Democrat Stefany Shaheen is happy to acknowledge that she’s seriously thinking about jumping into the 1st Congressional District race.
But ask about her positions on issues important to the voters, and she has a different response.
No comment.
Shaheen was a guest on Jack Heath’s radio show Wednesday morning, where she told the host she’s “very serious” about possibly entering the Democratic primary, and she “hopes to make her decision in the very near future.”
“This is not something I initially contemplated. But in the last three months, I think there’s real danger in continuing to operate with business as usual,” Shaheen said. Among her concerns are health care — particularly as it relates to her daughter, who suffers from Type 1 diabetes — challenges facing small businesses, and President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
Heath then asked her about an issue that’s currently making headlines in New Hampshire and across the nation: “What is your position on boys in girls’ sports?”
Shaheen wouldn’t say.
And it’s not just the issue of girls-only athletics. Shaheen, daughter of longtime New Hampshire pol U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, told Heath she won’t be answering any public policy questions until she becomes an announced candidate.
“If I get into the race, I am prepared to give you my position on every issue that’s going to impact the district,” Shaheen said. “I appreciate that this is one of those issues.”
As for now, Shaheen said, she’ll be watching how courts decide cases like the one in Bow, N.H., but she’ll be keeping her public policy positions to herself.
“If I get into the race, you can push me hard on every issue that impacts the district, and I will be prepared to answer the question,” Shaheen added.
Heath followed up by pointing out Shaheen has been a high school volleyball coach in Portsmouth (“Go Clippers!” Heath threw in). As an athlete and a coach, he asked, “Would you have liked it if boys had been allowed to play against your girls? You’ve got to have a feeling on this.”
Apparently not.
“If someone is biologically a boy, should they be playing on a girls’ team? It’s hard to argue that, obviously,” Shaheen acknowledged. But she isn’t ready yet to take a stand.
“As I get into this race and understand more of the policy implications of that particular topic, I will certainly give you a full and fair vetting of all my positions on the issue. But I think we try to generalize this in a way that is really not helpful.”
Granite State political insiders weren’t impressed.
“Profiles in courage,” one Seacoast Democrat told NHJournal on background.
Another Democrat, who’s participated in multiple Granite State campaigns, said, “I’ve been urging Democrats to go against the party and stand up for common sense. Most are still too afraid.”
Shaheen is hardly the first Democrat to stumble on the transgender issue. Over the weekend, the one declared Democrat in the race, state Democratic Party Vice Chair Maura Sullivan, was asked if she would vote, as U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas did, against banning biological males from girls sports. She declined to answer.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), widely viewed as a likely 2028 candidate for president, was pilloried in his own party when he said it was “deeply unfair” to make women compete against men in sports, then pilloried by Republicans when he said he supports California’s policy preventing males who identify as female from being banned.
Shaheen is viewed by many Granite State political insiders as the frontrunner in the 1st District race. If she runs, she’ll have to face Sullivan, and possibly state Sen. Debra Altschiller (D-Stratham), and former state Sen. Joe Morgan (D-Brentwood).
Republican strategist Patrick Griffin isn’t prepared to read too much into Shaheen’s first radio interview of the cycle.
“This is a woman who comes from a very smart, very experienced political background. Let’s just say her mother would probably not have said that.”
