CONCORD, N.H. - On her second try, Jeanne Shaheen achieved another first.
Shaheen, the first woman elected governor of New Hampshire, became the state's first female senator Tuesday by defeating Republican Sen. John Sununu.
Her victory ends another long dry spell for Democrats. Republicans had held the governor's office for 16 years when Shaheen won the first of her three, two-year terms in 1996. In the Senate, the Republican streak was twice as long - the last time New Hampshire elected a Democratic senator was in a special election in 1975.
Shaheen, 61, wasn't planning on running for office again after her 2002 loss, but she said she could not sit by and watch Washington's failures.
"All my life, when I've seen something wrong, I've worked to change it," she said in announcing her candidacy from her backyard 14 months ago.
After serving six years in the state Senate and six as governor, Shaheen lost the 2002 race to Sununu by 4 percentage points. But this year, Shaheen had the twin advantages of Barack Obama's coattails and growing Democratic strength in New Hampshire.
While undeclared voters still outnumber those registered with either party, Democrats have increased their voter registrations by 20 percent in the last two years and now trail Republicans by fewer than 6,000 voters.
New Hampshire was the only state to vote Democratic in the 2004 presidential election after backing President Bush four years earlier.
And in 2006, Democrats swept New Hampshire's two congressional seats, the governor's office and both houses of the state Legislature.
Sununu emphasized his independence from Bush and Republican leaders on issues such as the Patriot Act and energy policy, but Shaheen relentlessly portrayed him as a Bush lackey.
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