The candidates for the 2nd Congressional District, on the issues

Maggie Goodlander (left) and Colin Van Ostern face off in a debate at New England College ahead of the Sept. 10 primary for the Democratic nomination for New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District on Sept. 4, 2024. (Ethan DeWitt | New Hampshire Bulletin)

When longtime Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster announced she would not seek re-election in New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District after serving six terms, she set off a closely watched race to replace her.

Though the district’s voters lean Democratic, Republicans see a rare chance to upset historical patterns, while two Democrats are vying to carry forward their party’s torch.

Candidates in both parties will be up for a vote in the Sept. 10 state primaries. On Wednesday, the candidates participated in two debates at New England College, one for each party.

On the Democratic debate stage were Maggie Goodlander, a former U.S. Supreme Court law clerk, former adviser to the White House, and current constitutional law professor; and Colin Van Ostern, a former executive councilor who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2016 and secretary of state in 2020.

On the Republican side were three of the 13 primary candidates, chosen based on their poll numbers: Bill Hamlen, an energy trader and property manager; Vikram Mansharamani, an author, global equity investor, and Harvard lecturer; and Lily Tang Williams, a rental property manager who emigrated from China in 1988.

The other Republican candidates running for the seat are Tom Alciere, Gerard Beloin, Michael Callis, Randall Clark, Casey Crane, Robert D’Arcy, William Harvey, Jay Mercer, Jason Riddle, and Paul Wagner.

Here is where the candidates came down on the issues.

Gun violence

Both Republican and Democratic candidates expressed sympathies for the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, in which a 14-year-old gunman is accused of killing four people and wounding nine others Wednesday morning.

But Republicans at the debate said additional firearms laws are not the answer to stop such shootings. Williams argued gun-free zones would not make the country safer. Instead, she cited a “moral decline” as the root cause of shootings and said the country should invest in mental health.

Mansharamani said the country should pause before considering new gun regulations. The real problems plaguing young Americans and causing the shootings are mental health struggles, social media, and “climate alarmism,” he said.

And Hamlen made a pitch toward adding more security to public schools. He opposes changes that could impinge on the Second Amendment, he said.

Democrats had a different vision. Van Ostern expressed support for Congress passing laws requiring universal background checks for gun purchases as well as a national “red flag law” allowing police to remove firearms from someone whom a court deems is a threat to themselves or others.

Goodlander said she would push to eliminate “weapons of war” – such as assault-style rifles – from civilian use, and said she would push to hold firearms manufacturers accountable for products that prove to be dangerous.

Economic concerns

Each of the candidates were asked about voters’ economic concerns. To Republicans, much of the country’s economic anxiety is tied to inflation. Each said that if elected they would advocate for stopping large-scale spending packages such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, as well as reining in agency spending.

Mansharamani called the federal debt “out of control,” and said he would stop President Joe Biden’s student debt relief efforts, which he said were creating a financial burden on all Americans. “That’s the kind of spending we have to stop,” he said.

He also called for an end of subsidies to electric vehicles.

Hamlen called for “a complete freeze” of federal spending. “When you come on an accident scene, and someone’s bloody, you stop the bleeding – that’s the first thing you do,” he said.

Williams said she would fight for a balanced federal budget, noting that the last time the federal appropriations bills were balanced was in the 1990s. “We keep spending money that we don’t have,” she said. She also said that the 2017 tax cuts should be made permanent.

On the Democratic side, candidates called for the opposite approach: increasing taxes on the wealthy.

Speaking on Social Security, Goodlander said “the wealthy should pay their fair share … so that we can ensure its solvency into the future.”

And Van Ostern said he would fight to repeal the 2017 tax cuts under former President Donald Trump, which lowered business taxes from 35 percent to 21 percent.

Housing

Debate moderators asked candidates about access to affordable housing, which polling this year indicates is far and away the most pressing issue for New Hampshire voters.

Goodlander said she would push for more federal funding to support housing development – such as the money in the American Rescue Plan Act used by Gov. Chris Sununu to create the $100 million InvestNH housing plan. She also said Congress should consider laws to curb the presence of private equity firms that buy up properties and then raise prices and rents.

Van Ostern praised a housing proposal by Kamala Harris, the vice president and Democratic nominee for president, that would provide incentives to developers and localities to pursue more housing construction and would also give first-time homebuyers up to $25,000 in federal assistance. He added that repealing the 2017 tax cuts would bring in more revenue that could be used to pay the country’s deficits, fund local water and sewer development to support more housing, and create the conditions to lower interest rates.

Republicans also acknowledged the severity of the state’s housing crisis, but panned Harris’ proposal. Mansharamani said providing buyers with more money would only raise the prices of homes; the solution, he said, should come from increasing the supply of housing. “The best thing we can do at the federal level is to actually control inflation, lower interest rates, increase affordability, and make life better for everyone in New Hampshire.”

Hamlen said New Hampshire’s housing crisis was prompted in part by the state’s low tax environment, which he said had made it attractive. He also said bringing down the cost of living by reducing inflation would be the best way to spur housing development.

Williams agreed, arguing inflation was the primary impediment to housing development. “Cost of labor, gas, energy, lumber, all go up,” she said. Interest rates are also an impediment, she noted.

Israel and Ukraine

One of the clear lines of division in the Republican primary came around America’s financial support for Ukraine during its war with Russia. Williams condemned Russia’s 2022 invasion, but she argued strongly that America should begin to curtail the amount of military aid it sent to Ukraine.

Mansharamani was more supportive of aid. He brought up a bill that passed Congress in April that provided $95 million in foreign aid, with the bulk of it going to Ukraine, and smaller amounts devoted to supporting Israel and Taiwan. That bill passed with largely Democratic support in the House, after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson risked the ire of his own party to side with Democrats and get the bill passed.

In Wednesday’s debate, Williams criticized Mansharamani for following Johnson; Mansharamani said the package was the best way for the U.S. to support those countries. Williams did not say whether she would have voted against the legislation if she were in Congress at the time, but said she would have consulted her constituents before doing so.

Hamlen, meanwhile, did not weigh in on financial aid, but instead took time to praise former President Trump, whom he said had led through “peace with strength” and said he would support policies and legislation that adhered to that.

All three Republican candidates said they agreed with supporting Israel in its war in Gaza and all said they would not support sending American troops to fight in that war.

The Democratic candidates expressed support for both Israel and Ukraine, but also brought up humanitarian concerns for Palestinians; more than 40,000 people in Gaza have died since Israel invaded Gaza after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks against Israel last year, according to Gazan health authorities.

Van Ostern said more needed to be done in Congress to encourage a ceasefire. “We have to use every diplomatic tool to bring that to an end,” he said.

Goodlander also called for an immediate ceasefire and said Congress needed to play a bigger role in foreign policy. “I’ve seen the power of what can happen when Congress has a seat at the table,” she said.

Reproductive rights

On substance, Goodlander and Van Ostern agree when it comes to abortion rights: Both would advocate for a federal law that would restore the tenets of Roe v. Wade and make abortion a right in all states.

But the topic proved testy on the debate stage, as each attacked the other with claims that they had undermined the cause. Van Ostern noted that Goodlander had served as a senior policy adviser to U.S. Sen. John McCain, who opposed abortion rights, in 2013 before entering the Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer and later serving in the Justice Department. Goodlander said she had worked with McCain “to take on Vladamir Putin on a landmark sanctions bill” and to help craft a bipartisan immigration reform bill under former President Barack Obama.

Goodlander, meanwhile, brought up Van Ostern’s time working for U.S. Rep. Jim Turner, of Texas, in 2000 and 2001, a politician who also opposed abortion rights.

The Republican candidates all praised the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned the national right to abortion under Roe and allowed states to set their own restrictions.

Mansharamani said he supported New Hampshire’s 2021 law banning most abortions after 24 weeks, and indicated that he would not support a federal law to override state laws.

Williams said she agreed that the issue should remain with states, and said she would also not vote for any federal bill that changed abortion laws for the country. She said she donated money to charities to support women to carry out their unplanned pregnancies, but said the government shouldn’t have a role. “Do it yourself: persuade the woman and help them financially,” she said.

Hamlen said the topic should be approached with empathy, and said he fully supported New Hampshire’s law. “It’s a common sense consensus that works for New Hampshire.”