Republican Nominee Who Fled China Warns Democratic Congress Could Boost Beijing's Influence

A congressional candidate who escaped communist China after the Tiananmen Square massacre is warning that Democratic control of Congress could give Beijing new chances to expand its influence in Washington and endanger U.S. national security.

Lily Tang Williams, the Republican nominee for New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District, told Fox News Digital that China "wants to bring down the United States." She said the country would take advantage of what she called "America's weakness" if Democrats hold power in Congress in January.

"I fear that the country I love is becoming the country I left," said Williams, who is challenging Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H. "China will be very happy to see Democrats control the House and Senate. The Democrats want open borders, they want to defund police and abolish private property. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is looking at this as good news."

As an example, Williams pointed to a recent trip to China by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). She claimed that more than a dozen high-ranking members of the group traveled there to "produce favorable coverage of China and its regime." In her view, this shows the Chinese government exploiting a "vulnerable Democratic Party" to promote itself in the United States. "They now share a similar ideology," she said.

Williams also argued that Democratic immigration policies could make it easier for Chinese intelligence operatives to enter the country, and she warned about the potential for espionage along the southern border.

She said she believes the DSA's growing influence inside the Democratic Party could shape congressional decisions even if Democrats stay in the minority or moderates hold leadership posts. "The Democrat Party is hijacked by the DSA," Williams said. "We're going to have a DSA-run Congress, whether moderate Democrats like it or not." She added that moderate Democratic voters remain complacent and may be afraid of repercussions from the DSA and its voters if they speak out against extremism.

Williams cited a recent Gallup poll showing that 43% of Americans have a positive view of socialism, the first time that has happened since 2010. She also noted the possibility that at least six new DSA-affiliated lawmakers could join Congress in January as a reason for concern about the party's direction. "Congress will be controlled by people who sympathize with the CCP and its Marxist principles," she warned.

The Republican nominee also criticized Goodlander and other Democrats for what she described as a refusal to condemn Marxism. She argued that moderate Democrats could increasingly side with the party's progressive wing in the 120th Congress. "My opponent refuses to condemn Marxism and Marxist American figures like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani when asked. This is very troubling," she said.

During a phone interview, Williams further raised concerns that lawmakers sympathetic to Marxist ideology could pose national security risks if they gained access to sensitive or classified information. "Our country could fall from within, because we don't really have a good policy to protect ourselves and our national security," she said.

Goodlander, the DSA and the Democratic Party did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.