Republican John E. Sununu and Democrat Chris Pappas won their respective Senate primaries in New Hampshire on Tuesday, setting up a general election contest that could decide which party controls the upper chamber next year. The two will compete to replace outgoing Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who announced her retirement after three terms. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to retake the Senate, which Republicans currently control, making New Hampshire one of the races the party cannot afford to lose.
Sununu, 61, defeated seven opponents in the Republican primary, including Scott Brown, a former senator from Massachusetts who later moved to New Hampshire and served as US ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during Donald Trump’s first term. Sununu served one term in the Senate from 2003 to 2009 and is part of a political dynasty that includes his father and brother, both former governors. Trump endorsed him earlier this year. That endorsement came despite Sununu’s past criticism. In a 2024 op-ed, Sununu called Trump a “loser” and backed Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary.
On the campaign trail, Sununu has tried to create distance 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 could matter in a state where Trump’s approval rating sits at 38 percent.
“Chris Pappas has three main qualities: ineffective, partisan and out of touch with New Hampshire,” Sununu said at a victory party.
Pappas is a popular centrist. He 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.
Manzur, a democratic socialist who supports Medicare for All and higher taxes on mega-corporations and the ultra-wealthy, gained on Pappas in recent weeks. She fell short. She criticized Pappas for his relationship with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and cast 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.
Support for Israel played a large role in the primary. Pappas 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, pointing instead to a “broad-based effort” of individual contributors. Pappas sought to tie Sununu to Trump during his campaign. “While New Hampshire families are struggling to make ends meet, John Sununu has thrown his lot in with Donald Trump and supports the policies that cater to big corporations and billionaires while they make life harder for Granite Staters,” Pappas said.
Some Democrats worry New Hampshire could become a sleeper risk. Republicans control the state legislature but have not won a Senate race since 2010, when Kelly Ayotte, now the governor, captured a seat. While New Hampshire has largely elected Republicans for state government and Democrats for Congress, the GOP views the race as an opportunity to gain a foothold in New England. Kamala Harris won the state in the 2024 presidential election by a margin of 2.78 percentage points over Trump. Kristen Cianci, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, said 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 said in a statement.
House and governor races
Stefany Shaheen, daughter of the retiring senator, won the Democratic nomination for the first Congressional District, defeating retired Marine Maura Sullivan in a tight primary. She will compete for the seat left open by Pappas. On the Republican side, political newcomer Anthony DiLorenzo won the GOP primary, defeating three other candidates after receiving an endorsement from Trump. In the second Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Maggie Goodlander defeated progressive challenger Paige Beauchemin and will seek a second term. She will face Lily Tang Williams, who won the Republican primary in her third attempt for the seat and was the GOP nominee in the 2024 elections.
Republican Kelly Ayotte dominated the state gubernatorial race, defeating two little-known challengers. The former US senator and state attorney general is seeking a second two-year term. Cinde Warmington ran unopposed. She secured the Democratic nomination.