The wife of a top adviser to President Biden, a couple with close ties to the Clinton family, is considering a bid for Congress this year, Democratic sources confirm to Fox News Digital.
Maggie Goodlander, a top lawyer in Biden’s administration at the Justice Department who served as a deputy assistant attorney general, currently works and lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband.
But Goodlander is mulling a full-time move back to her home state of New Hampshire to run for an open seat in the state’s Second Congressional District long held by six-term Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster, who last week announced her retirement.
The race in the blue-leaning but competitive district is expected to attract a wide field of candidates from both major parties.
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Goodlander, a New Hampshire native, married Sullivan nearly nine years ago when he was working as a foreign policy advisor to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign. The couple’s wedding, attended by prominent political figures, was a snapshot of the couple’s long history in Democratic politics.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s wife is considering a run for Congress in 2024. (Andrew Harnik)
In a photo from the pair’s wedding, Clinton and now-Secretary of State Anthony Blinken are seen posing with the couple, an indication that Goodlander could receive the support of prominent Democratic political figures in her potential congressional run.
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Sullivan worked as chief counsel for Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota before serving as an adviser on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign and later on former President Barack Obama’s general election presidential campaign.
He served as deputy chief of staff to Clinton during her years as Secretary of State in the Obama administration. After Clinton departed the administration, Sullivan became then-Vice President Biden’s top security aide.
Sullivan then served as a top adviser on Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Four years later, he was one of Biden’s first appointments following the 2020 presidential election.
“Congratulations to my friend, former Klobuchar staffer and fellow Minnesotan Jake Sullivan!” Sen. Klobuchar wrote in a post on X after Sullivan’s appointment in the Biden White House, alongside a photo of him and wife Maggie at their wedding. “I think back to this photo we took at your wedding with your wonderful wife Maggie, and I couldn’t be more proud. America is lucky to have you as our future National Security Advisor.”
While not as well known as her high-profile husband, Goodlander hails from a prominent New Hampshire family.
Her grandfather, Sam Tamposi, was a major player in state Republican politics. And her mother, Betty Tamposi, ran for the House in 1988 in the Second Congressional District but lost in the GOP primary.
Goodlander, a Yale University and Yale Law School graduate, served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and worked as an adviser to late Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
She also served as a law clerk to Attorney General Merrick Garland during his tenure as chief judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Goodlander’s potential congressional bid could draw national attention to the New Hampshire race and possibly garner high-profile endorsements.
Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire (NH-02) marches in an Independence Day parade, on July 4, 2022, in Amherst, N.H. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
In some ways, Goodlander’s story mirrors that of Kuster, the woman she’s trying to succeed in Congress. Kuster’s parents were prominent Republicans in New Hampshire, but she ran as a Democrat.
The Democratic race to replace Kuster is expected to turn competitive.
Colin Van Ostern, who worked as Kuster’s campaign manager in 2010 in her first run for Congress, and who later won two terms as a New Hampshire executive councilor before winning the 2016 Democratic gubernatorial nomination, announced his bid the day after Kuster’s retirement announcement.
State Sen. Becky Whitley this week launched an exploratory committee. And former executive councilor and 2020 gubernatorial candidate Andru Volinsky is also mulling a bid.
While Van Ostern is likely to land a good deal of Granite State support, Goodlander’s entry into the race would likely quickly shift the landscape.
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“I mean, it’s pretty rare to have someone of this caliber who is 37, with pretty unimpeachable roots in the district, a vast national network, and a demonstrable bipartisan record, who isn’t already an elected official. It would be a really exciting dynamic in one of the nation’s top congressional races,” a veteran Democratic operative with plenty of experience in New Hampshire politics told Fox News.
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