It’s a rematch. Rep. Maggie Goodlander faces Lily Tang Williams again. Here is where each of them stands on the issues.
The 2nd District covers the western and northern two-thirds of the state, from Nashua up through the Monadnock region, the Upper Valley and the North Country. It is the larger of New Hampshire’s two House districts and the more rural.
This November is a rerun of 2024, when Goodlander won by about six points.
The candidates
MAGGIE GOODLANDER, Democrat, has held the seat since 2025. She grew up in New Hampshire, and before Congress she worked at the US Justice Department on antitrust law, which covers monopolies and corporate concentration. She won her primary on Sept. 8 over state Rep. Paige Beauchemin, who ran to her left.
LILY TANG WILLIAMS, Republican, lives in Weare. She grew up in Chengdu, China, during the Cultural Revolution, emigrated to the United States in 1988 and became a citizen in 1995. She and her husband run a rental property company operating in four states.
Most of her political career happened somewhere else. She started out a Republican, left the party over the Patriot Act and the bank bailouts, and became a Libertarian. In Colorado, she ran for the state House as a Libertarian in 2014, took over as chair of the Libertarian Party of Colorado in 2015, and ran for US Senate as the Libertarian nominee in 2016.
That same year, she visited New Hampshire for the first time and signed the Free State Project pledge, a commitment to move here and advance liberty in the state. The Free State Project is an organized effort to concentrate libertarians in New Hampshire in order to grow their political and cultural influence. She moved to the state in 2019, and members of the group helped unload her truck. She switched her registration back to Republican the same year and has since helped rebuild her local Republican committee.
She does not run from any of this. Asked about the pledge while filing to run this year, she said she would not “run away from having been a member” of the Free State Project, and that the state’s Live Free or Die motto is what drew her here. She says she has not been an active member since moving, though she speaks at the group’s invitation and attends its twice-yearly events.
This is her third run for this seat. She lost the primary in 2022, won the nomination in 2024 and lost to Goodlander by about six points, and won this year’s Republican primary with about 65% of the vote.
Immigration
MAGGIE GOODLANDER was among the earliest and loudest opponents of the proposed immigrant detention facility in Merrimack, which she has fought since it became public in December 2025. She has called for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be removed or impeached, and cosponsored legislation to redirect billions from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to local police departments.
LILY TANG WILLIAMS opposes abolishing ICEand supports federal immigration enforcement, arguing at a debate that officers are doing the job they are asked to do.
What else to know
MAGGIE GOODLANDER is defending the seat for the first time, having won it in 2024 with 52%, 211,641 votes to 187,810.
LILY TANG WILLIAMS has improved her vote share every time she has run, and points out she took 47% of the vote in a traditionally Democratic district in 2024 without buying a single television ad. She has distanced herself from President Trump more this cycle than in 2024, and centers her campaign on her personal story, describing herself as the embodiment of the American dream.
Where the race stands
Cook Political Report moved this district from “Likely Democratic” to “Safe Democratic” in July.
That makes it the least competitive of New Hampshire’s federal races by current forecasts, though Williams has gained ground in each of her campaigns.
How to vote
The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. You can check your registration and find your polling place through the Secretary of State’s office at app.sos.nh.gov.
