Ann McLane Kuster

He was elected as a Republican in 1904 with 58% of the vote, defeating Democrat Henry Hollis.

Kuster's great-grandfather, John McLane, was governor of New Hampshire from 1905 to 1907.

Ann L. McLane Kuster (born September 5, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for NH's 2nd congressional district since 2013.

A member of the Democratic Party, she previously worked as a lobbyist.

Kuster chairs the New Democrat Coalition, a center-left caucus among House Democrats.

Kuster was born in Concord, New Hampshire, on September 5, 1956.

Both her parents were politicians.

Her father, Malcolm McLane, was mayor of Concord, a member of the New Hampshire Executive Council, and an owner of Wildcat Mountain Ski Area.

In 1972, he ran for governor of New Hampshire as an independent.

He received 20% of the vote in an election that Republican Mel Thomson won with a plurality of 40%.

Kuster's mother, Susan McLane, was elected to the New Hampshire Senate as a Republican.

Kuster graduated from Dartmouth College in 1978 with a degree in environmental policy.

In 1980, she ran for New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district, coming in second in the crowded Republican primary, with 25% of the vote.

She received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1984.

After college, Kuster became the director of Concord law firm Rath, Young and Pignatelli's education and nonprofit law practice group.

Kuster was a consultant and owner of Newfound Strategies LLC, a consulting firm.

Kuster also worked as an "of-counsel" partner at Rath, Young and Pignatelli.

Her legal practice focused on education, nonprofit, and health care policy.

Kuster has also worked as an adoption attorney.

Kuster has served as chair and board member of the Capitol Center for the Arts and as a founder and vice chair of the Women's Fund of New Hampshire.

She has also served on the boards of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, New Hampshire Public Radio, Child and Family Services of New Hampshire, the Alumni Council and Tucker Foundation at Dartmouth College, and Womankind Counseling Center.

From 1989 to 2009, Kuster worked as a lobbyist in New Hampshire, earning more than $1.3 million in fees from various businesses and nonprofits.

$460,000 of that money came from ambulatory surgical centers, $150,000 from investment companies, and $145,000 from pharmaceutical manufacturers and their association.

In an editorial, the Union Leader wrote, "she's also a career lobbyist, not in dreaded Washington, but in Concord. But she's refused to use that word."

Rather, Kuster called herself a "public policy advocate".

Kuster's career has also involved many years of lobbying on behalf of clients such as Merck Vaccines; the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), with which she helped created the NH Medication Bridge program, a public-private partnership that provides free prescriptions to patients in need; Fidelity Investments, with which she helped create the NH UNIQUE College Savings Plan to help families save money for college tax-free; Dartmouth College and Medical School; NARAL Pro-Choice New Hampshire; Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center; and the New Hampshire College & University Council.

In 1998, while working on behalf of the pharmaceutical manufacturer Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc., 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".

Kuster served on the New Hampshire steering committees of the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama in 2007–08 and John Kerry in 2003–04.

She and Peggo Hodes (the wife of Representative Paul Hodes) also co-chaired New Hampshire Women for Obama.

Kuster was a 2008 delegate for Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Denver and a member of the 2004 New Hampshire Delegation in Boston.

According to OpenSecrets, Kuster took $192,553 in contributions from lawyers and lobbyists during the 2010 election cycle.

In 2010, Kuster ran for NH'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%, a margin of 3,550 votes.

Judd Gregg won with 34% of the vote, while Charles Bass (whom Kuster defeated in 2012) came in third with 22%.

Kuster ran against Bass again in the 2012 election.

She received the endorsement of Democracy for America, and was selected as one of its Dean Dozen.

In 2020, Kuster endorsed Pete Buttigieg for president, which broke her streak of endorsing the candidate who became the Democratic nominee.