Photo credit: Chris Pappas for Senate
By BallotWire
11/04/2026
The Wire: Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas won New Hampshire’s open U.S. Senate seat Tuesday, defeating Republican former Sen. John E. Sununu by 13.7 points and becoming the first openly gay man elected to the chamber.
Why it counts: Pappas kept a competitive open seat in Democratic hands and denied Republicans a pickup they had hoped for, part of the sweep that returned the Senate to Democratic control. His win also breaks a barrier no openly gay male Senate candidate had crossed, following Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin, who in 2012 became the first openly gay person elected to the Senate.
The margin: Pappas defeated Sununu by 13.7 points. A Sununu win would have marked one of the longest gaps for a returning senator, some 18 years after he lost this same seat to the now-retiring Shaheen in 2008.
The fine print: The seat opened with the retirement of Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. Pappas, 46, has represented New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District since 2019 and was already the first openly gay person the state sent to Congress. His decision to run for the Senate opened up a competitive race for his House seat.
On the record: In his victory speech, Pappas framed the result as a rebuke of corporate interests and of a president he said was indifferent to the people being hurt by health care cuts, tariffs and war.
The counter: National Republicans had cast the race as a contest between a problem-solver in Sununu and a Washington-aligned Pappas, accusing the congressman of catering to party leadership. Notably, Sununu did not raise Pappas’ identity during the campaign, a moment of civility in a cycle marked elsewhere by sharply personal attacks.
The backdrop: New Hampshire voters again showed a willingness to split their tickets, reelecting Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte on the same night they sent a slate of Democrats to Washington.
Looking ahead: Pappas will be sworn in with the new Congress in January and will serve a full six-year term.