Later Political Career
Instead of running for a third term, he ran for and won a seat in the New Hampshire State Senate, the only former U.S. Senator to sit in a state senate. He served one term. There were reports of his making a possible run for president on the Republican ticket in both 1988 and 1992. Neither one happened.
Humphrey returned to New Hampshire politics in 2000 by challenging incumbent Governor Jeanne Shaheen. Shaheen, a Democrat, was considered vulnerable in the wake of a State Supreme Court decision requiring the state to play a larger role in funding education, which many saw as a path toward instituting a statewide income or sales tax. Humphrey pledged to block attempts to enact such taxes, but was narrowly defeated in a contentious campaign.
He ran for the Republican nomination for governor again in 2002, but businessman Craig Benson eventually won the nomination and the governor's race. Humphrey finished third, and said that the campaign would be his last.
Read more about this topic: Gordon J. Humphrey
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