harvard's Institute of Politics from 2005 to 2008 after a career as a teacher and entrepreneur.

Her committee portfolio is foreign-policy-heavy: Ranking Member of Foreign Relations (and Chair of its Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation), Appropriations, Armed Services, Small Business, and Select Ethics. She has been sanctioned by the Kremlin and denied a Russian visa for her stance against Putin, per her official biography. On March 12, 2025 she announced she would not seek re-election in 2026.

03 Trade and tariffs: the signature 2025 issue

Shaheen is the lead Senate opponent of the administration's tariffs. On February 1, 2025 she warned that 25% Canada/Mexico tariffs meant “hardworking American consumers and small businesses will be forced to foot the bill”; on April 2, 2025 she called the sweeping tariffs “a national sales tax” and “the largest tax increase during peacetime in U.S. history”; on August 1, 2025 she said they were the “highest tariffs since the Great Depression” and cited 37,000 manufacturing jobs lost — characterizations from her press releases, not independently verified here.

Her remedies are concrete: she authored the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes on Imported Goods Act to limit IEEPA tariff authority (blocked by Republicans when she sought unanimous consent), co-led the bipartisan CANADA Act to exempt US-owned small businesses from Canadian tariffs, and led a 30-senator amicus brief in Oregon v. DHS challenging IEEPA tariff use. A scenario inversion matters here: the tariff authority she wants Congress to claw back is exactly the authority a President Shaheen would hold on day one.

04 Ukraine and Russia

Shaheen's Ukraine record is consistent and well-dated: on March 11, 2025 she led a bipartisan Senate floor bloc (Murkowski, Welch, Collins, Coons, McConnell, Bennet, Tillis) backing Ukraine; on July 8, 2025 she welcomed the reversal of the pause on Ukraine security assistance, saying it was “vital that security assistance continues to force Putin to the negotiating table”; on July 31, 2025 she introduced the bipartisan Supporting Ukraine Act of 2025 with Sen. Murkowski (industrial-base funding, Russian-asset leverage); and on September 2, 2025 she urged advancing Graham-Blumenthal Russia sanctions, which she notes have 85+ cosponsors. At the February 14, 2025 Munich Security Conference with Zelenskyy she said NATO membership “should be on the table” for Ukraine.

The lever split is instructive: a president controls security assistance flows directly — as the July 2025 pause and reversal showed — while her bills aim to entrench that assistance in statute. A reasonable inference from these positions is that a Shaheen White House would resume and stabilize assistance flows unilaterally on day one, then send Congress the statutory backstop she has been drafting.

05 NATO and the transatlantic alliance

Shaheen emphasizes U.S.-Europe cooperation and sanctions coordination, chairing the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation. Her Kremlin sanctions and visa denial — for her stance against Putin — are part of her official biography.

Sanctions coordination with European allies, Russian-asset seizure, and export controls are executive tools her legislation would direct — meaning a President Shaheen could implement much of this agenda with the machinery already in place, without waiting for Congress.

06 Healthcare and opioid policy

Shaheen has a long record on substance-use policy: she was an original cosponsor of the State Opioid Response Grant Authorization Act (S.4839, 117th Congress) and a 2025 original cosponsor of the Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act. Her Appropriations Labor-HHS subcommittee work covers HHS funding.

The Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act's bill number was not captured in the research pass. Grant authorizations like these need Congress, but a president's HHS budget request would shape opioid-response funding levels from the first budget submission.

07 Veterans, fiscal and women's global rights

Shaheen worked across party lines on VA reform enabling New Hampshire veterans to receive care outside the VA system — New Hampshire is the only state without a full-service VA hospital. Fiscally, she introduces bipartisan budget-process reform, elimination of duplicative programs, phase-outs of sugar and mining tax breaks, and cuts to pharmaceutical and oil subsidies.

She also got legislation signed into law giving women a seat in conflict-resolution processes, with work on family-planning access in developing countries. These are documented biography items; the digest does not carry current-cycle specifics for them, so they are weighted moderate for first-100-days relevance.

08 What the record cannot tell us

The evidence runs out in specific places. There is not enough public evidence to determine Shaheen's exact current Appropriations subcommittee ranking or chair roles — sources conflict (NASADAD lists her as Ranking Member on the Agriculture-Rural Development-FDA subcommittee; Ballotpedia lists CJS as “Chair”, likely reflecting a Democratic ranking arrangement) — and that portfolio should be re-verified against senate.gov appropriations before publication.

The Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act bill number was not captured; the manufacturing job-loss figure (37,000) and “highest tariffs since the Great Depression” are her characterizations, not independently verified. Where evidence is incomplete, that is stated rather than filled in.

Disclaimer: this article is a scenario analysis based on the documented public record. It is not a prediction that Jeanne Shaheen will become president, nor an endorsement or criticism of her or her positions. Where evidence is incomplete, that is stated rather than filled in.