CONCORD, N.H.—New Hampshire voters have sent former Republican U.S. Sen. John Sununu and Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas to battle it out for the open New Hampshire Senate seat in November.
Voters chose from a crowded field of contestants for a seat that both parties consider key to their plans to control the upper chamber of Congress.
On the Republican ballot, Sununu and former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, along with six other candidates, vied for the nomination.
Sununu won a New Hampshire Senate seat in 2002, defeating then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat. Shaheen defeated Sununu in their 2008 rematch.
Brown, meanwhile, was elected in Massachusetts in 2010 to serve out the three remaining years of the late Democratic U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy’s final term.
However, he was defeated in 2012 and so never took on a full term. Brown moved to New Hampshire and challenged Shaheen in 2014, losing only narrowly.
Brown endorsed President Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign, and the president later appointed him ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during his first term.
In this primary election, however, Trump backed Sununu. This is despite Sununu’s endorsement of Trump rival Nikki Haley in the 2024 election.
Sununu’s campaign outraised Brown’s, taking in $4.1 million to Brown’s $2.2 million.
On the Democratic side, Pappas was seen as the front-runner and gathered support from many high-profile Democrats, including Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), former Gov. John Lynch, and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The lawmaker has served in the House since 2019 but has held public office consistently since graduating from college in 2002.
Pappas defeated Republican Karoline Leavitt, then-Trump White House press aide who later became White House press secretary, in New Hampshire’s First Congressional District in the 2022 election.
Self-proclaimed Independent progressive voter Timothy Willis held signs encouraging voters to “vote [for] progressives” outside a polling location. He told The Epoch Times that he supports Democrat Karishma Manzur for Senate.
Willis said he has voted for Pappas in the past, but more information has come to light about Pappas and his support from PACs, or political action committees, and what Willis sees as a disconnect from voters.
“When they had a debate at Channel Nine in New Hampshire the other night, and Karishma got out and greeted her supporters. Chris Pappas just ignored his supporters and went right in. He just does not seem too genuine.”
Willis said he isn’t at all sure Manzur would win in November, but he thinks it’s important to be proactive. The activist said he doesn’t subscribe to the notion that voters should “just hold your nose and vote for the lesser of two evils.”
“We have to fight. We have to be more proactive, and we just need to get it done.”
Merrimack County Attorney candidate Meg Hagaman, a Republican, stood with Democratic New Hampshire House candidate Tracy Bricchi and told The Epoch Times that they’re voting for Sununu and Pappas, respectively.
Bricchi said she is voting for Pappas because she believes “he has the best interests of New Hampshire people in mind,” and that his political history shows a person who has “done his best given the climate that he’s worked in.”
When asked if she thinks Pappas can win in November, she took a lengthy pause before saying hesitantly, “I have to say yes.”
Hagaman, however, said she supports Sununu due to his “sensible leadership skills.”
“We know he’s already had experience in the Senate,” Hagaman told The Epoch Times. “He’s had a lot of experience governing, and I think he is someone who wants to put New Hampshire’s people first. And I think he will go to Washington with a lot of sensible thoughts.”
Four other candidates also hoped to take the Democratic nomination, including Manzur, a progressive activist and democratic socialist.
Polling from the University of New Hampshire shows that Pappas still held the lead as of late August.
Shaheen, 79, announced in March 2025 that she wouldn’t seek reelection. She was the first woman to serve as both governor and senator in the United States.
Also on the ballot are nominees for governor, the U.S. House of Representatives, and other state offices.
In addition to the New Hampshire seat, Republicans are targeting the two Senate seats held by Democrats Gary Peters of Michigan and Tina Smith of Minnesota, who are also retiring.
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