To the State of New Hampshire,

Someone needs to get the conversation started about the Shaheen family’s strange ties to the Epstein case, so I am writing this.

On July 2nd, 2021, Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in Bradford, New Hampshire, on charges involving helping Jeffrey Epstein traffic young women and girls for sexual exploitation. (BBC News, 2021) She was briefly represented by Shaheen & Gordon (founded by Bill Shaheen, father of CD-1 Democratic Primary Candidate Stefany Shaheen), before terminating them as counsel on July 6th. (Court Listener Docket, 2020 | Shaheen & Gordon - Attorneys) Lawrence Vogelman, who was hired by Shaheen & Gordon that same year, represented her. You’d hope that a firm with ties to a member of Congress taking a case like this would make the news, yet only a few local newspapers wrote anything about it. I myself only learned of this recently (ironically on July 2nd) when someone mentioned it to me. A Google search brought up little, but did confirm this via a Court Listener page. You’d also hope that someone with familial ties to the firm running for Congress would speak out against this, but to my knowledge, Stefany Shaheen has yet to even acknowledge the matter. This lack of a comment on a law firm attached to her name representing a client like Maxwell could indicate one of three things: Shaheen doesn’t care about it, she doesn’t know about it, or she doesn’t want to bring attention to it. Given her familial and personal connections to individuals implicated in Epstein’s crimes, one can see why the third scenario best explains her silence. 

Dean Kamen is one such connection. When the DOJ released the first batch of Epstein files related to Kamen, he claimed to have had “limited interactions” with Epstein, having “no knowledge of any of [his] horrific actions”. (Connecticut Public, 2025) However, just weeks later, new documents were released. Within these files was a document showing plans for Kamen to spend a night on Little St. James Island. (InDepthNH, 2026 | Union Leader, 2026) None of the documents show evidence of Kamen committing any crimes, but they were enough for FIRST, Kamen’s robotics company, to place him on leave while a private firm investigates the matter. (WMUR, 2026) Stefany Shaheen worked for Dean Kamen. In 2018, she even posted a picture of herself in his private jet on LinkedIn. (LinkedIn, 2018) This itself is concerning, but the Shaheens’ ties to Epstein’s associates do not end there. 

In 2008 and 2016, Bill Shaheen endorsed Hillary Clinton and co-chaired her campaign in New Hampshire. (Nashua Inklink, 2024 | The American Presidency Project, 2007 | NHBR, 2013) Hillary Clinton herself recently spoke at the McIntyre-Shaheen Dinner, praising Jeanne Shaheen’s long political career. (Seacoast Online, 2026) Hillary’s spouse, former President Bill Clinton, has been accused of visiting Epstein’s private island, something which he denies. This contradicts Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre’s account of dining with him on Little St. James Island. (ABC, 2026) While the currently released Epstein files show no evidence that the Shaheens took part in Epstein’s crimes, it cannot be denied that they have plentiful ties to those willing to lie about their association with the disgraced financier. Even if no Shaheen committed a crime related to this case, their familial ties to Epstein associates show their lack of judgment in choosing their political allies and friends.

For these reasons, New Hampshire cannot let another Shaheen win an election. Recently, Stefany Shaheen polled first, but at a shrinking 22%. Rather than replacing outgoing Representative Chris Pappas with yet another establishment politician, New Hampshire should elect someone with no alarming ties to people like Kamen. New Hampshire should elect Heath Howard. State Representative Howard bravely risked his political career to stand up to the Shaheens when he launched his grassroots campaign for Congress. Despite all of the challenges he has faced so far (such as a death threat mailed to his house), he’s polling in third place at 9%, well ahead of other progressives. (270toWin)

I chose not to move back to my home state after college due to the threat of anti-transgender policies. Despite the distance, I still closely monitor state politics. I do not want Stefany Shaheen representing the Congressional District I grew up in because she will represent the interests of the rich over those of the working class, just as her mother has for years. Both her personal associations and her family’s associations show this.

Shaheen & Gordon representing Ghislaine Maxwell also deeply troubles me. We cannot continue to act like everything is fine when a powerful political family allowed their firm to represent a prolific child trafficker in a case like this. To my knowledge, the Shaheen family has not acted unlawfully, but they continually show monstrously poor judgment through their actions and associations. Saying no to this case would have been easy, but Shaheen & Gordon chose to help Maxwell in her early court proceedings while the Shaheens stayed silent. This shows they’d rather stand with Epstein’s associates than his victims. Adding to this, it actually would have been politically expedient for Stefany to speak out against this given the near universal hatred of Epstein associates, but she, like her family, remained quiet. Regardless of her beliefs on Shaheen & Gordon representing Maxwell, her lack of a response to this shows her unwillingness to take a stand against powerful actors.

Granite Staters need to stand up and make a change. One step you can take is voting for Heath Howard on September 8th and telling everyone you know to do so as well. New Hampshire cannot let the Shaheens, a family entrenched in the ruling class and associated with abusers, into another position of power. If people like them win, then the government will continue to go soft on child traffickers. We have to do better, if not for us, then for our children.

With love for my home,

Samantha Como

Works Cited:

ABC News. (2026). Timeline: Bill Clinton’s interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. abcnews.com/US/timeline…. 

BBC News. (2021). Epstein found Ghislaine Maxwell using mobile phone data. bbc.com/news/technology….

Connecticut Public. (2025). Dean Kamen says relationship to Epstein was ‘limited’, as DOJ releases new photo of inventor. ctpublic.org/2025-12-22…. 

Court Listener Docket. (2020). United States v. Maxwell. courtlistener.com/docke….

InDepthNH. (2026). Stefany Shaheen’s Dean Kamen Ties Become a Political Problem. indepthnh.org/2026/02/0….

LinkedIn. (2018). Stefany Shaheen - Definitely too soon to add co-pilot to my profile, but this was fun! #firsttimeforeverything.

linkedin.com/posts/stef….

Nashua Inklink. (2024). Former President Bill Clinton campaigns in Nashua. nashua.inklink.news/for….

NHBR. (2013). Q&A with attorney/political activist Billy Shaheen. nhbr.com/qa-with-attorn….

NHPR. (2026). FIRST, Dean Kamen’s youth robotics org, puts him on leave amid new Epstein revelations. nhpr.org/nh-news/2026-0….

Politico. (2026). The Epstein Files are creating headaches for the Sununus and Shaheens in New Hampshire. politico.com/news/2026/….

Seacoast Online. (2026). Clinton, NH Democrats look back at Shaheen’s Career – and ahead to 2026. seacoastonline.com/stor….

Shaheen & Gordon - Attorneys. (n.d.). Lawrence A. Vogelman. shaheengordon.com/attor….

Shaheen & Gordon - Attorneys. (n.d.). William H. Shaheen. shaheengordon.com/attor….

The American Presidency Project. (2007). Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release – Bill Shaheen Endorses Senator Clinton. presidency.ucsb.edu/doc….

Union Leader. (2026). Dean Kamen had many contacts with Jeffrey Epstein. unionleader.com/news/na…. 

United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. (2022). Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison For Conspiring With Jeffrey Epstein to Sexually Abuse Minors. justice.gov/usao-sdny/p….

WMUR. FIRST places Dean Kamen on leave after new Epstein files released. (2026). wmur.com/article/dean-k…. 

WMUR. New Epstein files reveal new details into search for Maxwell in NH. (2026). wmur.com/article/new-ep…. 

270toWin. (n.d.). 2026 Polls: New Hampshire House District 1. 270towin.com/2026-house….