New Hampshire Democratic Rep. Ann Kuster to retire from Congress

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

Rep. Ann Kuster (D-N.H.), chair of the influential New Democratic Coalition, will not seek reelection this year.

Kuster, who was first elected to Congress in 2012 and has served six terms on the Hill, said in a statement Wednesday that she will retire at the end of this Congress.

“This work has been many things — rewarding, frustrating, inspiring, and challenging. But, more than anything, it has been an honor,” Kuster said in the statement. “As your congresswoman, I have had the chance to meet directly with the people who make New Hampshire such an incredible place to live, work, and raise a family. From our small business owners to our first responders, farmers, teachers, veterans, health care providers, seniors, and local leaders, every conversation has been insightful and has guided my efforts in Washington.”

Kuster has led the centrist New Democratic Coalition in a thinly divided House, which gave the group more influence in the chamber. In her statement, she said she plans to chair the caucus until her term ends “to help pass comprehensive, bipartisan legislation to move our country forward.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/27/annie-kuster-retiring-house/

[PatSeg]

1. She is my congresswoman

I am so sorry to hear this.

[bsiebs]

2. You think the seat will stay Democratic?

From Rollcall...

Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race for New Hampshire’s 2nd District seat as Likely Democratic. New Hampshire has a late congressional primary, which is set for Sept. 10. The filing deadline is June 14, according to a calendar published by the Federal Election Commission.

[link:https://rollcall.com/2024/03/27/kuster-will-not-seek-reelection-in-new-hampshire/|

[PatSeg]

5. I am really not sure

New Hampshire is hard to call at times. We've had some really popular Democratic governors (two went on to become our U.S. senators), but then we ended up with Chris Sununu since 2017.

I've been in New Hampshire since 2010 and I still can't read the voters here. I think that sometimes the more Libertarian voters go republican and other times they go Democratic. They may vote for the Democrat at the top of the ticket, but then vote republican for state offices (republicans have a lot of control in the state legislature).

I hope "Likely Democratic" is right.

[maxsolomon]

3. Just 67.

Guess she can't take it anymore. This Congress in particular has to be an awful experience.

[TiberiusB]

4. The pro Wall Street coalition?

https://www.propublica.org/article/new-democrat-coalition

Over the past two years, their members have helped biotech companies win lucrative patent extensions during healthcare reform, fought to ensure that banks receiving TARP money didn't have to trim executive bonuses, and helped block a proposal to allow bankruptcy judges to adjust home mortgages—a step many experts believe would have reduced foreclosures. As they gathered for their May retreat, the New Democrats were working on what would become their biggest victory yet: weakening key components of financial-services reform legislation.

[slightlv]

6. I shudder when I hear "New Democrat"

I firmly believe that's when we started losing parts of our Democratic coalition.. people who were always hard and loyal party members. They started seeing planks which had always been promoted as "true democratic" planks forced into the backyard, with more Wall Street concerns promoted instead. This is when many of us old democrats started calling the party republican-lite. It would have worked, had the republican party also loosened up to become more like democrats-lite. Of course, that didn't happen... the R's just went harder right. And the New Democrats kept incrementally changing to center-right. To me, this has been the worst thing that's happened to the democratic party since they came out of the south. This is when democrats started agreeing, in principal, with R's on welfare, entitlements, culture issues, etc. To their gain, they've let some of these go, softened up on others, and turned back toward the true democratic planks. But we lost a lot of people during the Clinton years, when this first began. Like I said, if they'd had buy-in from the R's for what they were suppose to do, their new plans may have worked. I still don't feel like it would have been to the people's advantage, but at least we might not have as dire a political divide as we see now. For some reason, the R's name calling and entrenching us in socialism isn't seen as the slander it actually is... and we don't have the wordsmiths and lie makers that the R party does to do the same to them and make it stick. I'm hopeful, with T* that has begun changing.

Although I'll never vote anything but democratic, I will admit there have been times I've held my nose. No matter who the democrat, they are ALWAYS better than a republican.