Maggie Goodlander Bio
Margaret Vivian Goodlander, known as Maggie Goodlander, is an American politician, lawyer, and former naval officer who has represented New Hampshire’s 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican Lily Tang Williams in the 2024 general election to succeed retiring Representative Annie Kuster. Goodlander is also known for her eleven-year service in the U.S. Navy Reserve and her senior advisory roles in the Biden administration.
Before entering Congress, Goodlander built a career across law, intelligence, and national security. She served as a foreign policy advisor in the U.S. Senate, clerked for Chief Judge Merrick Garland and Justice Stephen Breyer, and held senior positions at the Department of Justice and the White House. She is married to Jake Sullivan, who served as U.S. national security advisor under President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2025.
Early Life and Background
Margaret Vivian Goodlander was born on November 4, 1986, in Nashua, New Hampshire, where she was raised. She comes from the well-known Tamposi family, a prominent political household in New Hampshire. Her mother, Betty Tamposi, was a Republican member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives and later served as Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs under President George H. W. Bush. Her grandfather, Samuel Tamposi, was a Republican real estate developer who partially owned the Boston Red Sox.
Goodlander attended the Groton School, a private boarding school in Massachusetts, graduating in 2005. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in history from Yale College in 2009. As an undergraduate, she worked as a research fellow in Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, and Libya, experiences that helped shape her interest in foreign policy. She later returned to Yale for law school.
Goodlander earned her Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2016, completing her formal education in New Haven. While at Yale, she became a member of the Scroll and Key senior society, a long-standing campus tradition. Her academic record and international research helped open the door to clerkships and government service in the years that followed.
Path to U.S. Politics
Goodlander’s path to politics began in the U.S. Senate, where she served as a senior foreign policy advisor to Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain. In that role, she worked on national security and foreign policy issues during a turbulent period in the Middle East. Her Senate experience gave her a working knowledge of legislative work and a strong network across both parties.
Alongside her Senate work, Goodlander served as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve for eleven years, eventually reaching the rank of lieutenant. That service gave her a parallel career in national security that informed her later legal and policy work. After law school, she clerked for Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and then for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
In 2019, Goodlander joined the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom as an associate. She soon moved to Capitol Hill, serving as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment of Donald Trump, where she co-authored a 55-page report outlining the constitutional grounds for impeachment. She later worked as counsel to Co-Equal, an organization that advocates for stronger congressional support of federal research and policy agencies, and taught constitutional law at the University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth College from 2019 to 2021.
Maggie Goodlander Career
Early Career (2009–2019)
After graduating from Yale College in 2009, Goodlander joined the U.S. Senate as a senior foreign policy advisor for Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain. Her portfolio focused on international affairs and national security, areas that would shape her later career. She balanced this work with her service as a U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence officer, building experience in both civilian and military government.
Following law school, Goodlander clerked for Chief Judge Merrick Garland from 2016 to 2017 and for Justice Stephen Breyer from 2017 to 2018. These clerkships placed her at the center of major federal appellate and Supreme Court work. In 2019, she joined the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom as an associate, sharpening her legal practice in private practice.
Congressional and Executive Branch Breakthrough (2019–2024)
Goodlander’s career shifted in 2019 when she became counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment of Donald Trump. She played a leading role in drafting the committee’s 55-page report laying out the constitutional case for impeachment. After the Senate acquitted Trump in February 2020, she joined Co-Equal, an organization focused on strengthening Congress’s policy and research support.
In January 2021, Goodlander returned to government as counselor to Attorney General Merrick Garland at the U.S. Department of Justice. She later became a deputy assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division, a position she held from September 12, 2022, to February 23, 2024, overseeing international, appellate, and policy work. She then served briefly as a White House senior advisor, leading the Biden administration’s Unity Agenda for the Nation before launching her congressional campaign.
U.S. House of Representatives Era (2025–Present)
On May 9, 2024, Goodlander announced her candidacy in the Democratic primary for New Hampshire’s 2nd congressional district. She won the primary against Colin Van Ostern, a former New Hampshire Executive Councilor endorsed by retiring Representative Annie Kuster, taking 63.8 percent of the vote. In the November 2024 general election, she defeated Republican Lily Tang Williams 52.9 percent to 47.1 percent.
Goodlander assumed office on January 3, 2025, becoming the U.S. representative for New Hampshire’s 2nd congressional district. In April 2025, she announced that she would not pursue a 2026 Senate run despite earlier interest in the race. In November 2025, she joined five other Democratic lawmakers in a video telling servicemembers they can refuse illegal orders, a message that drew national attention.
Notable Events and Milestones
One of the most significant moments of Goodlander’s early tenure came in November 2025, when she was part of a six-member Democratic group featured in a video affirming that servicemembers may refuse illegal orders. President Trump responded on social media by calling the lawmakers traitors and sharing a post calling for them to be hanged, intensifying the political stakes for the group. Earlier in her career, her work on the House Judiciary Committee report during the first impeachment of Donald Trump marked her arrival as a leading legal figure on Capitol Hill.
Maggie Goodlander Family
Family Background and Political Lineage
Goodlander comes from one of New Hampshire’s most prominent political families, the Tamposi family. Her mother, Betty Tamposi, was a Republican member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives and later served as Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs under President George H. W. Bush. Betty Tamposi ran for New Hampshire’s 2nd congressional district in 1988 as a Republican but lost the primary to Chuck Douglas, who argued it was inappropriate for a mother of young children to hold political office. Goodlander’s grandfather, Samuel Tamposi, was a Republican real estate developer who partially owned the Boston Red Sox.
Personal Life
Goodlander married Jake Sullivan, who served as U.S. national security advisor under President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2025, on June 6, 2015, in New Haven, Connecticut. The couple met at the Munich Security Conference during the Obama administration, when Goodlander worked for Senator Joe Lieberman and Sullivan advised Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They rent a home in Nashua, New Hampshire, and also own a home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Goodlander has spoken publicly about a pregnancy loss in late 2022, an experience that inspired her advocacy for abortion rights.