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Candidates for Congressional District 2 talk political parties, affordability
“My north star is what are the needs and the opportunities for New Hampshire,” she said.
Concord Monitor
Goodlander
GoodlanderUpdated Oct 16, 2026, 2:34 PM ET
Lily Tang Williams, a Republican businesswoman and former chair of the Colorado Libertarian Party, is her party's nominee for New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district in 2026, in a rematch against Democratic incumbent Maggie Goodlander.
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‘I put my principles over party’: 2nd Congressional District Republican nominee Lily Tang Williams speaks on campaign platform
Republican nominee for New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional district Lily Tang Williams spoke about her campaign platform on Oct. 14.
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WATCH: Williams and Goodlander face off in 2nd Congressional District forum
This year's race for the 2nd Congressional District is a rematch. Republican Lily Tang Williams (left) and Democrat Maggie Goodlander (right) also ran against each other two years ago.
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New Hampshire seeks Supreme Court stay over student IDs for ...
Lily Tang Williams, the Republican nominee for New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District, addresses residents Friday morning in the dining room of the New Hampshire Veterans Home.
Manchester Union leader
Warmington -
Manchester Temple To Feature Candidate Forum, Public Invited
Congressional Candidates for House District 2: Maggie Goodlander(D) and Lily Tang Williams(R).
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No story this week names this candidate.
- Born
- July 30, 1964
- Birthplace
- Chengdu, China
- Education
- Fudan University (bachelor's degree, 1985)
University of Texas at Austin (Master of Science in Social Work, 1991)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Lily Tang Williams was born on July 30, 1964, in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in China, to illiterate working-class parents, and her early childhood coincided with the Cultural Revolution.
After high school she studied law at Fudan University in Shanghai, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1985, and then joined the university's law school faculty while practicing corporate law.
She came to the United States in 1988 to study at the University of Texas at Austin, was granted asylum, earned a Master of Science in Social Work in 1991, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1994.
She married John Williams in 1990, and the couple have three children and live in Weare, New Hampshire.
Career
After graduate school, Williams worked as a social worker in Laramie, Wyoming, and in the late 1990s moved to Hong Kong as a corporate executive for PREL, Inc., helping to manage Walmart's operations in China. She settled in Parker, Colorado, in 1999, started a consulting firm on business in China in 2000, and in 2009 launched a rental property investment and management company with her husband.
Williams left the Republican Party to become a Libertarian in 2008.
She won 6.4% of the vote as the Libertarian candidate for Colorado House District 44 in 2014, was elected chair of the Colorado Libertarian Party on April 26, 2015, and received 3.6% as the party's 2016 nominee for the U.S. Senate in Colorado.
After re-registering as a Republican, she moved to Weare in 2019. She placed third in the 2022 Republican primary for New Hampshire's 2nd district with 24.9%, then won the 2024 primary with 35.8% before losing the general election to Democrat Maggie Goodlander.
2026 race
Lily Tang Williams announced on April 9, 2025, that she would run again for New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district, which covers western and northern New Hampshire and is held by Democrat Maggie Goodlander, elected with 52.9% in 2024.
Williams won the Republican primary with 64.9% of the vote, ahead of Dan Nicholson, construction company owner Victor Orlando and stone mason Michael A. Callis.
In the general election on November 3, 2026, she faces Goodlander in a rematch of their 2024 contest, with independent Robbie Mahrou also on the ballot.