Colin Van Ostern

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Colin Van Ostern
Image of Colin Van Ostern
Prior offices
New Hampshire Executive Council District 2

Elections and appointments
Last election

September 10, 2024

Education

High school

Governor's School for Government & International Studies, 1996

Bachelor's

The George Washington University, 2000

Graduate

Dartmouth College, 2009

Personal
Profession
Higher education consultant
Contact

Colin Van Ostern (Democratic Party) was a member of the New Hampshire Executive Council, representing District 2.

Ostern (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on September 10, 2024.

Biography

Colin Van Ostern earned his bachelor's degree in international relations and political science from the George Washington University and a master of business administration in general management from Dartmouth College. During his university years, he worked as a senior political advisor for several politicians including U.S. Congresswoman Ann McLane Kuster (D). He also operated a small business consulting firm from 2004 to 2007.

From 2006 until 2007, he also served as the associate director of public relations for the Tuck School of Business at Darmouth College, his alma mater. He has also worked as a brand manager for Stonyfield Farm, an organic yogurt company, and as a senior advisor for the College for America at Southern New Hampshire University. He was elected to the five-member New Hampshire Executive Council in 2012 and re-elected in 2014. Van Ostern represented District 2 on the New Hampshire Executive Council from 2013 to 2017.

Van Ostern lives in Concord, New Hampshire, with his wife, Kristyn, and two sons, Peter and Patrick.[1][2]

Elections

2024

See also: New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024

New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024 (September 10 Democratic primary)

New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024 (September 10 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House New Hampshire District 2

Maggie Goodlander defeated Lily Williams in the general election for U.S. House New Hampshire District 2 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Maggie Goodlander
Maggie Goodlander (D)
 
52.9
 
211,641
Image of Lily Williams
Lily Williams (R) Candidate Connection
 
47.0
 
187,810
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
367

Total votes: 399,818
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House New Hampshire District 2

Maggie Goodlander defeated Colin Van Ostern in the Democratic primary for U.S. House New Hampshire District 2 on September 10, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Maggie Goodlander
Maggie Goodlander
 
63.7
 
42,960
Image of Colin Van Ostern
Colin Van Ostern
 
36.1
 
24,342
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.2
 
160

Total votes: 67,462
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House New Hampshire District 2

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House New Hampshire District 2 on September 10, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Lily Williams
Lily Williams Candidate Connection
 
35.6
 
22,040
Image of Vikram Mansharamani
Vikram Mansharamani
 
26.7
 
16,565
Image of Bill Hamlen
Bill Hamlen Candidate Connection
 
15.9
 
9,860
Image of Paul Wagner
Paul Wagner
 
3.8
 
2,329
Image of Casey Crane
Casey Crane
 
3.3
 
2,046
Image of Randall Clark
Randall Clark Candidate Connection
 
3.0
 
1,866
William Harvey
 
2.8
 
1,743
Image of Jay Mercer
Jay Mercer
 
2.5
 
1,573
Image of Jason Riddle
Jason Riddle Candidate Connection
 
1.4
 
869
Image of Robert D'Arcy
Robert D'Arcy
 
1.2
 
714
Image of Michael Callis
Michael Callis
 
1.0
 
632
Image of Tom Alciere
Tom Alciere Candidate Connection
 
1.0
 
623
Image of Gerard Beloin
Gerard Beloin
 
0.9
 
552
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.9
 
533

Total votes: 61,945
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

Ostern received the following endorsements.

2016

See also: New Hampshire gubernatorial election, 2016

Van Ostern filed to run as a Democratic candidate for Governor of New Hampshire in 2016.[2] He competed with former Portsmouth mayor Steve Marchand, former Deputy Secretary of State Mark Connolly, author Derek Dextraze, and radio host Ian Freeman in the September 13 Democratic primary election. He competed with Executive Councilor Chris Sununu, who won the Republican nomination, Libertarian Sean Goward, and independents Bill Fortune and Jilletta Jarvis in the November 8 general election.

Chris Sununu defeated Colin Van Ostern and Max Abramson in the New Hampshire governor election.

New Hampshire Governor, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Chris Sununu 49% 354,040
     Democratic Colin Van Ostern 46.7% 337,589
     Libertarian Max Abramson 4.3% 31,243
Total Votes 722,872
Source: The New York Times

Colin Van Ostern defeated Steve Marchand, Mark Connolly , Ian Freeman and Derek Dextraze in the New Hampshire Democratic primary for governor.

New Hampshire Democratic primary for governor, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Colin Van Ostern 51.99% 37,694
Steve Marchand 25.29% 18,338
Mark Connolly 20.47% 14,839
Ian Freeman 1.47% 1,069
Derek Dextraze 0.77% 557
Total Votes (300 of 300 precincts reporting) 72,497
Source: AP

Endorsements

Ostern received the following endorsements.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Colin Van Ostern did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Van Ostern's campaign website included the following positions:

  • On education: "Colin will work with educators and state and local school boards to lift the restriction that is preventing more school districts from launching PACE pilot programs. This would reduce our reliance on standardized tests while maintaining appropriate learning standards for kids at every grade. ... Fully funding universal full-day kindergarten will improve our schools while also helping more working parents fully participate in the workforce. ... New Hampshire cannot afford to refuse fast-growing school districts a proportional increase in state funding for their students, as has happened in recent years. Additionally, the state should consider how to reinstitute a more sustainable building aid program to support local building construction projects that are in clear need. ... Colin will work with employers and lawmakers to bring more support and clear accountability measures to our public higher education institutions to ensure that funds are used to help more young people graduate and get good-paying jobs ... ."[3]
  • On energy and the environment: "Van Ostern is a strong advocate for clean energy, and he’ll increase investment in solar and renewable energy. He believes solar energy projects are critical for boosting our clean tech economy, limiting energy costs, protecting our environment, and creating thousands of jobs. ... Colin has not supported previous and current versions of the Northern Pass transmission line project over concerns that some of the remaining overland transmission towers would negatively impact New Hampshire’s tourism economy."[4]
  • On healthcare: "To support a healthier and stronger workforce and New Hampshire population, Colin will work with legislators to make the healthcare coverage recently extended to nearly 50,000 citizens permanent. ... Colin will support healthcare payment and delivery reforms to ensure that insurers and providers are paid for keeping people well, not just paid when they are sick or injured ... [and] will stop any efforts to restrict New Hampshire women’s right to choose their own health care decisions without political interference. ... As Governor, Colin will fight against monopolization of insurance and health care delivery, and will boost efforts to use price transparency to bring down medical costs."[5]
  • On gun control: "As a gun owner and hunter, Colin knows that comprehensive background checks and other common-sense gun violence prevention measures can keep New Hampshire a safe place to live while protecting the rights of responsible, law abiding gun owners."[5]
  • On medical marijuana: "Colin will work with legislators to ensure that the state’s recently-implemented medical cannabis program doesn’t restrict medically-sound usage for chronic pain conditions that are safely treated by the drug. He will support legislation that would allow New Hampshire to join every other New England state in decriminalization ... ."[5]

Campaign finance summary


Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.


Colin Van Ostern campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* U.S. House New Hampshire District 2Lost primary$1,574,893 $1,574,893
Grand total$1,574,893 $1,574,893
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

See also


External links

Footnotes


Senators
Representatives
District 1
District 2
Democratic Party (4)