CONCORD, New Hampshire — Democratic U.S. Representative Chris Pappas won New Hampshire's open U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday night, November 3, 2026, defeating former Republican Senator John E. Sununu in a race the Associated Press called for Pappas as the count moved through the evening. In the AP count available as this story was filed, Pappas led with 140,492 votes to Sununu's 94,935 — about 59.7 per cent to 40.3 per cent — with 104 of the state's 318 precincts reporting and roughly a third of the estimated vote in. It is a hold, not a flip, but it is one Republicans had openly targeted, and it keeps a must-keep seat in Democratic hands on a night when control of the Senate is being decided state by state.
Source: Associated Press election results, New Hampshire U.S. Senate
Reuters, reporting the same projections, said Pappas' victory 'denied Republicans a pickup' in New Hampshire and preserved 'a crucial Democratic seat as the party fights to take control of the chamber.' Republicans went into Tuesday holding the Senate 53–47, so Democrats need a net gain of four seats to take the majority — arithmetic that required them to defend every vulnerable seat they already held, starting with this one. Pappas will succeed Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who is retiring after 18 years in the seat.
Source: Reuters, via 94.1 Duke FM
A history-making win
The result also makes national history. As ENM News reported, Pappas will become the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate — a milestone in a race that drew heavy attention far beyond New Hampshire's borders. Pappas, a moderate Democratic member of the U.S. House from the Manchester area who has represented the state's 1st Congressional District, had been recruited for this run precisely because of his record of winning competitive races in a state that regularly swings between the parties.
Source: ENM News
His opponent carried one of the most famous names in New Hampshire politics. John E. Sununu is a former U.S. senator from what Reuters called 'a prominent New Hampshire political family' — his father was a governor of the state and a White House chief of staff, and his brother has also served as governor. Sununu was attempting a return to the Senate nearly two decades after leaving it, and Republicans hoped the family name and a strong campaign on energy costs could carry the comeback. On the night, it was not close.
Source: Reuters, via 94.1 Duke FM
The issue that defined the race: energy prices and the Iran war
Reuters reported that in this cold-weather state, high energy prices had become a major issue amid President Donald Trump's war with Iran. Pappas, the wire service said, 'blamed Trump and fellow Republicans for the Iran war, which has disrupted oil shipments and driven up gasoline and heating oil prices.' Sununu countered that increased domestic energy production would lower prices. In a state where many homes heat with oil through long winters, that argument was not abstract: heating-oil and diesel prices land directly on household budgets — and on the operating costs of the truck drivers who haul freight along the I-93 and I-95 corridors through New England, a workforce that includes many Punjabi drivers working out of the Northeast.
Source: Reuters, via 94.1 Duke FM
The Associated Press and other outlets have projected Pappas the winner from the counted vote, and Reuters reported the result on that basis. New Hampshire's towns and cities will complete their counts and the state will certify the result in the coming days; only then is the win official. Awaaz Punjab reports projections as projections.
Why this hold matters in the Senate fight
Every Democratic hold changes the map of what is still possible. With Georgia held by Jon Ossoff, North Carolina flipped by Roy Cooper and New Hampshire now held by Pappas, the Democratic path to a majority runs through the battleground races still being counted on Tuesday night — Michigan, Maine, Texas and Ohio among them — while Republicans must now flip one more seat than they needed at the start of the night to protect their 53–47 majority. None of those big questions was settled when this race was called, and Awaaz Punjab's USA desk is reporting each major call separately as it lands.
Source: Reuters, via 94.1 Duke FM
What happens next
New Hampshire election officials will finish counting, including any outstanding absentee ballots, and the result will be certified by the state. Pappas is expected to be sworn in with the new Congress in January 2027 for a full six-year Senate term, as Shaheen's retirement takes effect. His House seat will then be filled under New Hampshire law. The larger question — which party controls the U.S. Senate for the final two years of Trump's second term — will be answered by the close races still counting in the Midwest and West, some of which may take days.