Concord
Working as a spokesman for the presidential campaign of Sen. John Edwards in 2003, Van Ostern rose at 5:30 a.m. to help set up a campaign booth and an 18-wheeler float at the annual Fourth of July parade in Amherst. When his boss didn’t show, Van Ostern did the campaigning.
“I think the Amherst parade is a real New Hampshire tradition,” Van Ostern told the Concord Monitor back then. “It’s up there with the Milford Labor Day parade and the Saint Patrick’s Day parade in Manchester. I don’t think you can live in New Hampshire without stopping at one of those three.”
Van Ostern came to New Hampshire at a young age for a political job, but ended up staying, starting a family and continuing to work for campaigns and in the private sector.
Now, it’s his turn to be the candidate.
As he seeks the Democratic nomination for governor, the 37-year-old executive councilor touts his record as a businessman, rarely mentioning his work as a campaign staffer. But he also is no stranger to New Hampshire politics.
A job as Jeanne Shaheen’s 2002 campaign spokesman is what brought him to the Granite State. Throughout his career, Van Ostern worked on various political campaigns, spreading the message of John Edward, John Kerry, Annie Kuster and the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
He also started a consulting firm, went to business school at Dartmouth College and led projects at a well-known New Hampshire business — Stonyfield Yogurt — and the non-profit College for America.
Whether in politics or the private sector, Van Ostern’s colleagues describe him as a strategic thinker — always measured, calm and driven — always able to deliver on the task at hand.
“In many ways, running a political campaign is not different than selling a consumer product,” Stonyfield Yogurt CEO Gary Hirshberg said. “You have to be very strategic.”
As the sun began to set over the Hopkinton hills, Van Ostern was arriving a little late to an August campaign house party. The executive councilor from Concord slowly worked his way around the lawn, shaking hands and talking to attendees before settling into his stump speech.
As Van Ostern outlined his vision to move the state forward, he was occasionally upstaged by four goats bleating loudly behind him — about as stereotypical a New Hampshire politics scene you could get.
“I know from my 15 years here that this in fact can be the best place in the country to live and work and raise a family and grow a business,” Van Ostern told the crowd. “We have something special.”
Former New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan has seen many young political operatives come and go over the years. Van Ostern is one of the few who stayed.
“It’s not typical,” she said. “The kids, they grow up, they move on, you never see them anymore. I think he found a place that was home for him.”
Van Ostern often talks about his relationship to New Hampshire, which he characterizes as “the fierce pride of an adopted son.”
Born in California as Kevin Colin O’Loughlin, Van Ostern moved continuously when he was a child.
“For me, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, sixth grade and seventh grade were all in different schools,” Van Ostern said.
His parents divorced at a young age when the family was living in Lexington, Ky. Mom Jane remarried Gerry Van Ostern, a high-ranking official in the Catholic Diocese and the family moved again, first to Ottowa, Canada, and then again to Richmond, Va.
Colin was a sophomore at the time and had adopted his stepfather’s last name. He went by Colin Van Ostern, a shortened version of his new legal name Kevin Colin Van Ostern O’Loughlin (he officially changed it to the shortened version in 2012).
“Colin has a very calm, steady demeanor,” said Kuster, who hired Van Ostern to run her 2010 campaign. “He has a can-do attitude and he doesn’t get rattled by challenges. I feel that will be very helpful in the corner office.”
Van Ostern said he did not move to New Hampshire thinking he would stay, but “quickly put down roots in a way I didn’t know that I would.” Much of that had to do with meeting and marrying his wife, Kristyn, a lifelong New Hampshire resident.
“A lot of my love for the state is wrapped up in my love for Kristyn,” Van Ostern said. “She probably loves New Hampshire more than anyone I know.”
He credits personal experiences, including years being raised by a single parent and paying off his college loans with a credit card, for shaping his ideas on education and family issues.