WEST LEBANON — Former senior White House aide Maggie Goodlander is one of two Democrats seeking the party’s nomination for the 2nd Congressional District seat held for more than a decade by Democrat Annie Kuster, who is not seeking another term.

The state primary is set for Sept. 10.

Goodlander, 37, holds undergraduate and law degrees from Yale University.  She clerked  U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and served for 11 years as an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve. More recently, Goodlander was a deputy assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice and held a senior post in the Biden administration. 

During a meeting with the Valley News editorial board on Monday, Goodlander addressed her views on the role of Congress in checking the power of the Supreme Court, her excitement about Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, and the unique challenges of representing a part of the state as large and diverse as the 2nd District.

“I like to think that being born and raised here, having this be the place that made me who I am gave me a granite backbone and also an enduring quality which is that I have never been immune to reason. I’ve never been immune to facts,” she said.

Goodlander grew up in Nashua before leaving home to attend college. She and her husband, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, purchased a home in Portsmouth in 2018, when she was an adjunct  professor at Dartmouth College and the University of New Hampshire.

Goodlander’s lengthy career in Washington that kept her out of the Granite State has led some people to label her as a “carpetbagger” – a term she referred to in her case as “pernicious political opportunism.”

“This is where I grew up,” she said. “I left home to serve our country in the Naval Reserve. I was proud to be part of the team to impeach Donald Trump. I think I bring a deep knowledge of the state.” 

Speaking about the threat to the rule of law posed by a potential Trump victory in November, Goodlander called Project 2025, a plan for aligning American politics with extreme right-wing ideologies, a “bone-chilling 900-page document.”

“We were spared by inexperience and ineptitude in the first Trump administration and we will not have that this time around,” she said.

In the primary race, Goodlander is leading former Executive Councilor and Concord-based businessman Colin Van Ostern, by 22 percentage points in a July 9 poll by Public Policy Polling. That poll was sponsored by the Principled Veterans Fund, a super PAC that supports Goodlander.

 She has raised $1.6 million so far, compared to Van Ostern’s $1.1 million, according to the Federal Election Commission’s most recent report.

Van Ostern has the endorsement of Kuster, for whom he worked as campaign manager in 2010.

Goodlander did not pull punches in discussing her opponent’s lack of experience in Washington. “I think we need people who are ready to work on day one. There is no time for a learning curve,” she said.

Referring to Van Ostern’s political background, she said, “legislating is a different sport from approving contracts at the Executive Council.”

Acknowledging the challenges involved in governing a district of some 6,000 square miles and “communities within communities,” Goodlander recalled a campaign visit to the northern part of the state, where a resident referred to Nashua as “Dixie.” The remark exemplified physical and cultural differences between far-flung parts of the state, she said.

Nonetheless, “Dixie and Dixville Notch do have common interests,” she said.

Like Van Ostern, she sees housing, health care and education as among the most important issues to New Hampshire voters throughout the state.

Goodlander argues that Democrats can win cities like Claremont, which used to be a Democratic stronghold, but went for Trump in 2016, and narrowly for Biden in 2020, “by showing that government can actually work for them.”

 Confronting the economic forces bearing down on the working and middle classes such as high rent and mortgage costs, and inadequate wages requires more than “telling people to get another job,” she said.

“Capitalism without real competition isn’t capitalism, it’s exploitation,” she said.

Asked about an incident in the Upper Valley — the arrests of 89 people at a peaceful pro-Palestinian protest on the Dartmouth Green in May — Goodlander said “it’s hard for me to imagine how a special ops law enforcement unit would ever be appropriate in the event of peaceful protests.”

In national politics, Goodlander praised President Biden as a “true patriot,” after he announced earlier this week that he no longer seek reelection. “He has always put country first,” she said, and his decision “was a testament to that tradition.”

Goodlander expressed confidence in Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances of defeating Trump in November,  in spite of her unsuccessful attempt to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

In the last election, “14 million people voted for a ballot with her name on it,” Goodlander said. “I know she is going to be a tremendous candidate and I’m proud to see a woman on the ballot.”

“I think we have a candidate who can win,” she added.

Goodlander wants Congress to bring coherence to how laws are enforced at the state and national levels, and she pushed back against what she sees as the abdication of its authority to balance the power of the Supreme Court.

“Congress has an essential and central role to play in checking the power of the court,” she said. The constitution does not guarantee lifetime tenure on the country’s highest court, she said, and “the idea that Congress cannot impose a binding code of conduct and ethics on the Supreme Court is nonsense.”

The fight for reproductive rights must start in Congress, in part by improving gender equity among its membership, Goodlander said.

“Right now we need people who have skin in the game,” she said. “I think representation matters. We’ve got less than 30% women in the people’s house, and it shows. And so that’s what brings me to this race.”

A former adjunct professor of constitutional and administrative law, Goodlander is at home in the details of lawmaking, and believes in the power of Congress to work for the common good. “We need more people who are willing to be workhorses, not showhorses, especially when we’ve got the most important rights on the line,” she said.

Party primary races are often short on significant differences between candidates’ stances on major issues. On foreign policy, Goodlander and Van Ostern favor a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict following an end to the current war in Gaza.

On tariffs, particularly on China, Goodlander pointed to the link between policies in Beijing and overdose deaths in New Hampshire from Chinese-produced fentanyl. “Sanctions can save lives in New Hampshire,” she aid.

Much of Goodlander’s legal and political career has focused on anti-trust work as part of a larger effort to foster economic fairness. “Our anti-monopoly laws haven’t been updated in more than a century,” she said, and that is an area where she hopes that Congress will play a greater role.

Both Goodlander and Van Ostern agree that the U.S. came late to the regulation of tech companies.

Goodlander did not directly answer a question about whether she would have voted in favor of the recent TikTok bill, which requires the social media giant’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest from TikTok or face a ban in the U.S.

However, she does hold that big social media companies “have been allowed to roam free without any guardrails or accountability,” regardless of their nationality. American companies, too, need to be checked, she added.

“I believe in Congress. I believe in what the House of Representatives — the people’s house — can do for the people of New Hampshire,” Goodlander said.

Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vnews.com or 603-727-3208.

 CORRECTION: Maggie Goodlander led Colin Van Ostern by 22 percentage points in a July 9 poll conducted by Public Policy Polling. That poll was sponsored by the Principled Veterans Fund, a super PAC that supports Goodlander. A previous version of this story included an incorrect name for the polling firm.