Annie Kuster, a Democratic Party candidate, won the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday. She was running for the Democratic nomination for the state’s 2nd Congressional district.

Kuster is currently a Congresswoman and has held on to the office since 2012. Kuster was unopposed in Tuesday’s elections.

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Who is Annie Kuster?

Annie Kuster was born on September 5, 1956, in Concord, New Hampshire. She was raised in a family of politicians and her father Malcolm McLane was mayor of Concord and a member of the New Hampshire Executive Council. Her mother was a Republican and served in the New Hampshire Senate.  Annie Kuster’s great-grandfather John McLane had also served as the governor of New Hampshire from 1905 to 1907. 

She earned her bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in 1978 and got her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1984. 

Annie served on the Board of Trustees for many community organizations, including the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and the Capitol Center for the Arts and Child and Family Services of New Hampshire. She is also the founder of the Women’s Fund of New Hampshire and in 2001 Kuster founded Newfound Strategies, an organization that works with nonprofit clients to maximize their effectiveness and sustainability. 

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Before entering politics, Annie Kuster worked as an attorney in a nonprofit consultant and a healthcare and education lobbyist at the New Hampshire General Court from 1989 to 2009. 

 Annie Kuster’s Political Career 

Annie Kuster was first elected in 2012 as she defeated Republican candidate Charles Bass. With this win, she became a part of the nation’s first all-female congressional delegation which included Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Senator Kelly Ayotte, and Representative Carol Shea-Porter.

In 2014, she ran for re-election against Republican State Representative Marilinda Garcia. Kuster defeated Garcia and became a member of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. 

Kuster ran for re-election in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in New Hampshire and defeated Joseph Mirzoeff to lead her fifth term as a member of the U.S. House.