After weeks of speculation, multiple sources tell NHJournal that Nashua native Maggie Goodlander, wife of President Biden’s National Security Advisor and a Beltway political insider, is preparing to enter the Second Congressional District Democratic primary.
Two Democrats actively involved in New Hampshire politics say they’ve heard from both local and Washington, D.C. sources that the 37-year-old Goodlander is very likely to join Colin Van Ostern and state Sen. Becky Whitley in the race.
NBC News reported late Tuesday that Goodlander “is on the verge of launching a primary campaign.” They quoted her advisor, Democratic operative Scott Merrick, who said a decision is coming soon.
“Maggie is thankful for the encouragement she’s received from Granite Staters and will be making a decision in the coming days,” Merrick said.
One person who says it can’t happen soon enough is longtime grassroots Democrat operative Bob Friedlander, Jr. of Concord. He’s the founder of New Hampshire Healthcare Workers for Climate Action, and he’s been involved in many Democratic campaigns.
His latest project is contacting Granite State Democrats and urging them to get on board with Goodlander.
“Over the past 20 years, I have led grassroots organizing efforts of the NH healthcare community for many gubernatorial and presidential campaigns. I have not been this excited about a candidate for a long time,” Goodlander wrote in an email sent to influential Second District Democrats and obtained by NHJournal.
“Maggie’s unparalleled, high-level and diverse experience in DC will be a tremendous asset for her and for NH, especially these days given the complex environment that exists there. She knows NH, she knows DC, and she knows how to get things done,” Friedlander wrote, “I believe she is uniquely qualified to become a leader in the Congress, and to do this with authenticity and humility.”
He also thinks the party should pick a woman to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster — even if she doesn’t.
“With all due respect to my old friend Annie, I don’t agree with her opinion that Colin [Van Ostern] is most likely to hold her seat, and I strongly believe we need a woman who among other things can speak about reproductive freedom, and engage other women, in ways that no male politician can.”
Goodlander was an advisor for national security and foreign affairs to moderate Democratic U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman. She also served as a staffer on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Most recently she served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Antitrust Division.
Political pros say Goodlander faces several obstacles in a Granite State primary, not the least of which is that she’s been in D.C. for years and is part of the Beltway establishment. (Bill and Hillary Clinton attended her 2015 wedding.)
She also doesn’t live in the district — she and her husband, Jake Sullivan, own a house in Portsmouth — and according to media reports, “the last time Goodlander voted in the district was by absentee ballot for the 2008 presidential primary and general elections.”
Progressive Granite State activists who supported candidates like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Andru Volinsky in the past had been hoping a candidate from the left wing of the party would emerge. They argue that much of the Second Congressional District is “Bernie Country.”
“Great, another pro-Israel candidate, just what we need,” one Democratic political operative told NHJournal. While Goodlander’s positions on issues like the Israel-Hamas war are unknown, her husband’s role in making Biden foreign policy is all but certain to be one focus of a Democratic primary.
Supporters note she comes from Nashua’s politically influential Tamposi family, and there isn’t a Nashua candidate in the race yet. Her mother, Betty Tamposi, served in the George H. W. Bush administration and ran in the Second District GOP primary in 1988.
Friedlander isn’t worried.
“Maggie is inspiring lots of excitement, positive energy and optimism about her upcoming candidacy, as well as hope, I might add. Stay tuned for a very energetic campaign!”
