Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) won the New Hampshire Senate race Tuesday night, keeping a seat held for almost two decades by retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) in Democratic hands.
Pappas, a four-term House member, defeated Republican challenger John E. Sununu, holding a more than 20-point lead at the time his race was called by the Associated Press. Sununu, who held Shaheen’s seat from 2003 to 2009, promptly conceded the race during a watch party in Manchester.
“This has been an incredible campaign, but this is not our night,” Sununu told supporters.
The outcome marks a setback for Republicans, whose recruitment of Sununu made New Hampshire a top battleground and one of the few states that Democrats were truly at risk of losing this cycle.
Sununu trailed in public polling for much of the race, but he kept it competitive due to his centrist streak and the strength of his family name in New Hampshire.
Sununu is the son and brother of former governors and served for more than a decade in Congress, losing his Senate seat to Shaheen in 2008, a blue-wave election year.
The national political environment this cycle benefited Pappas, who pointed to tariffs and the war in Iran to argue that Sununu would not provide a strong enough check on President Donald Trump if elected.
Sununu distanced himself from the president but received his endorsement in the GOP primary. Sununu, in turn, attacked Pappas as a career politician who had little to show for his eight years representing the 1st Congressional District in the House.
Pappas got his start in politics as a volunteer for Shaheen’s first gubernatorial campaign and earned her backing last year. In Congress, Pappas has carefully cultivated his image as a pragmatic Democrat.
That reputation drew a surprisingly strong challenge from Karishma Manzur, a progressive, in the primary. Sununu similarly faced a challenge from his right, defeating former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown to win the GOP nomination in September, but both Sununu and Pappas prevailed by more than 30 points.
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Shaheen, a senior appropriator and major voice on foreign policy, is retiring after a long career in politics, including three two-year terms as governor and 18 years in the Senate. She was the first woman to be elected governor of New Hampshire.
With his election on Tuesday, Pappas will be the first openly gay man to represent the state in the Senate. Downballot, Shaheen’s eldest daughter, Stefany, is competing for Pappas’s House seat.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
