New Hampshire voters head to the polls Tuesday for primaries that will set up a closely watched Senate contest – a vulnerable open seat Democrats must defend if they are to have any shot at reclaiming the upper chamber.
The race opened when Jeanne Shaheen, 79, the state’s three‑term incumbent Democratic senator, announced her retirement. Congressman Chris Pappas, who represents New Hampshire’s first district, is seeking the nomination and enters the final stretch with a clear financial edge: more than $4m cash on hand, according to his latest filings. But his main challenger, Dr Karishma Manzur – a scientist and progressive activist with no experience holding public office – has gained ground.
If he wins the primary, Pappas, 46, is likely to face the Donald Trump-endorsed former senator John E Sununu, who is seeking a return to the seat he once held and is part of a political dynasty that includes his father and brother, both former governors.
“This is the kind of place where you can’t just run a bunch of TV ads and expect to win,” Pappas told the Guardian. “You’ve got to meet people where they are. We’re finding support in corners you might not expect – including from people who voted for Trump last time but are open to a conversation about moving the country forward.”
A popular centrist, Pappas has served in the House since 2019 and has crossed the aisle at various points. He calls himself “battle‑tested” and has consolidated establishment backing, earning endorsements from leading Democratic lawmakers and former vice‑president Kamala Harris. His family’s name also carries weight in New Hampshire: the Pappases own the Puritan Backroom, the century‑old Manchester restaurant famed for allegedly inventing the chicken tender and long embedded in the state’s retail‑politics circuit.
Sununu, 61, is the clear frontrunner in the GOP primary, though he faces Scott Brown – another former senator who represented Massachusetts, later moved to New Hampshire, and served as US ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during Donald Trump’s first term.
The president threw his support behind Sununu earlier this year despite the former lawmaker’s past criticism of the president, including a 2024 op‑ed in which Sununu called Trump a “loser” and backed Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary.
On the trail, Sununu has tried to show daylight between himself and the administration, criticizing Trump’s tariff policy, urging Congress to rein in executive power, and questioning the decision to launch military action in Iran. He told New Hampshire Public Radio it was “a tactical mistake” to go to war “without having a plan for protecting the strait of Hormuz”. That posture may matter in a state where Trump’s approval rating sits at 38%.
Sununu and Brown did not respond to the Guardian’s interview requests.
Kristen Cianci, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee (RNC), said that Sununu was a “strong candidate” who was “well positioned to beat out Pappas” in a general election. “While Democrats have been consumed by infighting, Republicans have been laser-focused on real issues like affordability and security,” she added in a statement.
Some Democrats worry New Hampshire could become a sleeper risk – a state where Republicans control the legislature but haven’t won a Senate race since 2010, when Kelly Ayotte, the now-governor, captured a seat. Pappas insists he’s not taking anything for granted, and is running like he’s “10 votes behind” at all times – especially in a midterm cycle where progressive challengers have scored surprise primary wins across the country. This, however, hasn’t fazed Pappas who says he is running as a “New Hampshire Democrat” who knows his state.
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But Manzur, who supports Medicare for All and higher taxes on mega‑corporations and the ultra‑wealthy, has repeatedly highlighted the money Pappas has received from donors aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. She casts him as milquetoast and ineffective. “I was tired of choosing between the lesser of two evils and still seeing so much pain and suffering right here in my state,” she said, calling both Pappas and Sununu “corporate politicians”.
“One has a ‘D’ after their name. One has an ‘R’ after their name … neither of them have been able to address the real needs of the people,” Manzur added.
Pappas, for his part, has long backed US aid to Israel but told the Guardian that Benjamin Netanyahu was “not a trustworthy ally of the US” and said he hoped the Israeli prime minister is ousted in the country’s October election. Pappas noted he has rejected corporate Pac money in this race but did not directly address his support from pro‑Israel donors, instead pointing to a “broad‑based effort” of individual contributors that have supported his Senate bid.
Pappas says he would support the Democratic nominee if he loses. “We need a big tent and new voices in the party to win tough elections,” he said at last week’s Democratic debate.
Manzur declined to make the same commitment. “I’m focused on winning,” she told the Guardian. “I’m not going to get into these discussions – they’re intentionally distracting from the people’s movement.”
Further down the ballot, the Democratic primary for Pappas’s House seat has drawn eight candidates, with Stefany Shaheen – daughter of the outgoing senator – and Maura Sullivan, a former Obama administration official, leading the field. The district, long purple, has been reliably blue since 2017. Republicans now see it as flippable, and Trump has endorsed Anthony DiLorenzo, a businessman who owns several car dealerships, in the GOP race.