New Hampshire congressional candidate Lily Tang Williams (R) blasted her Democrat opponent — the wife of Biden administration National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan — in a viral moment during their Thursday debate, calling her out for being a multi-millionaire carpetbagger who pretends to relate to the middle class.
Maggie Goodlander, who served as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump and as a deputy assistant attorney general under U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, made a poor attempt at painting Tang Williams as an enemy of hardworking people:
“She believes that we should give a break to the wealthiest and the biggest corporations and hope for the best, hope that the results will trickle down to hardworking people,” Goodlander said. “I take a very different approach. I believe that the middle class deserves a tax cut, and I believe that we will do a lot for this country by ensuring that we don’t continue this disastrous tax policy.”
Tang Williams, a Chinese immigrant who fled communism and Mao Zedong’s cultural revolution and came to the U.S. in 1988 according to her website, shot back with a brutal roast of the Democrat that has since garnered millions of views across social media.
“You are wealthy. You’re worth $20 million to $30 million. How do you know about regular people’s suffering? Do you go shopping? Go to Walmart? Buy food? I talk to those people,” the Republican said.
“And you pretend to be a renter in Nashua a few months ago, move back to run for this open seat with millions of dollars from Washington, D.C., insiders.… I don’t have money to run a TV ad, and you pretend you are poor, complain rent is so high,” Tang Williams continued in a fiery tone, before adding, “You do not understand regular people’s concerns.”
Both candidates are wealthy according to recent financial disclosures obtained by WMUR, but Tang Williams’ business assets worth between $3.8 million and $8.6 million are a far cry from Goodlander’s net worth that was determined to be up to $39 million — the majority of which coming from a trust fund.
When Goodlander filed her initial financial disclosure in August, it came under fire for being incomplete, with her using the excuse that she could not determine the value of most of her assets.
Much of Goodlander’s wealth was passed down to her from her grandfather, late New Hampshire real estate tycoon and former Boston Red Sox partner Samuel Tamposi, according to WMUR.
Tang Williams was born to illiterate, working-class parents in China and arrived in the U.S. with limited English skills, and “only $100 in her pocket and $1200 in debt to her American sponsor,” her website states.
She has since built and invested in several businesses with her husband of 31 years, who she met when she first came to the U.S.
Tang Williams previously ran for a Colorado U.S. Senate seat in 2016 as a Libertarian before moving to New Hampshire in 2019 and becoming involved in anti-big government activism, and losing in the Republican primary when she ran for Congress in 2022.
Jake Sullivan, Goodlander’s husband, was an adviser to former President Barack Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden, and served as Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Secretary Hillary Clinton before Biden appointed him to the National Security Advisor position in 2021.
Sullivan is also known for propagating the Trump-Russian collusion hoax, beginning when he worked for Clinton in 2016.
Tang Williams was praised by several major figures for her smackdown of Goodlander, with former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calling her his “new hero”:
Actor James Woods wrote that she is “everything good about America”:
The most recent poll, which was conducted before the New Hampshire congressional debate by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center, showed Goodlander leading Tang Williams 51 percent to 43 percent.