Sununu, Pappas Win NH Primaries, Set Senate Showdown

Former GOP Sen. John Sununu and Rep. Chris Pappas won New Hampshire's Senate primaries, setting a November contest that could decide Senate control.

New Hampshire voters on Tuesday nominated former Republican Sen. John E. Sununu and four-term Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. The AP reported the matchup, and multiple outlets including NBC News and CBS News projected both wins Tuesday night. With roughly 84% of expected Republican votes in, NBC News showed Sununu at 68.5% against former Sen. Scott Brown's 26.7%; on the Democratic side, Pappas led progressive Karishma Manzur 65% to 32.8% with 87.8% counted. The contest replaces Shaheen, a three-term Democrat who decided not to seek reelection, setting off one of the most competitive Senate races of the 2026 midterms.

Despite commanding advantages in name recognition and money, Pappas's win was harder than expected. NHPR reports that Manzur, a democratic socialist scientist from Exeter, narrowed the race in recent weeks by campaigning for Medicare for All, a $25 federal minimum wage, and an end to U.S. support for Israel, while repeatedly attacking Pappas over his ties to AIPAC, which has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns. According to MS NOW, Pappas outraised Manzur by roughly $15 million ($15.3 million to $415,000) and secured endorsements from Obama, Buttigieg, Harris, Shaheen, and Hassan, yet Manzur's ground game kept the margin well below early expectations.

Sununu defeated seven opponents, including former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, in a race NHPR describes as low-key. The twist: Trump endorsed Sununu even though Sununu backed Nikki Haley in 2024 and wrote an op-ed calling Trump a "loser," and Sununu has since criticized Trump's war with Iran and tariff-driven trade policies, per PBS and CBS News. At his victory party, Sununu called Pappas "ineffective, partisan and out of touch with New Hampshire" and challenged him to ten debates — one in each county.

Democrats need a net gain of four seats to retake a chamber Republicans hold 53-47, and defending New Hampshire is a key part of that math, PBS reports. Al Jazeera notes New Hampshire has not elected a Republican senator since 2010, but Harris carried the state by only 2.78 points in 2024, and Hassan won her 2016 Senate race by roughly 1,000 votes — margins that make the state genuinely competitive. The race to replace Shaheen is one of a handful nationwide that could determine Senate control for the second half of Trump's final term, and both parties' leaders view it as essential.

Pappas is tying Sununu to Trump, calling him the president's "handpicked candidate" and arguing Sununu "has thrown his lot in with Donald Trump" on policies that favor big corporations while Granite Staters struggle with costs, per Al Jazeera and CBS News. Sununu, avoiding talk of Trump's backing, casts Pappas as a career politician who votes with party leaders and favors higher taxes, while steering the race toward cost-of-living issues. Pappas, a Manchester native and member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, has emphasized affordability, prescription drug costs, and a stock-trading ban for members of Congress, according to MS NOW.

Down-ticket, New Hampshire also settled other matchups: Stefany Shaheen won the tight Democratic primary for Pappas's open 1st District seat, Anthony DiLorenzo and Lily Tang Williams won Republican House primaries — with Tang Williams facing Rep. Maggie Goodlander in a 2024 rematch — and Gov. Kelly Ayotte will face Cinde Warmington for governor, per Al Jazeera and The Dartmouth. The Senate race itself remains a coin-flip in a state where statewide elections are routinely decided by narrow margins.