With a Sununu running for Senate, Democrats warn against 'sleeping on New Hampshire'

Former Sen. John E. Sununu’s comeback attempt in New Hampshire has Democrats there warning about a tougher-than-expected Senate race that could complicate the party’s effort to flip control of the chamber next year

Former Sen. John E. Sununu’s comeback attempt in New Hampshire has Democrats there warning about a tougher-than-expected Senate race that could complicate the party’s effort to flip control of the chamber next year.

Sununu — a Republican who served one Senate term two decades ago and whose younger brother, Chris, was more recently the state’s popular four-term governor — jumped into the race last month.

The GOP establishment quickly rallied around Sununu in a primary that also includes Scott Brown, who served as an ambassador in President Donald Trump’s first term and as a senator from neighboring Massachusetts in the early 2010s.

Democrats are likely to counter with Rep. Chris Pappas for a seat that is up for grabs next year after Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen, who beat Sununu in 2008, decided against seeking re-election. Mindful that their party’s recruiting windfalls in Maine, North Carolina and Ohio have brought more attention to those 2026 Senate battlegrounds, Democrats fear New Hampshire could be lost in the national shuffle.

“I think people are sleeping on New Hampshire nationally, and that’s really foolish,” said Aaron Jacobs, who managed Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan’s 2022 re-election effort there and ran the state campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris last year.