Democratic ex-White House aide Maggie Goodlander is running for Congress in New Hampshire

CONCORD, N.H. — Democrat Maggie Goodlander, a former senior White House aide with deep political connections, announced Thursday that she is running for Congress in her home state of New Hampshire.

Goodlander, who is married to President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan, is the third Democrat to enter the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, a fellow Democrat who announced in March that she would not seek a seventh term in office the state would pursue. 2nd Congressional District. At least five Republicans have also announced their candidacies to represent the district, which stretches along the western half of the state and includes Concord and Nashua.

Goodlander, 37, grew up in Nashua and recently moved back from Washington, where she worked at the Justice Department as a top antitrust official and as counsel to Attorney General Merrick Garland before moving to White House chief of staff earlier this year. Previously, she was an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve and taught constitutional law at the University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth College.

“Right-wing judges, extreme politicians and big corporations all have too much power,” she said in a campaign announcement video released Thursday. “I’m ready to take on these bullies. That’s why I’m running for Congress.”

The video shows Goodlander’s mother, Betty Tamposi, who lost the 1988 Republican Party primary for the seat.

Goodlander, born on Election Day in 1986 after her parents stopped to vote on the way to the hospital, described her own efforts to start a family. She said she lost a baby almost 20 weeks into her pregnancy last year and the experience strengthened her determination to fight for reproductive rights.

The White House confirmed Thursday that Goodlander is no longer employed there. Her husband, Sullivan, will comply with federal law that bars government employees from using their jobs for political purposes, said a White House official, who was not authorized to speak on the record and insisted on anonymity.

Colin Van Ostern, a former member of the governor’s Executive Council, and Sen. Becky Whitley are also running in the September 10 Democratic primary. Republican candidates include Lily Tang Williams, who previously sought the Republican nomination, and Vikram Mansharamani, who ran for U.S. Senate in 2022.

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Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.