Goodlander served as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment of Donald Trump, where she co-authored a 55-page report describing the constitutional grounds for impeaching Trump.[9] Following Trump's acquittal by the U.S. Senate in February 2020, she began working as counsel to Co-Equal, an activist organization that advocates for increased congressional funding and support for federal agencies that provide research and policy advice to members of Congress.[10]
Goodlander taught constitutional law at the University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth College from 2019 to 2021. She also served on the boards of the New Hampshire Women's Foundation, New Hampshire Legal Assistance, the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire, and the Rudman Center Advisory Board.[11]
In January 2021, Goodlander joined the United States Department of Justice as counselor to the attorney general under Garland, who had become U.S. attorney general under President Joe Biden and under whom Goodlander clerked after law school. She served as a deputy assistant attorney general overseeing the international, appellate, and policy work of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division from September 2022 to February 2024.[12] After leaving the Justice Department, she briefly served as a White House senior advisor, where she led the Biden administration's Unity Agenda for the Nation.[13]
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2024
On May 9, 2024, Goodlander announced her candidacy in the Democratic primary for New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district in the 2024 elections to succeed retiring U.S. Representative Annie Kuster.[14] Her mother, Betty Tamposi, ran for the same seat as a Republican in 1988 but lost the primary to Chuck Douglas, who had asserted that it would be inappropriate for a mother to hold political office while raising young children.[15] Goodlander defeated former New Hampshire Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern, who had been endorsed by Kuster, with 63.8% of the vote to Van Ostern's 36.2%.[16] In the general election, Goodlander defeated Republican nominee and libertarian activist Lily Tang Williams 52.9% to 47.1%.[17]
Tenure
Goodlander assumed office on January 3, 2025. She succeeded retiring U.S. Representative Annie Kuster.[18]
Goodlander became pregnant in late 2022, but during her pregnancy, the fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition and died in utero. While awaiting a medical procedure to remove the fetus, Goodlander went into labor and gave birth to a stillborn son in a hotel bathtub on Easter. She has cited the experience as inspiring her to campaign for abortion rights.[2]
