Raised in communist China and now a fierce defender of American liberty, Williams recounted growing up during the Great Leap Forward industrialization plan that produced a famine that killed 60 million people. And she talked about why she is trying to break New England Democrats’ stranglehold on the U.S. House.
Williams, 62, is seeking the Republican nomination in New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District in 2026. She was the Republican nominee for the seat in 2024, losing the general election to Democrat Maggie Goodlander after an unsuccessful primary campaign in 2022.
Born in Chengdu, China, in 1964 to working-class parents, Williams grew up under Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution. Her family lived in poverty, but Williams excelled academically, eventually studying law at Fudan University in Shanghai.
While at Fudan, Williams met an American exchange student who showed her pocket-sized copies of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. She has said the encounter helped spark her interest in the United States and American political ideals.
After receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1985, Williams joined the law school faculty at Fudan and practiced corporate law. She came to the United States in 1988 to study at the University of Texas at Austin and was later granted asylum. She earned a master’s degree in social work in 1991 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1994.
Her career has included social work, corporate management and international business consulting. In the late 1990s, she worked in Hong Kong as an executive helping manage Walmart operations in China. She later started a consulting firm assisting American companies doing business in China.
Williams also became a public speaker for the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, traveling around the country to discuss her childhood under Chinese communism.
Her political career began in Colorado, where she ran unsuccessfully for the state House as a Libertarian in 2014 and for U.S. Senate as the Libertarian nominee in 2016. She chaired the Colorado Libertarian Party from 2015 to 2016 before later becoming a Republican.
Williams now lives in New Hampshire and is making her third run for the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
Hear the interview on WVMT AM 620 and online at wvmtradio.com.
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