New Hampshire Senate Race 2026: Pappas vs. Sununu to Replace Jeanne Shaheen

Status as of 8:45 a.m. ET Sunday, Nov. 1. Candidate names, deadlines and voting rules come from the New Hampshire Secretary of State and state law. No votes have been counted.

The New Hampshire Senate race 2026 matches Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas against Republican former Sen. John E. Sununu for the seat Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen has held since winning it in 2008. This guide covers the official candidate list, the voting rules for Tuesday, and how New Hampshire counts, reports and certifies its results.

What happened

Shaheen, who was first elected to the Senate in 2008 after serving as governor, announced in 2025 that she would not seek a fourth term, The Associated Press reported. The AP describes New Hampshire as one of several states that could decide whether Democrats take control of the Senate from Republicans in the midterm elections. The state has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election since 2004, and Democrats have held all four of its seats in Congress since 2017, according to the AP.

Who is on the ballot

The Secretary of State’s 2026 general election candidate list names three candidates for United States Senator:

• Chris Pappas, Democrat, of Manchester
• John E. Sununu, Republican, of Rye
• Edmond Laplante, Constitution Party, of Richmond

Voters can see the exact ballot for their own town or ward with the sample ballot tool on the Secretary of State’s website. New Hampshire voters on Tuesday are also choosing a governor, two members of the U.S. House, state legislators and Executive Council members, the AP reported.

How the nominees got here

Both nominees won their party primaries on Sept. 8. Pappas defeated Karishma Manzur, a scientist and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, NBC News reported. The AP described Pappas as a moderate Democrat who beat a progressive challenger. Sununu defeated former Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who was an ambassador during President Donald Trump’s first term, according to NBC News. Trump endorsed Sununu in February, the AP reported.

Pappas has represented New Hampshire in the U.S. House since 2019. If elected, he would be the first openly gay U.S. senator, according to the AP. Sununu served in the House and then represented the state in the Senate from 2003 through 2008, NBC News reported. He lost his re-election bid in 2008 to Shaheen. His father and his brother both served as governor of New Hampshire.

Housing costs have risen quickly in New Hampshire in recent years, and both candidates have made affordability a central issue, the AP reported. The AP also reported that Sununu has distanced himself from Trump in recent weeks, while Pappas has stressed his independence from some Democratic Party leaders and his appeal to independent voters.

Latest development

Pappas and Sununu met for a debate in Manchester on Wednesday, Oct. 28, according to the AP. Money has been one of the biggest differences in the race. As of mid-October, Pappas had raised more than $23.7 million and Sununu $5.7 million, the AP reported. Outside groups have spent tens of millions of dollars more, and more of that money has gone to oppose Pappas than to oppose Sununu, according to the AP.

Absentee voting in New Hampshire is limited to voters who cannot vote in person because they will be away or have a physical disability, according to the Secretary of State. About 10% of ballots in the state’s 2022 election were cast early or absentee, the AP reported, meaning most voters cast their ballots in person that year. More than 620,000 votes were cast in the 2022 U.S. Senate race, according to the AP.

What the polls show

Polls are snapshots, not forecasts, and LiveNewsWorld reports only surveys with published methods. A Saint Anselm College Survey Center poll found 50% of New Hampshire likely voters backing Pappas and 43% backing Sununu, with 5% choosing another candidate and 2% unsure. The poll of 1,672 New Hampshire likely voters was conducted online Oct. 19 to 20, 2026. Respondents were cell phone users drawn at random from a sample of registered voters, and results were weighted to reflect the demographic and partisan makeup of the electorate. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points, according to the Survey Center’s published results.

The same survey found that 41% of likely voters viewed Pappas favorably and 56% unfavorably, while 40% viewed Sununu favorably and 56% unfavorably. The poll is about two weeks old, and other surveys may differ. Our 2026 midterm election polls tracker explains how to read surveys like this one.

Why it matters

The 2026 midterms will decide control of Congress, and Republicans are trying to win a Senate seat that has been held by a Democrat for about a decade and a half, the AP reported. New Hampshire voters also have a record of splitting their tickets: the state has had a Republican governor since 2017 while sending only Democrats to Congress, according to the AP. LiveNewsWorld does not publish predictions or win probabilities for this race.

What happens next

How to vote on Election Day

• Hours: Polling hours vary by community. Voters can check their polling place and hours with the Secretary of State’s Voter Information Lookup at app.sos.nh.gov.
• Photo ID: Registered voters must show an accepted ID to receive a ballot, such as a driver’s license, a non-driver ID card, a free voting-only ID from the state Division of Motor Vehicles, a U.S. armed services ID or a U.S. passport or passport card. An ID stays valid for voting for five years past its expiration date, and voters 65 or older may use an expired ID of any age, according to the Secretary of State’s Election Day voting page. The office says it updated that guidance after the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 22 stayed a lower court decision on student identification cards.
• No ID: A voter without an accepted ID is sent to the supervisors of the checklist, who decide whether an election official can confirm the voter’s identity through personal knowledge.
• Same-day registration: Eligible residents can register at their polling place on Election Day by showing proof of identity, age, U.S. citizenship and domicile, according to the Secretary of State’s Election Day registration page. There is no minimum residency period, and a voter must be in line by the time polls close.
• Absentee ballots: Requests are due by noon on Monday, Nov. 2, by mail, or by 5 p.m. that day in person. Ballots returned in person must reach the local clerk by 5 p.m. on Nov. 2, and ballots sent by mail or with a delivery agent must arrive by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, according to the Secretary of State’s Oct. 14 absentee ballot announcement.

How results are reported

New Hampshire is entirely in the Eastern time zone. Polls close at 7 p.m., 7:30 p.m. or 8 p.m. ET depending on the community, and in a few very small towns polls open at midnight and close minutes later once every voter has cast a ballot, the AP reported. Our guide to poll closing times on Election Day 2026 lists the times for every state.

Elections are run by 238 separate towns and cities, and they release results in different ways, the AP reported. Most larger communities report all or nearly all of their absentee and Election Day votes in their first update of the night. In the 2024 presidential election, the count passed 50% at 10:12 p.m. ET and reached 90% at 1:42 a.m. ET, according to the AP.

The AP declares a winner only when there is no scenario in which a trailing candidate could close the gap. For the national picture, see our guide to when 2026 midterm results will be known.

Certification and recounts

New Hampshire has no automatic recounts, the AP reported. Under state election law (RSA 660:1), any candidate may request a recount if the gap between that candidate and the declared winner is less than 20 percent of the ballots cast. The written request must reach the Secretary of State no later than the Friday after the election, which this year is Nov. 6.

The candidate asking for a recount pays a fee. For a U.S. Senate race, RSA 660:2 sets the fee at $500 if the margin is under 1 percent, $1,000 if it is between 1 and 2 percent, and $2,000 if it is between 2 and 3 percent. Above 3 percent, the candidate must also agree to pay any additional costs of the recount.

Once the time for a recount or appeal has expired, the governor issues the certificate of election to the U.S. senator-elect, under RSA 659:84. LiveNewsWorld will report New Hampshire returns as they are posted and will name the outlet behind any race call. No winner will be reported before one is declared by a named source.

Related live coverage

Follow every contested seat on our US Senate elections 2026 results page, find every guide in the US Midterm Elections 2026 hub, and get the latest Washington news on US Politics Live.

Sources

• New Hampshire Secretary of State: 2026 general election candidate list, Election Day voting and Election Day registration pages, registration deadlines page, and Oct. 14, 2026, absentee ballot announcement
• New Hampshire Revised Statutes: RSA 660:1 and 660:2 (recounts) and RSA 659:84 (certificates of election)
• The Associated Press: New Hampshire election-night guide (Oct. 30, 2026); NBC News primary coverage (Sept. 8, 2026)
• Saint Anselm College Survey Center: survey of New Hampshire likely voters, conducted Oct. 19 to 20, 2026. Sources last updated 8:45 a.m. ET Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026.