Lily Tang Williams
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China (until 1994)
Lily Tang Williams | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Tang Williams in 2016 | |||||||
| Chair of the Colorado Libertarian Party | |||||||
| In office April 26, 2015 – January 11, 2016 | |||||||
| Preceded by | Jeff Orrok | ||||||
| Succeeded by | Nathan Grabau | ||||||
| Personal details | |||||||
| Born | Táng Bǎihé July 30, 1964 | ||||||
| Citizenship | United States China (until 1994) | ||||||
| Political party | Republican (1995–2008, 2019–present) Libertarian (2008–2019) | ||||||
| Spouse |
John Williams (m. 1990) | ||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||
| Education | Fudan University (LLB) University of Texas, Austin (MSW) | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Chinese | 唐百合 | ||||||
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Lily Tang Williams (born July 30, 1964) is an American activist, businesswoman, and perennial candidate who chaired the Colorado Libertarian Party from 2015 to 2016. She unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district as a Republican in 2022 and 2024, losing the Republican primary in 2022 and losing the general election as the Republican nominee to Maggie Goodlander in 2024. She was also the Libertarian nominee for the U.S. Senate in Colorado in 2016 and unsuccessfully ran for the Colorado House of Representatives as a Libertarian in 2014. She is again running for the U.S. House of Representatives in New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district in 2026.
Lily Tang Williams was born on July 30, 1964, in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in southwestern China.[1] Born to illiterate working-class parents, she grew up under the rule of Mao Zedong and her early childhood coincided with the Cultural Revolution, which lasted until Mao's death in 1976. She grew up in poverty but excelled in school, graduating at the top of her high school class and placing near the top of China's national exams.
After high school, Tang studied law at Fudan University in Shanghai. While in college, she met a foreign exchange student from the United States who showed her a pocket version of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, sparking her interest in emigrating to the United States.[2] She received a bachelor's degree in 1985 and subsequently joined the law school faculty at Fudan University and practiced corporate law while China began rebuilding its economy. She came to the United States in 1988 to study at the University of Texas at Austin, and was subsequently granted asylum.[3] In 1991, she earned a Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin.[4] She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1994.
Business career
Williams was a research assistant at the University of Texas at Austin and got a minimum-wage job at a telemarketing company to improve her English skills.[5] After finishing graduate school, she became a social worker in Laramie, Wyoming, working with troubled youth as well as seniors in Wyoming home health care business. In the late 1990s, she moved to Hong Kong with her family as an expatriate to work as a corporate executive for PREL, Inc., helping to manage Walmart's operations in China.[6] In 1999, she moved to Parker, Colorado, to work for a telecommunications company.[7] When the company went bankrupt in 2000, Williams started a consulting firm to help American companies conduct business in China and provide expert witness services on China-related matters. In 2009 she and her husband launched a rental property investment and management company that operates in New Hampshire, Nevada, Florida, and Colorado.[5] She is also a public speaker for the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. She travels around the United States to give speeches about her experiences growing up in communist China.[8]