The general election race to replace Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, could help determine control of the U.S. Senate.
Page A2From§Eachthe breakfast edition — 9 September 2026
New Hampshire Democrats spend weeks warned of a socialism problem, nominate the senator's daughter.
As it ran on the front
The word out of Concord for weeks was electability: New Hampshire Democrats had a socialism problem, and it was going to cost them the Senate seat Jeanne Shaheen is leaving. On August 27th, former Senator John Sununu, running to reclaim his old seat, said he had no plans to attend the party's own midterm convention. On August 31st, Kamala Harris endorsed Chris Pappas ahead of his primary field. On September 4th — four days before Granite State voters went to the polls — Inside Elections moved the race from "tilts Democrat" to "toss-up," citing the momentum behind Sununu.
Then came September 8th, and the socialism problem answered for itself. Chris Pappas beat democratic socialist Karishma Manzur in the Democratic primary. On the Republican side, Sununu beat Scott Brown, the former Massachusetts senator and U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand, for the nomination. The general election is now set: Pappas against Sununu, exactly the matchup the forecasters had circled, for the seat Shaheen is vacating.…
…(cont) But the Senate line wasn't the only line on that ballot. One race down, in the House primary to replace Chris Pappas, Stefany Shaheen — the outgoing senator's own daughter — was running behind in what sparse polling existed against Maura Sullivan, the state Democratic Party's own vice chair. She won anyway, narrowly enough that The New York Times filed it as one of five takeaways from the night, in the same dispatch that named Sununu and Pappas.
Count what actually happened. The Senate seat goes to a contested general election between two men who've already held federal office. The House seat opening beneath it — the one created by Pappas moving up — goes to the daughter of the senator moving out, elected in a primary the party's own vice chair was favored to win. New Hampshire Democrats spent weeks being warned their socialism problem could cost them a seat in Congress. They kept one. It just wasn't the one anybody was watching.
“They spent weeks running the socialism scare on the Senate line so nobody watched the House line right under it, where the outgoing senator's own daughter just knocked off the state party's vice chair. Same last name, different address on the ballot — the seat moves down the row, it doesn't leave the family.”
“Come on, Inside Elections called this one four days out — that's not a machine protecting anybody, that's just good polling catching Sununu's momentum before the voters did. As for the House seat, Stefany Shaheen beat the state party's own vice chair in an actual primary, defying the polling that had her down — that's not a coronation, that's — okay, that one's a tougher sell.”
The receipts
Stefany Shaheen, whose mother is retiring from the Senate, edged out veteran Maura Sullivan in a bruising primary, defying sparse polling that had her down in the competitive contest.
Rep. Chris Pappas defeated democratic socialist Karishma Manzur in the Democratic primary, while former Sen. John Sununu defeated Scott Brown in the GOP contest.
Stefany Shaheen, a health tech entrepreneur and daughter of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), is projected to narrowly defeat state Democratic Party Vice Chair Maura Sullivan in the bitter Democratic primary for outgoing Rep. Chris Pappas’s (D-N.H.) seat with 90% of precincts reporting, according to Decision Desk HQ.
The U.S. Senate race will feature familiar faces: former Senator John E. Sununu and Chris Pappas, a four-term congressman.
· Kamala Harris endorses Chris Pappas in New Hampshire Senate race from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026
· New Hampshire Senate GOP front-runner to skip midterm election convention from the morgue, 27 Aug 2026
· Inside Elections shifts New Hampshire Senate race to toss-up in favor of John Sununu from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.