One of Maggie Goodlander’s first votes in Congress was to back the Laken Riley Act: a law that requires the detention of undocumented immigrants who are accused, but not yet convicted, of certain crimes.
Goodlander was one of 48 Democrats to break with her party and support a priority of President Donald Trump’s.
“I believe that if you are not in this country legally and you commit a crime, there should be immigration consequences,” she said in an interview last week.
She called it a “real point of disagreement” with her primary opponent, Nashua state Rep. Paige Beauchemin, although both candidates denounced the Trump administration’s immigrant enforcement tactics.
In Beauchemin’s view, that vote “allowed ICE to be what they are right now” by bypassing due process. It’s another reason to see Goodlander — and the rest of New Hampshire’s federal representation — as dissatisfactory, she said, along with her acceptance of endorsements and campaign contributions from pro-Israel groups.
“I believe they are responsible for all of the deaths and devastation, both with ICE and the Palestinian people, and I am horrified that the Democratic Party is not holding them accountable for those atrocities,” Beauchemin said.
Beauchemin is making a bid to represent New Hampshire’s second congressional district, challenging Goodlander in the Sept. 8 primary. She’s a nurse from Nashua and has served two terms in the state’s House of Representatives, where she’s focused her sights on maternal health issues. She pitches herself as the working-class candidate.
Goodlander, who’s from Nashua but now lives in Concord, seeks a second term in Congress. She spent 11 years in the U.S. Navy Reserves and brings with her an extensive resume in government. During her two years in Congress, Goodlander has carved out a place as a pro-democracy fighter criticizing Trump.
Goodlander is heavily favored in the second district with a 59% to 19% lead over Beauchemin, according to a recent poll from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.
However, more progressive, left-leaning Democrats are making advances across the country and edging out centrist or so-called “establishment” candidates in states like Michigan. Many of those campaigns, including Beauchemin’s, hinge on reforming campaign finance, stopping U.S. aid to Israel in its war with Hamas and populist policies like Medicare for All.
“The reason progressives are winning is because we are working people. It’s not about being progressive; it’s that the Overton Window and the political culture has moved so far to the right that now somebody who is calling for the regular things that everyday people need” is considered progressive,” Beauchemin said.
She said she wants to focus on basic needs like healthcare, housing and food access: “That is not radical. That should not be progressive.”
When asked how she views her place among Democrats, Goodlander said she’s focused on battling Trump and solving problems.
“I’m not really focused on labels or orienting myself in some academic study of the Democratic Party,” Goodlander said. “I’m focused on actually doing the work and finding the people who are going to be doing the work alongside me.”
Goodlander, historically backed by pro-Israel groups, voted in July to cut $3.3 billion in aid to Israel. She reiterated her support for Israel as a defense partner against shared enemies but has called for more scrutiny of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
“Looking at the conduct in Gaza and in the West Bank, we need a fundamental reset in the relationship and this, to me, was the most important moment — the only opportunity that we’ve had — to actually try to change course and move us in a new direction, and that’s what I’m committed to doing,” Goodlander said.
The pro-Israel organization AIPAC has since cut off its online donation portal for Goodlander, The New York Times reported.
If re-elected, Goodlander said she’ll continue working to make housing, energy and healthcare more affordable — all issues she has prioritized in her first term. She also wants to tackle political corruption, she said.
“To me, the biggest threat to the future of this country is not solving the basic crisis of affordability that is standing in between people and being able to live lives with dignity, healthy lives,” Goodlander said. “The choices people have to make in the richest country in the history of the world are painful, preventable, fixable — so that’s, to me, priority number one.”
Beauchemin espouses similar views on affordability and calls for Medicare for All. As a state representative, she said she’s seen health insurance costs cripple local budgets and that a more universal healthcare system would alleviate those pressures.
But change cannot start, Beauchemin said, until corporate money is removed from politics. She said she wants to reverse Citizens United and enact other campaign finance reforms, like fundraising caps.
“We are never going to make progress as long as there is still so much money in politics,” she said, “so that is absolutely where we need to start.”
The winner of the Sept. 8 primary will face a Republican opponent — either Lily Tang Williams of Weare or Victor Orlando of Hollis — in the general election.
