Colin Van Ostern’s latest campaign literature lists four reasons why Maggie Goodlander’s candidacy is “troubling.” They are: One, she gave thousands of dollars to pro-life candidates; two, she was a senior advisor to an anti-abortion Republican senator; three, she is backed by a Washington super Pac; and four, she rents an apartment in the district but hasn’t lived there since 2008. He urges us to “check the facts.” So I did. She gave $2,000 to a classmate and military veteran running in North Carolina for the Mark Meadows’ House seat. She was briefly a foreign policy advisor to John McCain years after he opposed Roe v. Wade as a presidential candidate. She is supported by Washington insiders, including Hillary Clinton. She is hardly a carpetbagger, having been born and raised in Nashua and living in Portsmouth.

I consider Van Ostern’s accusations to be deceptive, dirty politics. Once undecided, I am no longer. I will vote for Maggie Goodlander. Goodlander’s qualifications are impressive. She is a foreign policy expert, having served in the Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer. She clerked for Merrick Garland and Stephen Breyer and worked in the Anti-Trust Division of the Justice Department. She was a lawyer in the first impeachment of Trump. Her positions on women’s reproductive rights are unequivocal as she makes clear when discussing her struggles with childbirth. The House is a national office, and Goodlander’s experience in foreign and domestic national affairs makes her the best candidate for the 2nd Congressional District seat.

Peter Toumanoff

Hancock