Chris Pappas says his New Hampshire Senate campaign is not assuming victory, even though CBS News rates the state as leaning Democratic. He is using the remaining 23 days to reach independent and swing voters, energize his base, and contact Republicans, citing the state’s purple status and lack of early voting options. His opponent, former Sen. John Sununu, brings prior congressional service and a prominent political family. Pappas has also framed the contest around Senate control, economic priorities, and immigration enforcement, while several of those points remain campaign claims rather than established outcomes. The race proceeds toward Election Day, and the report provides no final result.
TLDR: Pappas says New Hampshire’s Senate contest remains competitive despite a rating that favors Democrats, and he plans outreach through the final 23 days. The race pits the sitting House member against former Sen. John Sununu and could affect Senate control.
Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas says his campaign is treating New Hampshire’s Senate race as competitive, despite an assessment from CBS News that the state is leaning Democratic. Speaking Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Pappas said his campaign is “taking nothing for granted” with Election Day approaching. He is running against former Republican Sen. John Sununu in a contest that could affect which party controls the Senate.
Pappas’s stated rationale is straightforward: New Hampshire is a purple state, he said, and it does not offer early voting options. Those conditions make it necessary, in his view, to keep campaigning through Election Day rather than assume the race is settled. He said the campaign has 23 days to reach independent and swing voters, energize its base, and appeal to Republicans.
Pappas has represented New Hampshire in the House since 2019. Sununu previously served in the Senate and House, and Republicans see the open seat as a possible opportunity after Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen announced she would not seek reelection. The election therefore carries stakes beyond the candidates themselves: the outcome could contribute to determining control of the Senate.
The available polling characterization in the report is CBS News’s rating of New Hampshire as leaning Democratic. That assessment does not make the contest certain, and Pappas himself has stressed the need to keep working. He pointed to the 2016 Senate race, which came down to just over 1,000 votes, as an example of how narrow a New Hampshire result can be.
Sununu brings an established political name in the state. He is the son of former Gov. John H. Sununu and the brother of former Gov. Chris Sununu. He previously represented New Hampshire in the House and Senate, losing his reelection bid to Shaheen in 2008. Pappas acknowledged Sununu’s experience and family profile while arguing that voters should look ahead rather than return to what he called failed politicians and failed ideas.
Sununu has a record of breaking with President Donald Trump and has distanced himself from the president as he campaigns to return to the Senate. The report also describes the campaign taking place amid an unpopular war with Iran and high gas prices. Pappas nevertheless linked Sununu’s candidacy to the president’s broader agenda, saying Trump had urged voters to treat him as being on the ballot through candidates such as Sununu.
That argument is a campaign claim, not a description of a formal change in the candidates’ roles. Pappas said a Republican Senate majority would make it harder to hold the administration to account and address what he called a culture of corruption in Washington. He also presented the race as connected to efforts to lower costs for New Hampshire families. The report does not provide independent evidence evaluating those claims.
When asked about Democratic priorities if the party won control of both the House and Senate, Pappas emphasized economic concerns facing workers and the middle class. He said Democrats would build on a housing bill passed to invest in affordable housing stock, work to end the war and lower energy prices, and seek to restore health care cuts. He said those cuts were causing thousands of Granite Staters to lose health insurance and making access to care harder. These were priorities he described for a possible Democratic majority, not actions promised as already completed.
On immigration enforcement, Pappas said he favors reforms and using available leverage to rein in what he described as abuses by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Other Democrats, according to the report, have called for the agency to be disbanded entirely. Pappas said enforcement should target the worst criminals who violate the law while respecting due process rights and recognizing immigrants as part of the broader American community. His remarks present a distinction between reforming enforcement and abolishing the agency.
For voters, the immediate practical impact described is the campaign’s timetable and its focus on reaching different groups. Pappas said there are 23 days of work left before Election Day, and he identified independent and swing voters, the Democratic base, and Republicans as audiences the campaign intends to reach. New Hampshire’s lack of early voting options is part of his explanation for the urgency. The report gives no campaign spending figures, voter forms, new compliance rules, or specific enforcement deadlines beyond that election countdown.
The next step is the remaining campaign period and then the vote, with the Senate majority among the stakes. Pappas has made his case about the economy, the administration, and immigration enforcement; Sununu is seeking a return to the Senate. The reported race rating leans Democratic, but Pappas says the campaign will continue its outreach through the final 23 days. Election results will determine the outcome, and no final result is reported here.
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