Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas has added another major title to his political résumé, defeating Republican challenger John E. Sununu in the U.S. Senate race.
Sununu conceded at 8:15 p.m., with Pappas holding a commanding 60% of the votes with less than a quarter of the ballots counted. While a small portion of the total turnout had been tallied, the difference was too much for Sununu to make up.
Speaking to supporters at his family’s restaurant, the Puritan Backroom in Manchester, Pappas sought to send a unifying message.
“Whether you’re a Republican, an independent, or a Democrat, tonight’s victory is for you, because this is a victory for team New Hampshire over the broken status quo that is hurting all of us just the same,” Pappas said.
Pappas is the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate, though he has hardly touched on that during the campaign and did not address it in his victory speech.
The Democratic crowd erupted in cheers as they watched Sununu deliver his concession speech.
“It is not our night,” Sununu told a crowd of about 100 at the McIntyre Ski Area in Manchester. Even in a swing state like New Hampshire and with the dynastic family name behind him, Sununu could not overcome the swell of support for Democrats across the country.
The race could tip the balance of power in Washington for the next two years.
New Hampshire was one of the country’s most closely watched Senate races, with Democrats needing a net gain of at least four seats in Tuesday’s midterms to take back the chamber from Republicans.
Pappas was seen early on as the heir apparent to retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. He built his campaign on four terms in the U.S. House, centering it on lowering costs, addressing the housing crisis and rooting out corporate and political corruption. He pitched himself as the candidate who would “challenge the broken ways of Washington.”
Pappas was first elected to Congress in 2018. Before that, he served on the state Executive Council and spent four years in the New Hampshire House.
Many Democratic voters said a blue vote felt like the only way to change the country’s course with soaring gas prices, affordability and divisiveness.
At the Pappas election-night party at the Puritan Backroom in Manchester, Donna Keefe said the state of the country has become hard to defend abroad. When people ask about it during their travels in Europe, Keefe said, the only word that fits is “embarrassing.”
“We are definitely going in the wrong direction,” said Keefe, who has known Pappas since he was a boy playing with her son in high school. “We need to turn things around. Growing up, we never saw this kind of division.”
Sununu previously held the seat for one term, from 2003 until he lost to Shaheen in 2008. Before that, he served in the U.S. House from 1997 to 2003. He campaigned on his record on privacy rights and on cutting taxes and regulations. Since leaving office, he has worked in the private sector and served on corporate boards.
Marlene Friedrich, a retiree who lives in Loudon, had mixed feelings about Sununu. She’s an Independent but leaned Republican this year, saying she agrees with Sununu on the issues “right down the line.” She sees him as hypocritical, like most politicians, but believes he’s the better option.
“I’m very disillusioned with Chris Pappas,” Friedrich said, referring to what she called a “credit card mentality” among Democrats on government spending. She doesn’t oppose his ideas but wonders how to pay for them. “He’s too liberal for my blood, I guess. I think John Sununu is a lot more down to earth, and I think Chris Pappas is living in a land of dreams that don’t actually have a chance of becoming reality.”
While outsiders were on the ballot elsewhere, the race featured two candidates who tried to tap into anti-establishment angst from the inside. Sununu railed against “career politicians” despite having spent three terms in the U.S. House and one in the Senate before being ousted by Shaheen in 2008.
Dan Farrell, 35, of Manchester, said he passed on Pappas in the primaries. The candidate’s backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee didn’t sit right with him.
But in Tuesday’s election, he voted for the four-term congressman.
“I think he’s a step in the right direction, and that’s one of the keys: you’re never going to find a perfect candidate,” Farrell said. “You’re going to find somebody who gets you generally where you want to go.”
New Hampshire voters haven’t elected a Republican to Congress since 2010. They also have voted for Democrats for president since 2004, though Republicans have dominated at the state level in recent years. With the win, Pappas will become the first openly gay male U.S. senator.
“Tonight, voters in New Hampshire and all across the country simply have had enough, and are demanding a change in direction,” Pappas said. “I’m ready to fight with everything I’ve got.”
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
