Sullivan vying for Congress as candidate to stand up to Trump

Maura Sullivan, a Seacoast Democrat, Marine Corps veteran and former member of the Obama administration, is running for the primary nomination to represent New Hampshire’s First Congressional District. 

Sullivan previously ran for Congress, losing the primary to Chris Pappas in 2018. Pappas, in April 2025, said he's running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jeanne Shaheen, who's retiring. This leaves his House seat wide-open for the first time since his 2018 victory.

And at a time when constituents are pressed for cash, disillusioned by politics and increasingly convinced “the American dream is slipping away”, Sullivan says she’s right for the job.

“I spend almost every day just traveling all around the district, and what I’m hearing from people is, ‘life’s too expensive,’” Sullivan said in an interview earlier this month. “Gas prices are high, grocery prices are high, healthcare is not affordable and accessible, and people are worried about, ‘Are my kids going to have as good of a shot as I did?’

“We’ve got an economy that works for the top 2% — the Epstein class — and does not work for the other 98% of us, and that is not OK.” 

Sullivan said income inequality, both in the Granite State and across the country, is one of the most significant challenges we face. She referred to skyrocketing CEO compensation and lagging worker pay, and noted lots of people work multiple jobs to make ends meet, and still struggle to afford healthcare and other basic necessities. 

“That’s not how it’s supposed to be in the richest country in the history of the world,” She said. “I served in the Marines, and part of the values that I fought for were the idea of what America’s supposed to be about: that everybody here has a fair shot to get ahead, and we’re not seeing that right now. There’s not an equal playing field.” 

Her family’s history of public service influenced her commitment to the same, she said. Sullivan went through public school and earned a scholarship to college, enabling her to attend. She said she worked three jobs during school to pay for room and board, then joined the U.S. Marine Corps, later serving in Iraq.

Her grandmothers were leaders in Jesuit education, she said, and her grandfathers served in World War II. All three of Sullivan’s siblings entered service professions: the Marine Corps; working with children with special needs; and emergency medicine.

“I think people are looking for leaders who have walked a mile in their shoes, and who are just one of them,” she said. 

ROTC provided Sullivan the opportunity to begin her own life of service.

“When it came time for my battalion to deploy to the Middle East in the Iraq war, I re-upped voluntarily to join them. Because that’s what we do, and that’s what I was trained to do,” she said. “That was my duty, as an American.”

Sullivan’s background includes time served at the VA and the Pentagon. She said she’s the candidate with the experience and understanding of Washington and governance to deliver for constituents. 

“Our national security is at risk with our current conflict with Iran, and we need serious leaders who have the experience and the credibility to stand up to our President [Donald Trump] when he threatens our national security,” she said. “I am the only person in my field of candidates who can do that.

“A whole generation of us who served in the Iraq war, we came back and swore we would never let what happened to that generation of American kids, happen again,” she said. “We’re seeing that happen now. And I am certainly not going to stand by and let this president drag another generation of American kids into an unnecessary war in the Middle East.”  

Sullivan took away serious lessons from her time in federal government, principle among them the importance of building coalitions, working to garner bipartisan support to pass legislation pragmatically.  

“I have that firsthand experience of having worked with Democrats and Republicans in Washington before, I know how to get things done in Washington,” she said. 

When asked how the growing disengagement and disillusionment of voters across the country, Sullivan referred to the Gettysburg address, a simple and direct speech President Abraham Lincoln on the battlefield in 1863, during the Civil War.

“You’re supposed to have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. So simple, I mean, how many words in the Gettysburg address?” she said. “Right now, I think we’ve got a government of the corrupt, for the billionaires and by one another. And it doesn’t have to be like that. But in order to get change, we need a new Congress and we need a new president. And we’re very likely not going to have a new president in 2026, but we do have the ability to elect a new Congress.”

Sullivan’s anti-corruption platform includes banning congressional stock trading and corporate PAC money in politics, and overturning Citizens United. Continuing her pragmatic approach, she said she’s optimistic Congress can pass Medicare For All Who Want It legislation, expanding the Affordable Care Act among other reforms, while maintaining the private sector’s involvement in the health insurance market.

“That’s the first piece of legislation I’m going to co-sponsor when I get to Congress, so that we can bring down everyday costs for healthcare here in our state, and also bring down costs for prescription drug prices,” she said. “We have to do that.” 

New Hampshire’s primary election is Tuesday, Sept. 8.

“What can I get done Day 1 in Washington? We’ve got to shore up the ACA, but that’s not enough. We have to take the next step, which is getting a Medicare For All Who Want It,” she said. “I believe that in this political environment, that’s something that’s realistic that we can do. That is grounded in, what can I deliver, and I can look constituents in the eye and say, ‘I’m going to work on delivering this for you and we have a chance of this getting done right now.’

“They need the help,” she said. “Our communities need the help.”