Democrat Chris Pappas wins New Hampshire Senate race to become first out gay senator

Pappas focused campaign against Republican John Sununu on serving as a bulwark against Trump administration

Chris Pappas, the four-term Democratic congressman, has won New Hampshire’s US Senate race, protecting the open seat from a Republican flip in a closely fought contest against John Sununu, the former senator.

Pappas, 46, is a centrist voice in the US House who has at times broken with his party on major legislation. He focused his Senate campaign on serving as a bulwark against the Trump administration, which is unpopular in the Granite State. Pappas will be the first out gay man to serve in the US Senate.

The race became a late source of anxiety for Democrats, with Pappas, a moderate, locked in a neck-and-neck battle with Sununu to succeed Jeanne Shaheen, the retiring Democratic senator.

Pappas secured endorsements from several prominent Democrats and portrayed Sununu, who once called Donald Trump a “loser”, as a faux moderate who would ultimately rubber-stamp the president’s agenda. Pappas sought to capitalize on the Trump administration’s low approval ratings, highlighting a range of unpopular policies on the campaign trail, from the war against Iran to Medicaid cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Meanwhile, Sununu – who represented New Hampshire in the Senate before losing his seat in 2008 – pitched himself as an independent-minded candidate. He worked to put distance between himself and Trump, despite securing the president’s endorsement. Sununu criticized the war in Iran, accused the administration of not doing enough to support Ukraine and even claimed in a recent campaign ad that he had “never met” the president.