Democratic race for Pappas seat in New Hampshire grows increasingly bitter

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The last competitive Democratic House primary of the year hasn’t been shaped much by the centrist vs. progressive narrative that has dotted intraparty contests around the country this year.

What’s more noticeable is how the crowded contest for New Hampshire’s 1st District seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas has turned negative over the past month, especially between the two front-runners: Stefany Shaheen, a former Portsmouth City councilor and the daughter of retiring New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and Maura Sullivan, a Marine Corps veteran who’s making her second bid for the seat.

Shaheen has attacked Sullivan’s fundraising base, releasing an ad last month that accused her campaign of being funded by donors to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, as well as a Jeff Bezos-backed super PAC and Palantir executives. Sullivan, in turn, launched an ad that rebutted claims that she took AIPAC money and went after Shaheen’s “fancy last name.”

The clash has raised questions about whether a lane is emerging for a third candidate — Hampton Select Board Chair Carleigh Beriont — to mount a late surge to the nomination, which will be decided next week.

Sullivan, who worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Pentagon during the Obama administration, rejects the notion.

“This is a two-person race, and we are thrilled with the momentum that we are seeing,” she told reporters after a meet-and-greet event at a local ski area here Monday night.

Three primary polls have shown her pulling ahead of Shaheen, although all three showed a significant share of undecided voters.

Andrew Smith, the director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, said he saw the primary as “at least a two-and-a-half person” race, with Beriont seeking to consolidate support from the party’s left wing. She recently picked up an endorsement from state Rep. Heath Howard, who ended his campaign but will remain on the ballot.

“A lot can happen in those last couple of weeks,” Smith said. “The wild card is how well the progressive Democrats do.”

Sprint to Election Day

Eight candidates are vying for the Democratic nod in New Hampshire’s 1st District, which covers much of the eastern part of the state and includes its most populous city, Manchester. Other Democratic hopefuls include former Pentagon lawyer Christian Urrutia and former state Rep. Bill Conlin.

Before Pappas was elected in 2018, the seat had regularly switched between the parties over the previous decade, including between the same two candidates for a stretch. The district has remained competitive on the presidential level, with Kamala Harris carrying it by 2 points in 2024.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hasn’t included the 1st District on its list of seats in play, a sign that it doesn’t anticipate a competitive race this fall. Republicans, though, view the open seat as a potential pickup opportunity and the National Republican Congressional Committee has included it on its target list.

With the primary taking place on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, questions about turnout have percolated this week as the candidates criss-cross the district for house parties, ice cream socials and, on Thursday, a key debate on WMUR. New Hampshire doesn’t have early voting, although voters can request absentee ballots for various reasons.

Sullivan, who lost to Pappas in the 2018 primary, has centered her campaign around her military service.

Speaking to supporters at Monday’s event, she noted her own time fighting in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2005 and said that if she’s elected, she would get a beer with veterans from both parties to discuss common interests.

“Taking on (President Donald) Trump, or standing up to the leader of my own party and telling him I’m not voting with him, is far from the hardest thing that I will have done,” she said.

Sullivan has also formed an alliance of sorts with four other female veterans running in key House races this fall.

Dubbed the “Hellcats,” Sullivan, Cait Conley in New York’s 17th District, Rebecca Bennett in New Jersey’s 7th and JoAnna Mendoza in Arizona’s 6th text daily in a Signal chain and have drawn comparisons with the group of women with military or national security backgrounds who won key House seats in 2018. Two of them – New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Pennsylvania Rep. Chrissy Houlahan – have campaigned alongside Sullivan this summer.

Asked this week about Shaheen’s attacks on her fundraising, Sullivan told a supporter that she reached out to donors who records showed had given to New Hampshire Democrats before.

“When you don’t come from a political family … and you enter a race like this, you have to work three times as hard,” she told the supporter.

That’s a message that resonated with supporters like Sherri Harden, a Manchester resident who said she related to Sullivan’s upbringing and thought she was a “grounded” person.

“She has a depth of experience that I think that few candidates have,” she said, noting the candidate’s ROTC scholarship and military service.

Shaheen, meanwhile, has emphasized her experience serving on the Portsmouth City Council and as a health care advocate. The mother of a daughter with Type 1 diabetes, Shaheen co-founded a health care technology company and wrote a book about her family’s experience with the disease. She has backed “Medicare for All” and regularly talks about the need to overhaul the country’s health insurance system.

She has also highlighted her work fighting for cleanup operations and health screenings after harmful chemicals, also known as PFAS, were found in the water near the Pease Tradeport in Portsmouth over a decade ago.

On the tour of a lumber yard in Kingston, Shaheen spoke with the owner about the impact of tariffs on the company, which she said have hurt small businesses across the state.

“If we had a (Democratic) majority in the U.S. House, the tariffs would have never gone into effect,” she said. “Congress absolved itself of its duty to provide the kind of legislative oversight that needed to happen here.”

Shaheen hasn’t campaigned alongside her mother or featured her in campaign ads, but being the daughter of a longtime New Hampshire stalwart undoubtedly helped her enter the race with valuable name recognition. Even so, Shaheen said she was highlighting her own record throughout the campaign.

“We’re working hard to earn every vote in my own right, based on my own record of experience,” she said. “I have a track record of showing up and delivering here.”

Maggie Hassan, the state’s Democratic junior senator, endorsed her last month.

Jason Bonilla, a Manchester alderman who hosted a house party for Shaheen last weekend, said he endorsed her because of her assistance on various initiatives even when she wasn’t in office, including connecting him with an organization that went on to help a family who was struggling financially after a child’s diabetes diagnosis.

“I don’t see her mom. I see Stefany, and while the Shaheen name goes strong, Stefany has continued to prove herself,” he said.

Beriont is hoping that she’s peaking at the right time. She said she entered the race last year suspecting that Sullivan and Shaheen would eventually go negative against each other. While she identifies as a progressive and has won endorsements from progressive groups, she hasn’t been backed by the big-name outfits that helped propel democratic socialist candidates to victory in several primaries this cycle.

Beriont has trailed Sullivan, Shaheen and Urritia in fundraising, meaning she hasn’t been able to run her own campaign ads. And she’s also stayed off social media.

Instead, she’s implemented a ground game campaign to spread her message through word of mouth, although federal records show a group called the Live Free PAC dropped $49,000 on digital ads to support her campaign.

“We’ve organized effectively, and I think we’re peaking at the right time,” she said in an interview. “People are just really, really gravitating towards someone who shows up and really listens.”

GOP looks to November

While Democrats feel confident about holding the seat, four Republicans are seeking their party’s nomination for November.

Businessman Anthony DiLorenzo has Trump’s endorsement, and the NRCC added him to its MAGA Majority program for strong recruits earlier in the summer. Businesswoman Hollie Noveletsky, who sought the GOP nod for the seat two years ago, and state Rep. Brian Cole are also running. The GOP ballot also includes two candidates who have dropped out and endorsed DiLorenzo.

Republicans are hopeful the district will return to its purple past, and they’re likely to cast the eventual Democratic nominee as far too liberal for the seat no matter who wins.

“This Democrat primary, in a GOP-trending district, has turned into a full-blown race to the left,” NRCC spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole said in a statement. “Whoever emerges victorious will be broke, battered, and wearing the progressive crown. And it won’t fly with Granite Staters in November.”

_____