Law school alums win on Election Day

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Two Northeastern School of Law alumnae had big wins Tuesday on Election Day. Maura Healey, L’98, won her race for the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, while New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, L’85, H’13, was re-elected to a second term.

Healey, who previously served as a deputy attorney general, emerged victorious over her Republican challenger John Miller.

“As attorney general I’m going to be your lawyer,” Healey said during her acceptance speech. “I’m going to be your advocate.”

Healey will be the first openly gay state attorney general in the United States. While working as a Massachusetts’ deputy attorney general, she directed the Public Protection & Advocacy Bureau division and the Business & Labor Bureau division. She also worked in the Chief Civil Rights division. In 2012 she led the nation’s first successful challenge of the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal law that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. She argued the case before the federal appeals court along with fellow School of Law alumna Mary Bonauto, L’87.

For her part, Hassan defeated Republican Walt Havenstein to win re-election Tuesday. Hassan, a former New Hampshire state Senate majority leader, was first elected to the governor’s office in 2012. She became Northeastern’s second law school graduate to become a state governor, following John O. Pastore, L’31, who served as Rhode Island’s governor from 1945 to 1950.

Both Healey and Hassan have maintained strong connections with Northeastern, including in May when both participated at the 2014 Women in the Law conference. Hassan also served as the School of Law’s commencement speaker in 2013.

Northeastern’s School of Law congratulated Healey and Hassan for their victories on Twitter.

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