unionleader.com · Kevin Landrigan Union Leader Staff · September 9, 2026
Sununu, Pappas cruise to NH Senate primary wins, setting up marquee fall race | State | unionleader.com
# Sununu, Pappas cruise to NH Senate primary wins, setting up marquee fall race
- By Kevin Landrigan Union Leader Staff
#### Kevin Landrigan
Senior Political Reporter
- Author email (klandrigan@unionleader.com) - Sep 8, 2026 - Sep 8, 2026 Updated 43 mins ago
Buy Now John Sununu waves after giving a victory speech at McIntyre Ski Area in Manchester on Tuesday night. DAVID LANE/UNION LEADER
New Hampshire primary voters have served up what should be the closest U.S. Senate election here in a decade by nominating former Sen. John E. Sununu, a Rye Republican, to face off against four-term, Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas of Manchester.
The showdown should rival the epic battle of 2016 when two-term Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan of Newfields barely unseated one-term, GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte of Nashua.
For the GOP, New Hampshire has become a welcome escape valve, a seat that it could flip in a year in which Republicans are having to play defense to try and hold onto seats in the red states of Texas, Ohio and Alaska.
Buy Now Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) waves as his partner, Van, looks on following his victory speech in his primary win at the Puritan in Manchester on Tuesday night. DAVID LANE/UNION LEADER
Sununu responded by accusing Pappas of opposing some of the biggest federal tax cuts in American history while serving as a toady of the House Democratic establishment, especially under former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“I want to thank everybody for all their support. It has been a fun journey,” said Brown at his Manchester campaign offices. “This is how you do it in New Hampshire. You fight hard and if you come up short, you close ranks.”
In her remarks to supporters, Manzur didn’t endorse Pappas but said it’s pivotal to stop the Trump policies and oppose Sununu’s election and that she would be talking with Pappas in the coming days.
Back in 2002, Sununu, then a three-term House member, took on Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., who had embarrassed himself and his state by leaving the GOP to wage a quixotic, third-party White House run in 2000.
During this race, Brown insisted while he was the New Hampshire transplant having moved here permanently in 2013, it was Sununu who abandoned the state and spent much of his time in D.C.’s tony suburbs.
Manzur, 54, spent much of the campaign trying to prosecute Pappas as a too-friendly ally to Israel, buying billboard space in downtown Manchester to criticize his backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
On several occasions, Pappas signaled through Washington, D.C., media outlets that bosses in his own party must not assume the seat will remain in Democratic hands unless they make that outcome a priority this fall.
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