Robert Reynolds Cushing Jr. (July 20, 1952 – March 7, 2022) was an American politician who was a member of the

New Hampshire House of Representatives The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...

as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

from the town of

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region *Hampton, Victoria Canada *Hampton, New Brunswick *Hamp ...

. First elected in 1996, Cushing represented Rockingham District 21. He served nine non-consecutive terms (previously representing Rockingham Districts 14, 15 and 22).

Early life and education

Cushing was born in

Portsmouth, New Hampshire Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmou ...

, to Robert R. Cushing Sr and Marie (Mulcahy) Cushing. At the age of 15, he spoke at the State House and argued in favor of lowering the voting age from 21 to 18. He moved to Hampton, New Hampshire with his family and graduated from

Winnacunnet High School Winnacunnet High School is an American public high school in Hampton, New Hampshire. It serves students in grades 9 through 12 who live in Hampton, Seabrook, North Hampton, South Hampton, and Hampton Falls. Students from South Hampton attend ei ...

in Hampton. He also later served as the elected moderator of the Winnacunnet School District from 1993. He briefly attended

Granite State College Granite State College was a public college in Concord, New Hampshire. It was part of the University System of New Hampshire. In 2023, it merged into the University of New Hampshire as the University of New Hampshire at Manchester, College of Pro ...

, before dropping out and working a number of miscellaneous jobs across the US as well as Canada, including as a sanitation worker, a miner, and a farmworker. He then settled back in New Hampshire and took up welding and carpentry.

Political career

Cushing's first foray into civic engagement was in the 1970s, when he was involved with the

Clamshell Alliance The Clamshell Alliance is an anti-nuclear organization founded in 1976 to oppose the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The alliance has been dormant for many years. The group was co-founded by Paul Gunter, ...

, an anti-nuclear coalition that opposed construction of the

Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant The Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, more commonly known as Seabrook Station, is a nuclear power plant located in Seabrook, New Hampshire, United States, approximately north of Boston and south of Portsmouth. It has operated since 1990. With its ...

in nearby

Seabrook, New Hampshire Seabrook is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 8,401 at the 2020 census. Located at the southern end of the coast of New Hampshire on the border with Massachusetts, Seabrook is noted as the location of th ...

. In June 1988, Cushing's father was murdered by a disgruntled off-duty policeman in his own house. He became involved with the trial of his father’s murderer and began advocating to abolish

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. In 1998, he became executive director of Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation. During the 2019–20 legislative session, Cushing led the effort in the

New Hampshire General Court The General Court of New Hampshire is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The lower house is the New Hampshire House of Representatives with 400 members. The upper house is the New Hampshire Senate with 24 membe ...

to approve legislation abolishing the death penalty, including successful votes in the House and Senate to override Governor

Chris Sununu Christopher Thomas Sununu ( ; born November 5, 1974) is an American politician and engineer who has served as the 82nd governor of New Hampshire since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Sununu was a member of the New Hampshire Executive Co ...

's veto. On November 19, 2020, the New Hampshire House Democrats chose Cushing to lead them during the 2021–22 legislative session of the General Court.

Health and death

Cushing was diagnosed with stage four

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

in 2020. He took a leave of absence as Democratic leader for health reasons on March 2, 2022, and died from the disease and complications of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

at his home in

Hampton, New Hampshire Hampton is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 16,214 at the 2020 census. On the Atlantic Ocean coast, Hampton is home to Hampton Beach, a summer tourist destination. The densely populated central part ...

, five days later, on March 7, at the age of 69. He was survived by his wife Kristie Conrad, whom he married in 1989, as well as his three daughters: Marie Ellen, Elizabeth Agnes and Grace Bridget Cushing.

References

External links

Government website
1952 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians Deaths from cancer in New Hampshire Deaths from prostate cancer Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in New Hampshire School board members in New Hampshire Democratic Party members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives People from Hampton, New Hampshire Politicians from Portsmouth, New Hampshire {{NewHampshire-politician-stub