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Maggie Hassan is pragmatic leader we need in Senate

By Staff | Oct 30, 2016

As someone who has worked closely with Gov. Maggie Hassan, I am proud to support her bid for the U.S. Senate. I urge my fellow New Hampshire residents to support her candidacy as well. Maggie’s positive vision for the Granite State and willingness to reach across the aisle to get things done are exactly what we need from our next U.S. senator.

Those of us who know Maggie Hassan know that she is truly animated by her deeply held belief that we are all stronger – as a state, as a nation, as a society and as an economy – when we include everyone in our shared success. She gets up every morning with the purpose of helping our community and state and building a better future for all of our families.

From combating the heroin and opioid crisis and supporting our innovative small businesses to expanding health care and balancing the budget without a sales or income tax, we’ve seen real progress in New Hampshire under her leadership as governor.

And on issue after issue, Maggie has brought her pragmatic approach to deliver results for New Hampshire’s families and small businesses. And it’s exactly that approach that will make her so valuable to our state in the U.S. Senate.

Governor Hassan has worked tirelessly to bring higher education into reach for more middle-class families and ensure that the skills students are learning are the skills that our 21st-century employers and economy need. She worked to freeze public college tuition and to lower it at community colleges. In the Senate, she’ll continue her focus on college affordability by working to expand Pell Grants and make sure that students are able to refinance their loans.

As governor, Maggie Hassan signed the New Hampshire Paycheck Fairness Act into law. And in the Senate, she will work to pass the federal Paycheck Fairness Act to help close the wage gap and ensure women receive equal pay for equal work.

Governor Hassan has been a steadfast advocate for New Hampshire taxpayers, cutting wasteful spending by consolidating boards and commissions and increasing state efficiency. Under her leadership, the state ended the last fiscal year with a surplus and was able to double its rainy day fund. In Washington, Maggie will continue going after wasteful spending and work to restore fiscal sanity to our federal government.

Maggie has also been a champion for New Hampshire’s innovative small businesses during her tenure as governor. CNBC even ranked our state as the No. 1 most business-friendly in the nation. She’ll continue working to strengthen our innovation economy in the Senate by cutting burdensome regulations for new businesses and expanding federal tax credits for research and development.

And under Gov. Hassan’s leadership, New Hampshire was able to pass and reauthorize a successful bipartisan Medicaid expansion that now provides health insurance to 50,000 of our neighbors who were unable previously to afford insurance. Governor Hassan worked with leaders of both parties as well as experts and stakeholders in the health care industry to craft a uniquely New Hampshire compromise.

Maggie Hassan knows how to remain true to her core values and priorities while finding common ground with those on the other side of the aisle and forging a path forward to actually get things done. Washington politicians can learn a lot from her common-sense, collaborative approach.

It is my firm belief that Maggie Hassan will be a true asset to New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate, helping to break through the gridlock and dysfunction to get things done on our behalf.

John Lynch is the former Democratic governor of New Hampshire.

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