Chris Pappas, a Democrat from Manchester, won New Hampshire’s open U.S. Senate seat on Nov. 3, 2026 C.E. He is the first openly gay man elected to the Senate, the Concord Monitor reported. The Associated Press called the race, and Republican John E. Sununu conceded.
At a glance
- Result: Pappas beat Sununu, a former senator, and kept the seat in Democratic hands. Early returns showed him with about 60% of the vote.
- History: Tammy Baldwin became the first openly gay person elected to the Senate in 2012. Pappas is the first man.
- Caveat: The reports reviewed gave only early returns, not final totals. Those numbers can shift.
What happened on election night
Pappas, 46, has served four terms in the U.S. House, representing New Hampshire’s 1st District. He also served on the state Executive Council, according to AP. He ran for the seat of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat who chose not to run again.
Sununu is 62 and served one term in the Senate before losing to Shaheen in 2008. President Trump endorsed him in the primary. Sununu conceded at 8:15 p.m. to about 100 supporters at the McIntyre Ski Area and said, “It is not our night,” the Concord Monitor reported.
Fox News reported Pappas at 60.6% to Sununu’s 37.6% with about 19% of the vote counted. That was an early count, so the final margin may differ.
Sununu called Pappas a “career politician,” AP reported. Pappas said the race was about “Team New Hampshire versus Team Trump.”
Pappas spoke at his family’s restaurant, the Puritan Backroom, in Manchester. He said voters “simply have had enough,” the Concord Monitor reported.
Why Chris Pappas’s win matters
The Senate has had LGBTQ members for only a short time. Baldwin, of Wisconsin, won in 2012, according to Keen News Service. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona won in 2018 as the first openly bisexual senator, the Advocate reported.
Pappas adds a new first to that list. The claim is narrow, because Baldwin was already the first openly gay person. His is the first openly gay man.
He was also already New Hampshire’s first openly gay member of Congress, according to his campaign biography. New Hampshire has voted Democratic for president since 2004, AP reported.
What Pappas campaigned on
The Concord Monitor said Pappas rarely discussed the milestone during the campaign. He did not mention it in his
