This is a developing story and will be updated as fresh results become available.
New Hampshire voters have selected Democratic Congressman Chis Pappas and former Republican U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu to face off in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. It’s a contest leaders in both parties see as essential to deciding control of the U.S. Senate.
As of 8:20 p.m. Tuesday, Pappas had 62% of the vote, against Karishma Manzur, with 27% of votes tallied. Sununu had 70% against 25% for Scott Brown, with 16% of votes tallied.
The race is now down to two candidates whose histories in state politics stretch back decades.
Pappas has represented New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District for four terms. He also served as state representative, country treasurer for Hillsborough County, and executive councilor. He and his family own the Puritan Backroom, a restaurant that has been an institution in Manchester for decades. Few Democrats in New Hampshire are as well-known and well-liked by the party’s mainstream, and from the moment Pappas declared his candidacy more than a year ago, his nomination was seen by Democratic leaders, here and in D.C., as inevitable.
But despite the final margin, Pappas’ win over Manzur, a scientist and progressive activist from Exeter, was tougher than expected, even with Pappas enjoying a massive advantage in both name recognition and campaign cash.
Manzur, a political newcomer, promised to push for Medicare for All, a $25 federal minimum wage, and higher taxes on the wealthy. Throughout her campaign, Manzur also focused on ending U.S. support for Israel, which she says has committed genocide in Gaza. Manzur also repeatedly hammered Pappas for his longstanding ties to the American Israel Political Action Committee, or AIPAC, which has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns over the years.
Manzur said party leaders in New Hampshire worked to thwart her bid to challenge Pappas, but dogged campaigning – she claims to have put 28,000 miles on a campaign van she often drove herself – as well as support from Democrats disillusioned by their party’s mainstream, lifted Manzur’s bid, making the race far more competitive than early expectations.
Pappas’ campaign worked to cast him as a candidate bent on reform in Washington, but also one who was pragmatic and experienced, in the mold of other successful Democrats like Shaheen and Sen. Maggie Hassan.
Pappas also got a boost from national Democrats: He finished off his primary campaign by courting voters over the weekend with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who joined Pappas separately on multiple stops during his campaign’s home stretch.
Sununu, who served in Congress from 1997 to 2003 and in the U.S. Senate from 2003 to 2009, is seen by most in his party as the strongest available Republican nominee. His primary race against Brown, who represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate from 2010 to 2012 before relocating here to run unsuccessfully for this same seat in 2014, was low-key.
Both former senators repeatedly told voters that they would be “independent” if sent back to Washington, but from the start, the campaign felt like a mismatch.
One reason Sununu had an early clear advantage was name recognition. Due to his own political career as well as those of his brother, former Gov. Chris Sununu, and his father, former Gov. John H. Sununu, his surname has been synonymous with GOP politics in New Hampshire for decades.
Another reason for the mismatch was Sununu’s support from President Donald Trump and national Republican leaders.
Sununu had once been a vocal critic of the president, but Trump endorsed Sununu early on, and without Trump’s endorsement, Brown faced little chance of overcoming Sununu’s advantages in name recognition and fundraising.
Sununu himself has largely avoided talking about Trump’s backing. He’s said he disagreed with Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran, and offered muted criticism of Trump's tariff-driven trade policies.
But mostly Sununu has trained his focus on criticizing Pappas, who he says votes almost exclusively with leaders in his party, and favors higher taxes.
