According to the Portsmouth Herald, UNH’s Law School commencement speaker this Friday will be President Joe Biden’s national security advisor and “Portsmouth resident” Jake Sullivan.
Why is “Portsmouth resident” relevant? Because it’s in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, while his wife, Democrat Rep. Maggie Goodlander, represents the 2nd District.
And while there’s no legal requirement for a member of Congress to live in the district she represents, that arrangement would be less than ideal for Goodlander, who already carries carpetbagger issues.
Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden, and Maggie Goodlander
During her first-ever political campaign last year, Goodlander — who hadn’t lived in the 2nd District since the George W. Bush administration — acknowledged she didn’t rent her Nashua residence until she got into the race.
Asked about the odd optics of moving into a district in order to run for office, Goodlander retorted, “I am a renter, and there should be more renters in Congress.”
Goodlander’s Nashua address is where she and her husband are registered to vote. But is that where they live?
The couple, who both worked for the Biden administration, still own a home in Washington, D.C., as well as a $2.2 million, three-bedroom house with harbor views in Portsmouth. It’s not hard to see how a multi-million-dollar manse on the Seacoast might be the preferable domicile.
When NHJournal asked Goodlander about the Portsmouth Herald report and for clarification regarding where she actually lives, she declined to answer.
So, does it matter?
“Nobody believes either of them really lives in that Nashua apartment,” said Rep. Katherine Prudhomme O’Brien (R-Derry).
Perhaps not. But while there is no law requiring a member of Congress to live in the district she represents, there are laws requiring Granite Staters to vote where they actually reside, not where they have signed a lease or own property. If Goodlander and Sullivan are actually living in Portsmouth but voting in Nashua, it’s theoretically possible they could run afoul of state law.
As for the politics, Granite Staters have made it clear they don’t care about the “carpetbagger” issue.
Goodlander moved to New Hampshire just last year and promptly defeated longtime down-home Democrat Colin Van Ostern in the 2nd District Democratic primary. Republican Scott Brown was a U.S. senator representing a different state just two years before he narrowly lost to incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in 2014.
And Shaheen is a native of Missouri who attended college in Mississippi before coming to New Hampshire to campaign for Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter. Now she’s a Granite State political institution.
To Seacoast resident and former NHGOP state party chair Fergus Cullen, the residency question is a nothingburger.
“I don’t think anyone thinks she really lives in Nashua, but she has legit roots there, and that checks the box,” Cullen said.
“The issue of Maggie’s residence didn’t matter to 2nd District Democratic primary voters last year, and it’s not going to matter now.”
The current New Hampshire GOP chair, Jim MacEachern, doesn’t agree.
“Maggie Goodlander is another Democrat D.C. elite sent here to rubber-stamp every tax increase and government spending increase Democrats want. She thinks she can outsmart voters and hide away, but she will be sadly mistaken next November.”
The carpetbagger issue may get another campaign curtain call in 2026. One-time Granite State resident Hanna Trudo, who’s spent the past few years as a political reporter in Washington, has moved back to New Hampshire and is talking about running in the 1st Congressional District.
The one announced Democrat, Maura Sullivan, was actively shopping for a congressional district in 2018 — including in Virginia and Illinois — before she decided to move to New Hampshire and run in a primary against Chris Pappas.
Cullen shrugs off the carpetbagger talk, particularly for Goodlander and Sullivan.
“Jake is a really smart, really talented, really accomplished person, and we’re lucky he lives in New Hampshire at all. He’s also a private citizen who can live wherever he wants. He was recently ‘between jobs.’ I don’t think it’s unexpected that his personal domicile might be a little fluid for a while,” Cullen said.
“There’s no law that says a husband and wife have to live in the same place, especially when one commutes to another city for work. How many nights they spend under the same roof, and which roof, is between them.”
