HOPKINTON, N.H. (WCAX) – Thursday was New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster’s last day serving on Capitol Hill. The six-term Democrat spoke with our Adam Sullivan about her 12 years in Washington.
Policy accomplishments with three presidents, a global pandemic, and January 6th — all part of the legacy of Rep. Annie Kuster’s time in Congress. “I have mixed emotions… I am ready to step down,” Kuster said.
Congresswoman Kuster says she decided to run for Congress after meeting Barack Obama during New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary. Elected to serve New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District in 2012. She would go on to help craft laws during the Trump and Biden administrations.
“We finally made progress on mental health and addiction. We put a lot of funding and resources into treatment. And for the first time ever, the deaths from opioid addiction have reduced,” Kuster said.
She also says she took the lead in highlighting the need for sexual violence reforms — including new rules for Congress itself — by talking about her own sexual assault back in college. “I tried to be a spokesperson for survivors and tried to help survivors tell their story,” she said.
The global pandemic brought a new set of challenges, including a large-scale vaccine rollout and trillions in economic stimulus. Early on, Kuster said she would fly to Washington sometimes with only one other person on the plane. “We were trying to navigate getting the right supplies to the hospitals, how to keep our responders safe,” she said.
Kuster was in the House chamber when rioters breached the Capitol on January 6th. After evacuating with other lawmakers, she returned and voted to certify the election early the next morning. “There was FBI tape, broken glass everywhere, and we voted until 3:30 in the morning. I have a picture of when we left, and we saved our democracy,” she said.
In front of the town hall in Hopkinton, where Kuster lives, we asked her if she was sick of politics after her 12 years on Capitol Hill. “I’m sick of being on the ballot. I’m going to devote the next two years to helping my colleagues win back the House,” she responded.
Aside from her continued work behind the scenes in politics, Kuster is also an avid skier and she says she plans to spend most of her winter on the slopes.
In part two of his report on the Channel 3 News Friday, Adam Sullivan speaks with Kuster about President-elect Trump’s victory and provides advice to her successor.