NASHUA, NH – The primary election for the New Hampshire 2nd Congressional district is approaching fast. On September 9th three Democratic and eight Republican candidates will compete for one of the 44 open house seats in the 2024 election cycle.
The candidates are competing to replace Congresswoman Anne McLane-Kuster who announced in March that she would not seek re-election for Congress in the seat she has held since 2013. New Hampshire only has two seats in the US House of Representatives. Incumbent Congressman Chris Pappas is seeking re-election in the NH 1st district.
In May Nashua native Maggie Tamposi-Goodlander entered the race after stepping down from her position as Deputy Attorney General in the Biden Administration. She is the last to enter the three-way Democratic party primary race, facing challengers former state Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern and NH State Senator Becky Whitley.
Goodlander’s interest in public service and politics seems preordained, a natural destiny given her birth story. At the time her mother, Betty Tamposi, was a member of the NH House of Representatives.
“I was born on Election Day. My mother was in the statehouse at the time. When she went into labor, she went directly to the polling place to vote before she went to Saint Joe’s,” Goodlander said. The events of that day may have cemented Maggie’s connection to electoral politics.
Growing up in a New Hampshire household with a family involved in politics she learned from an early age to get involved and get informed about issues. Conversations about public policy and political philosophy were the norm around the kitchen table. As she states in a “culture of robust but respectful disagreement.”
A Yale-educated lawyer, Goodlander’s resume reflects her commitment to public service. It includes being staff on the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court, 10 uears as intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve, Constitutional Law teacher at UNH and Dartmouth, and counsel in the first impeachment trial of former President Trump.
“I was really proud to be part of the team of lawyers who impeached Donald Trump the first time. I was proud of that because I believe no politician is above the law,” she said.
After the Biden election, she moved to the Department of Justice as Deputy Attorney General taking on corporate monopolies. She last served as a senior advisor at the White House where she led President Bidens’s Unity Agenda working on solutions for the five big challenges of beating the opioid epidemic, tackling the mental health crisis, holding Big Tech accountable, meeting our obligation to veterans and ending cancer as we know it.
She confidently expresses that those experiences have prepared her well for Congress and distinguish her as a candidate.
“I have worked in all three branches of government, I served in the Navy. I understand how government works at a very granular level and I also served at the highest levels of each branch of our government. The White House, the Supreme Court, and both houses of Congress. I have dedicated my life to Government service on issues that matter to the voters here deeply,” Goodlander said.
That work also informs her motivations for running, her concerns with consumer protection, and the looming threat to our democracy.
“That’s what I have done all of my adult life. I’ve gotten involved, I love this state, and I love this country, but what I see happening around this country is really concerning. The rise of extremism and the extremists in legislatures and on courts and also big corporations carrying an extremist agenda,” Goodlander said.
“Big corporations are making life harder for hard-working people. I have dedicated my life to these fights and I want to bring them to the house because I believe I can represent the people of this district well on day one,” she said.
As she campaigns across the state she hears voter concerns about the cost of living, the shifts in our political discourse, the encroaching technology in our lives and, ultimately, freedom.
“Freedom is a through line of the issues I hear about, whether it’s economic freedom, whether it’s the freedom that is the heart of our democracy. Reproductive freedom comes up in every conversation with voters,” she said.
“Roe vs. Wade protected the most fundamental right for women and I was at the Justice Department the day that decision was overturned and what I saw was chaos ensue across the country,” Goodlander said. “The injustices that have been inflicted on women across the country are not unthinkable anymore.”
A lawyer by training but an advocate at heart she is passionate about representing the citizens of New Hampshire. Her career has brought her far from her hometown where her family roots go back more than a century. She is a proud Nashua native and is happy to boast about the Gate City.
“The year I was born, was 1986. Nashua was rated the number one city in America and got that honor again in ’96. This is the best city in the United States and it‘s the largest city in the 2nd Congressional District. The 2nd district is more than 6,000 square miles and it has been a long time that someone from Nashua ran for this seat. This city is really the heart of the district and I would be so proud to represent this city in Congress.”
Look out for her on the campaign trail.
On the web: Maggie4NH.com