CIVPAC endorses Representative Chris Pappas in New Hampshire’s September 8 Democratic primary for the United States Senate.
Pappas is seeking the open seat of retiring Senator Jeanne Shaheen. He faces progressive activist Karishma Manzur and state Representative Jared Sullivan for the Democratic nomination.
Manzur is running a “people-powered” progressive campaign focused on universal health care, child care, environmental protection, campaign-finance reform and a less interventionist foreign policy. Sullivan is a young state legislator and working-class candidate who has continued holding service jobs while serving in New Hampshire’s minimally paid Legislature. He emphasizes housing supply, economic insecurity and reforming a political system that makes public office far more accessible to wealthy candidates than to ordinary workers.
The Case for Pappas
Pappas, however, has demonstrated that he can convert principles into bipartisan legislation and win difficult elections n a closely divided state.
A member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, Pappas has been ranked among the more independent House Democrats. He has worked with Republicans on border enforcement, veterans’ benefits, small-business research, housing supply, congressional ethics, law enforcement and national security.
His record on border policy illustrates his approach. Pappas supports enforcing immigration law and improving coordination among law-enforcement agencies at the southern border. At the same time, he has opposed abusive or indiscriminate immigration enforcement and favors a secure, humane and rules-based system.
That is substantially closer to CIVPAC’s position than either open-border rhetoric or mass deportation.
Pappas has also been particularly effective on veterans’ issues. His bipartisan legislation has addressed predatory companies that charge veterans unauthorized fees, expanded employment opportunities and sought to correct inequities in benefits for combat-disabled veterans.
On government reform, he has supported stronger congressional ethics enforcement, restrictions on stock trading and penalties for former members of Congress who receive taxpayer-funded pensions while becoming paid lobbyists. These proposals recognize that public distrust is not irrational: government must earn confidence by imposing meaningful rules on its own officials.
CIVPAC does not agree with every Pappas proposal. We dislike of temporary gas-tax holidays, attempts to prohibit vaguely defined price-gouging practices and regulations that assume high prices result from corporate misconduct. These kinds of policies, intended to lower costs, can instead reduce supply and increase the real cost of goods.
But those disagreements do not erase the broader pattern of his service.
Pappas supports a strong but accountable American role in the world, bipartisan national-security cooperation and continued engagement through NATO and other alliances. He has also opposed Trump’s broad tariffs, which are particularly damaging to an export-dependent state such as New Hampshire.
The general election is likely to be highly competitive. Pappas has already won repeated difficult House races and begins the Senate contest with a substantially stronger organization and statewide position than either of his primary opponents.
Experience alone is not sufficient reason to nominate someone. In Pappas’s case, however, experience is accompanied by independence, bipartisan productivity and an ability to represent a politically divided electorate.
CIVPAC endorses Chris Pappas in the Democratic primary for the United States Senate from New Hampshire.