The battleground New Hampshire Senate race is set between Republican former Sen. John Sununu and Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, NBC News projects, after both prevailed in their primaries Tuesday night.
Pappas defeated scientist Karishma Manzur, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, in his primary. But it appears he could fall short of the support from primary voters that the Pappas campaign touted in recent internal polling, raising questions about whether the Democratic Party can come together in a few short months of general election campaigning.
The race could be key to the fight for the Senate majority in November. Republicans are confident that Sununu, a member of a well-known political family, can put the race in play. But Democrats dismiss GOP optimism in a state that President Donald Trump has never won.
Trump endorsed Sununu in the primary against former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who also served as an ambassador during Trump’s first term.
First elected to the House in 2018, Pappas has long been viewed as the frontrunner in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. And Pappas had already started to focus on the likely general election contest against Sununu, launching an attack against Sununu in mid-August.
“In Congress, Sununu gave huge tax breaks to pharma companies and sided with the insurance industry, and then he went to work for them and made $35 million,” Pappas said in the ad. “In Washington, I’m taking on this kind of corruption, refusing corporate PAC money and fighting to lower costs.”
Republicans, meanwhile, have already begun to attack Pappas. One Nation, the non-profit arm of the GOP super PAC Senate leadership fund, launched an ad knocking Pappas on taxes. The spot alleges the congressman “gave out tax breaks to New Yorkers for their million dollar homes” when he supported a sweeping climate and social safety net measure in 2021.
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