Carol Shea-Porter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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
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.

[edit] Early life and career

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.

[edit] Political views

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

Shea-Porter is on record opposing programs using education "as a carrot for military service," a "100%" supporter of a woman's right to choose, and cited truthout.org as one of the sources of information she relies on.

Shea-Porter has concealed her vote in Democrat leadership elections following the 2006 election, but it is widely speculated that she supported Jack Murtha (D-PA) for the post.

[edit] Fund Raising

After swearing off campaign funds from PACs and Corporations under the so-called "good guy rule," Carol Shea-Porter's campaign reversed course, and has accepted PAC money from numerous PACs ^[5] as well as $2,000 from Jack Murtha, the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee who appears in CREW's^[6] list of top 22 most corrupt members of Congress.

[edit] 2006 election campaign

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

Shea-Porter faced three other Democrats in primary on September 12, 2006.^{[citation needed]} She won with 12,497 votes (54%); Jim Craig, the New Hampshire House minority leader, finished second with 34%.^[7]

[edit] Upset victory

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.^[8]

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.

[edit] Committee Assignments

• Armed Services Committee
  • Military Personnel Subcommittee
  • Readiness Subcommittee
• Education and Labor Committee
  • Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities
  • Subcommittee on Workforce Protections

[edit] Votes in Congress

This article or section needs to be updated. Please update the article to reflect recent events / newly available information, and remove this template when finished.

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.

[edit] Election History

[edit] References

1. ^ Boston.com "Carol Shea Porter's unusual journey to Congress"(registration required)
2. ^ Statement on Politics NH.com
3. ^ Carol Shea-Porter for US Congress
4. ^ Carol Shea-Porter for US Congress
5. ^ http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00028091&cycle=2008
6. ^ http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/30374
7. ^ Secretary of State Results for New Hampshire 1st Congressional District, Democratic Primary, September 12, 2006
8. ^ Election 2006 Results

[edit] External links

• U.S. Representative Carol Shea-Porter official site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• 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