Ann McLane Kuster

In 1998, while working on behalf of Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc., a pharmaceutical manufacturer, Kuster lobbied against HB 1553. The bill would have reclassified three drugs, including Rohypnol, linked to date rapes, assaults, robberies, and driving offenses, as Schedule 1 Controlled Substances, making them illegal to possess. The University of New Hampshire Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program's coordinator called the rescheduling of Rohypnol an “imperative,” as the drug “poses an imminent and serious threat to public health and safety.” [13]

At a town hall meeting in Manchester in November 2013, Kuster fielded questions relating to the Middle East. After reading a written question regarding establishing a select committee to investigate the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Kuster indicated that the questions "should stay focused on the Middle East." Audience members replied that Libya is located in the "Middle East". Libya is generally not included in definitions of the Middle East; it is, however, part of the Arab world and the Arab Maghreb.The video quickly went viral across the Internet, gaining more than 260,000 views in less than 48 hours.[14][15]

Kuster supported the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).[16][17] In a joint presentation in July 2017, she and Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) asserted the need to overcome diametrical partisan disagreement on Obamacare and to "find common ground in fixing Obamacare" by focusing on "individual markets."[18]

On June 27, 2018, an amendment by Kuster addressing so-called “collateral misconduct,” that is, often minor offense uncovered during probes of sexual violence, was approved for inclusion in defense appropriations legislation. “For far too long, service members have survived sexual assaults only to suffer in silence,” said Kuster. “They've refused to bring their assailants to justice and receive medical attention, not because they fear their attacker but because they fear a military policy, which requires their commanders to punish them for minor violations. I hope that this study will enable the military to make reforms to ensure that no survivor of sexual assault fears coming forward."[19][20]

On January 26, 2015, Kuster and Ann Wagner (R-MO) took to the House Floor to urge the passage of the Save Act, which they had introduced to curb human trafficking. “Every year, thousands of women, children, and men are trafficked around the world – even right here in our own backyard,” said Kuster.[21]

In April 2015, Kuster called on the Senate to pass human trafficking legislation that had been languishing for weeks and to strip restrictions added by Republicans. “All across the nation, victims of sex trafficking are being forced to endure indescribable terrors at the hands of their traffickers,” she said. “This bill would help put an end to human trafficking."[22]

Kuster was a cosponsor of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which prohibits employers from mistreating pregnant workers. In a December 2014 statement on the Supreme Court case Young V. UPS, Kuster said: “No woman should ever be discriminated against in the workplace simply because she is pregnant, and I was proud to help send an Amicus Brief to the Supreme Court supporting Peggy Young, whose treatment by her employer clearly violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.[23][24]

In November 2013, Kuster charged the National Security Agency, which had secretly tapped into data centers operated by Google and Yahoo, with violating privacy. “It just went way beyond what most people's expectations for privacy are in this country, and I think, despite people's best efforts to protect privacy, things had developed to a place where the American people now want to have a debate and have a conversation,” Kuster said. “It's a balancing act between privacy and safety and security of our country....But my point of view is we don't want to lose our liberty in the course of trying to protect our safety.” This statement came days after she swung her support behind the USA Freedom Act, which would overhaul the NSA and curb its “worst excesses."[25]

2010

In 2010 Kuster ran for New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district against Republican nominee Charles Bass, Libertarian nominee Howard Wilson, and Independent candidate Tim vanBlommesteyn. It was an open seat as Democratic incumbent Paul Hodes was running for the U.S. Senate.

Bass defeated Kuster 48%–47%, by a margin of just 3,550 votes.[26]

2012

Kuster ran for New Hampshire's 2nd district against Representative Charles Bass again in the 2012 general election. She received the endorsement of Democracy for America, and was selected as one of its Dean Dozen.

On November 6, 2012, Kuster defeated Bass 50%–45%.[2][27] In doing so, she became a part of the nation's first all-female congressional delegation. This delegation included current Senior Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Junior Senator Kelly Ayotte, and Representative Carol Shea-Porter, who was defeated in the 2014 elections.[2]

Kuster speaks at a Hillary Clinton presidential rally at Southern New Hampshire University in 2016.

2014

Kuster ran for re-election in 2014 against Republican State Representative Marilinda Garcia. In October of that year, State Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, a Republican, compared Garcia's looks favorably to Kuster's in a blog post: "Let’s be honest. Does anyone not believe that Congressman Annie Kuster is as ugly as sin? And I hope I haven’t offended sin." Garcia replied in a statement that Vaillancourt's comments were "sexist and have absolutely no place in political discourse."[28]

Kuster beat Garcia 55-45%.[29] Kuster was a member of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Frontline Program, designed to help protect vulnerable Democratic incumbents heading into the 2014 election.[30] The primary election took place on September 9, 2014, with the general election held on November 4, 2014. Republicans who ran in Kuster's district included State Representative Garcia and former State Senator Gary Lambert.[31] Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton and his super PAC spent $30,000 on a two-week television ad buy opposing Kuster and her response to the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya.[32]

2016

Kuster ran for re-election in 2016, defeating her Republican opponent, former State Representative Jim Lawrence, 50-45%.[33]

2018

On June 12, Kuster announced she would seek a fourth term in Congress. She ran unopposed in the primary. Four Republicans, Robert Burns, Stewart Levenson, Jay Mercer, and Steven Negron, vied to run against her in the general election, while Tom Alciere filed as a Libertarian candidate. Levenson, reported the AP, “was one of the doctors behind a 2017 whistleblower complaint about care” at the Manchester Veterans Affaird Medical Center, and had “accused Kuster, whom he approached about the issue, of being slow to act on it."[34] Negron won the 4-way Republican primary with 27% of the vote.[35]

Representative Kuster has sponsored 11 bills of her own, including:[36]

• H.R. 1747, a bill to create a tax credit for businesses cooperating with higher education institutions for the purpose of promoting job training programs, equal to $2,000 per institution, up to $10,000 per business, introduced April 25, 2013
• H.R. 2439, a bill to establish a National Responsible Father Registry, introduced June 19, 2013. H.R. 2439's companion bill is S. 1203.
• H.R. 4864, a bill to provide grants to states to help them install carbon monoxide alarms inside homes, introduced June 12, 2014
• H.R. 4865, a bill to permit the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and the Treasury to expand access to qualified health plans for working families without further legislation, and to exclude individuals from receiving health insurance premium assistance under the PPACA if their insurance is an employer-sponsored plan with required contributions exceeding 9.5% of household income, introduced June 12, 2014

• Committee on Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry
  • Subcommittee on Horticulture, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture
• Committee on Small Business
  • Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations
• Committee on Veterans' Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Health
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

• New Democrat Coalition[37]
• Congressional Arts Caucus[38]
• Veterinary Medicine Caucus[39]
• Climate Solutions Caucus[40]
• Blue Collar Caucus

In February 2013, WMUR-TV reported that Kuster had been late paying property taxes on a home in Hopkinton starting in 2010 and had failed to pay two tax bills for a property in Jackson in 2012. Following the report, Kuster stated that the bills were being paid.[43] Kuster, whose assets have been estimated at $1.8 million, was reported to have been late on taxes six separate times since 2010, totaling $40,000 in back taxes. Kuster ultimately paid the taxes. When asked why she was consistently late, Kuster stated, “Life is expensive.”[44][45]

On June 21, 2016, Kuster announced from the floor of the House that she had been sexually assaulted as a college student. “I was an 18-year-old student, going to a dance at a fraternity, to enjoy the evening with friends,” she said. “We danced, we listened to music, we enjoyed the party. Until one young man assaulted me in a crude and insulting way and I ran, alone, into the cold, dark night.” In an interview given the next day, she said the assault was part of “a prank” intended to humiliate her. She also said that when she was 23 and working as an aide on Capitol Hill, her boss took her to dinner with a “distinguished guest of the United States Congress,” (South African heart surgeon Christiaan Barnard) who, under the table, put his hand under her skirt. Not long after, she was assaulted and mugged on a Washington street. Until these revelations, she had not told anybody about these incidents. She said she had been motivated to come forward by a sexual assault case at Stanford University.[46]

After her revelation, her alma mater, Dartmouth College, issued a statement saying: “We were deeply distressed to learn about Representative Annie Kuster's experiences, but we applaud her courage. Sexual assault is a notoriously underreported crime. At Dartmouth, we want to see the number of reported incidents go up and the prevalence of incidents go down. Although the growing climate of reporting is encouraging, even one sexual assault is too many. It is revelations like Representative Kuster's that demonstrate why we must continue to expand our efforts in prevention, response, and accountability."[47]