Introduction
Katrina Swett (born October 8, 1955) is an American educator and the former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 2012 to 2013, and then in 2014 to 2015. She ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic candidate for Congress in New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district during the 2002 United States midterm elections.
Early life, education and career
Swett is a second-generation American. Her father, the late congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA), a Holocaust survivor, and her mother, Annette Tillemann Lantos, came to the United States from Hungary after World War II. Katrina Swett has a sister, Annette.
She skipped high school, entered college at 14, and transferred to Yale where her older sister Annette was a student. She earned a degree in Political Science there in 1974 at 18, and her Juris Doctor in 1976 from the University of California, Hastings College of Law. At 21, she joined the staff of then U.S. Senator Joseph Biden, Jr.'s Senate Judiciary Committee. In 2006 she earned her Ph.D. in History with a focus on Human Rights and United States Foreign Policy from the University of Southern Denmark.
She is the wife of Ambassador and former Congressman Richard Swett and daughter of the late Congressman Tom Lantos, vice president of Swett Associates, Inc., a consulting firm. Swett met Richard Swett at Yale, where she became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, largely through her interactions with Jeffrey R. Holland. Katrina and Richard married in 1980 They have seven children and live in Bow, New Hampshire.
In 2009 she was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary for her efforts in setting up the Tom Lantos Institute in Budapest, continuing her late father's work for the benefit of ethnic minorities there. In 2016 in the company of more than 100 other recipients of Hungarian state awards, Swett returned the Knight's Cross in protest of the Hungarian government's commendation of Zsolt Bayer, a writer, publisher, public speaker, and member of the Fidesz party for his retoric, what she considers antisemitic, anti-Muslim, and antiziganist.
Political career
Swett ran two of her father's campaigns for Congress. She was a Congressional staffer, first as a legislative assistant and then as Deputy Counsel to the Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
She co-hosted a political talk show, "Beyond Politics" on WMUR-TV Channel 9 with former Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Tamposi. She ran in 2002 against Republican incumbent U.S. Representative Charles Bass and received less than 41% of vote, losing by 16%.
Swett was national co-chair of Joe Lieberman's 2004 presidential race. She accused General Wesley Clark of apostasy on the AUMF in the Iraq War of 2003, and for having linked Al-Qaeda with Iraq. In 2006, she supported Lieberman's successful 2006 re-election campaign as an Independent against Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican nominee Alan Schlesinger.
2002 U.S. House of Representatives campaign
She ran for Congress in 2002, trying unsuccessfully to recapture the seat previously held by her husband. General Wesley Clark endorsed her; he had known the Swetts he was SACEUR and they lived in Denmark. She received financial support from her parents, Nancy Pelosi, John and Lisa Pritzker, a San Francisco Supervisor and her husband, Warren Hellman, Mr & Mrs Herbert Sandler, Steven Spielberg, Kate Capshaw, David Geffen, and other well known Californians.
2008 U.S. Senate campaign
On January 18, 2007, Katrina Swett announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate in the 2008 elections in New Hampshire, in hopes of being the Democratic nominee to unseat incumbent Republican John E. Sununu. She began fundraising for the 2008 Senate campaign. After former Governor and 2002 nominee Jeanne Shaheen announced her candidacy, Swett withdrew and endorsed Shaheen, who went on to win the election.
2010 U.S. House of Representatives campaign
On January 14, 2010, Katrina Swett announced her candidacy for the Democratic Primary for Congress in New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district in the 2010 elections. Her more left leaning opponent, Ann McLane Kuster, won the primary election, but Kuster lost in the general election to her Republican opponent, Charles Bass.
Ann Kuster did go on to win the general election in the 2012 U.S. House of Representatives campaign.