Maggie Goodlander, former deputy assistant U.S. attorney general, at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., on Monday, March 27, 2023. (Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Maggie is thankful for the encouragement she’s received from Granite Staters and will be making a decision in the coming days," Scott Merrick, a Democratic operative and veteran of multiple Democratic campaigns in New Hampshire, told Fox News.
Goodlander, if she runs as expected, could face plenty of scrutiny over Biden administration polices – both domestic and international – over her ties to Republicans and over her residency. Goodlander's congressional campaign would also likely draw national attention to the New Hampshire race and possibly garner high-profile endorsements.
Goodland 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 including Clinton, now-Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, was a snapshot of the couple's long history in Democratic politics.
TOP BIDEN ADVISER'S WIFE MULLING CONGRESSIONAL BID
Sullivan worked as Klobuchar's chief counsel before serving as an adviser on Clinton's 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign and later on former President 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 Joe Biden's top security aide.
Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire (NH-02) marches in an Independence Day parade on July 4, 2022 in Amherst, New Hampshire. (Fox News - Paul Steinhauser)
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 Sens. 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.
TOP BIDEN ADVISER'S WIFE MULLING CONGRESSIONAL BID
Goodlander would join a Democratic primary field that includes 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.
Van Ostern announced his bid the day after Kuster's retirement announcement and was endorsed by the incumbent a couple of weeks later.
While Van Ostern has landed a good deal of Granite State support, Goodlander's entry into the race could potentially shift the landscape.
"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 in New Hampshire who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely told Fox News.
State Sen. Becky Whitley, a progressive Democrat, is also running to succeed Kuster.
A handful of Republicans, including 2022 Senate candidate Vikram Mansharamani and Lily Tang Williams, who is making her second straight bid for the congressional nomination, are running.
Goodlander and Sullivan spend much of their time in the nation’s capital due to work, but they own a home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
While the port city on the New Hampshire Seacoast is located in the state’s First Congressional District, the geography would not prevent Goodlander from running in the Second District. The U.S. Constitution only mandates that a candidate must reside in the state in which they are running in, not the specific congressional district.
The most recent high-profile example of a Democratic congressional candidate in New Hampshire campaigning in a district outside their residence was six years ago, when Levi Sanders – the son of Sen. Bernie Sanders – ran in the First District even though he lived in the Second District.
While Goodland grew up in the Second District, records reviewed by Fox News Digital show that the last time Goodlander voted there was by absentee ballot for the 2008 presidential primary and general elections.
Goodlander registered in New Hampshire's First District in 2016.
Fox News' Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.
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