A Conversation with Lily Tang Williams

On February 18th, The Review sat down with Lily Tang Williams, the Republican running to replace current Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-NH) in the district, which includes Dartmouth College. Ms. Tang Williams had a busy day, coming directly from a Dartmouth Political Union event, in which she answered student questions related to her candidacy, expressed her origin story, and made the case as to why she is best equipped to represent the district. Ms. Tang Williams expressed appreciation for how she was treated by students at the DPU, declaring that she felt she was treated very fairly and appreciated all of the enriching questions she received from students. However, she also noted that American universities as a whole need to be more hospitable to diverse viewpoints and more proactive in the encouragement of open discourse and debate. February 18th was not Ms. Tang Williams’ first time appearing at a DPU-sponsored event; on April 10th, 2024, gun control activist and Marjory Stone Douglas shooting survivor David Hogg faced off in a debate against 2020 Libertarian Party Vice Presidential Nominee Spike Cohen in a debate over gun control. During the Q&A portion of the debate, Ms. Tang Williams confronted Hogg, detailing her experiences growing up in China, and asked Hogg directly whether he could promise that the U.S. government would never become tyrannical, evoking the necessity for the use of the Second Amendment. Ms. Tang Williams expressed discontent with the fact that, during her back-and-forth with Hogg, the DPU member holding the microphone began to slowly draw it away. 

Ms. Tang Williams began our interview with a deep dive into her background. She described growing up in China under the Chinese Communist Party. She described an inflection point for her as when, in her second year of college, she became inspired by the United States’ ideals of freedom and democracy, referencing President Reagan’s “shining city on a hill” speech. Ms. Tang Williams described former President Obama’s presidency as the precipitating event to her involvement with politics; she expressed concern that Obama’s policies were steering the country towards socialism, referencing Obama’s “you didn’t build that” speech as being particularly foreboding. While living in Colorado, she was so alarmed by the Colorado legislature’s initiative to ban the sale of AR-15 rifles that, prior to the law being enacted, she made sure to purchase one. 

While Ms. Tang Williams was registered as a Republican for many years, she changed her voter registration to Libertar­ian while living in Colorado after becoming frustrated with the “big-government conser­vatism” that had permeated the Republican Party during the Bush presidency, specif­ically decrying the No Child Left Behind Act and the gov­ernment bailouts of financial institutions during the 2008 housing market crisis. After making a strong impression with the Tea Party movement, Ms. Tang Williams ran and was elected as the Chair of the Libertarian Party of Colorado. Eventually, Ms. Tang Williams sought to run for U.S. Senate as a Libertarian, and described an immense grassroots move­ment among her supporters to qualify the Libertarian Party for access to debates. Indeed, Ms. Tang Williams was invited to one debate, at which she de­scribed her support as raucous, with voters being refreshed at finally having another choice. After this singular debate ap­pearance, however, the thresh­old required for attendance at subsequent debates was raised, and she was unable to appear on the stage again. Desiring to be in a better position to make her voice heard, Ms. Tang Wil­liams re-registered as a Re­publican. 

2026 marks Ms. Tang Wil­liam’s third run for this par­ticular congressional seat. She initially ran in 2022, finishing third in the Republican pri­mary behind Bob Burns and George Hansel; Burns went on to lose the general election to Rep. Annie Kuster, a Dart­mouth alumna. In 2024, Ms. Tang Williams ran again, this time prevailing in the Repub­lican primary, but losing the general to current Rep. Maggie Goodlander, 52.9% to 47.0%. Ms. Tang Williams noted that she has, on numerous occa­sions, requested to debate Rep. Goodlander at Dartmouth College, claiming that sever­al student groups were open to holding a debate. Howev­er, the only debate that Rep. Goodlander ultimately agreed to was one held on Halloween night on WMUR-TV; at Dart­mouth, Goodlander was only willing to appear to speak with the Dartmouth Democrats alone, with no debate. Ms. Tang Williams expressed that because of Goodlander’s lim­ited willingness to accept in­vitations to debate, the debate scheduled on WMUR-TV is her most opportune chance to confront her on her positions.

Ms. Tang Williams expressed her viewpoints on a number of matters, including her support for charter schools, opposition to public sector unionization, and foreign policy, specifi­cally as it relates to Taiwan. Ms. Tang Williams expressed strong support for Taiwan­ese independence, while also making clear the necessity to avoid conflict if necessary; she stated that Taiwan ought to avoid provoking an invasion by mainland China. Ms. Tang Williams went on to express support for President Trump’s policies regarding China, claiming that the president’s trade war is a strategic move on Trump’s part to weaken China’s economy. 

I found my discussion with Ms. Tang Williams to be an enriching one. I appreciate the fact that she, as a conservative Republican, is not only will­ing, but eager to come to Dart­mouth’s campus and interact with students, the majority of whom are strongly opposed to her viewpoints. It is her confi­dence and reputation as a fire­brand figure that propelled her to prominence among the Tea Party, all of which makes me all the more assured that New Hampshire – a state whose motto is “Live Free or Die” – is the ideal place for someone with Ms. Tang William’s poise and activism. It is uncertain what the next several months will hold with regard to the upcoming election, but I, for one, hope that Rep. Good­lander will accept Ms. Tang Williams’ invitation to debate at Dartmouth; our readers can be sure that we will be eager to cover that debate.