The Granite State’s Second District has had the distinct fortune of having Congresswoman Annie Kuster as our four-term House representative in Washington D.C. , with a history of bipartisan legislation that rivals any of America’s representatives during that period.

This ranges from Veterans’ issues, including healthcare and housing, Alzheimer’s disease research and fund-raising, providing COVID-19 and treatment issues information, along with CARES legislation and caregiver support. Annie also currently serves on both the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and the House Agriculture Committee. She was born and raised in Concord, and her father Malcolm was a POW in World War II, was city mayor and served on the NH Executive Committee, and her mother Susan served in our State Senate.

This year due to the COVID-19 pandemic a majority of related legislation has been both sponsored and co-sponsored by Kuster. Long before the White House dropped the jokes and indifference and began paying attention to the coronavirus’ deadly wave of death earlier this year she was speaking out against Donald Trump’s glossing over of the life and financial toll that was occurring daily.

The $2.2 trillion CARES Act, co-sponsored by Annie, deserves special mention here. This bipartisan response to COVID-19 provided financial support (Economic Impact Payments) for both small and large businesses in their struggle to stay afloat as doors were shuttered and millions of jobs lost.

This Act was the reason for those checks ($1200 for most adults) we received earlier this year, as well as the $500 million grant to Cambridge-based Moderna supporting their coronavirus vaccine development, along with a plethora of other assistance for a beleaguered nation.

Annie’s GOP opponent this year is Steve Negron, with Andrew Olding running as a third party (Libertarian) candidate. Head-to-head on the pertinent issues, Negron is just another cut-from-the-same-Trump-cloth Republican politician, though he’s still waiting for the requisite Trump endorsement. He’s a typical climate change denier, even at this late date with all the empirical evidence available for years, and so many areas of the world burning.

And New Hampshire is lucky that Negron didn’t have a vote in the money allocation for our ongoing partially federal-funded highway project, as he was against receiving any Washington dollars despite the fact that this infrastructure has a direct effect on interstate commerce re: Granite State businesses. He also favors cutting all federal funds for Medicaid and Medicare in this pandemic year, which would decimate these programs in an extremely-low tax state like ours. This is Trump-level callousness, which shouldn’t surprise anyone paying attention to Negron.

Negron criticized the earlier state lockdowns to cut the spread of COVID-19, calling them unnecessary, echoing the Trump/nationwide conservative rallying cry even as the closures were the main reasons why the first wave of illnesses wasn’t even worse. This slap at science was proven to be just another ridiculous, typically-misguided right-wing popular opinion in May when whole swaths of red states like Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma et al reopened earlier than doctor Anthony Fauci recommended, resulting in their populations being inundated with disease and death all over again.

Negron is in favor of concealed-carry laws that allow “packing” between states, making an already horrible problem of extreme ease in weapon purchasing and illegal usage even worse. He also laughably blames Democrats, with no evidence whatsoever, for the national deficit, which he repeatedly and incorrectly identifies as $26 trillion. It is actually our DEBT which has hit that figure….the deficit stands at $3.7 trillion. And with Trump as president and the Senate in the GOP’s grip Negron’s misplaced blame is as ridiculous as Donald Trump blaming Joe Biden for the current racial unrest and street violence which Trump himself has fomented over the last four years.

Annie Kuster has been conducting regular tele-Town Hall meetings with local guest experts, and will continue to do so through Election Day. Sign up for her newsletter by contacting www.kuster.house.gov. This is the go-to website for extensive information on everything from upcoming congressional issues, COVID-19 protocols, biographical data including her 2013-present House service, and small business and student information.

Annie Kuster is a state treasure, and we should support her bid for a fifth term of working hard and getting results for New Hampshire on Nov. 3.

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