New Hampshire rejects GOP nostalgia and recycled candidates
By Josie Calloway · Reporting from Pittsburgh ·
Jeanne Shaheen is stepping down, and the Republicans are treating her open Senate seat like a garage sale of political relics.
Recycled Men and the Nostalgia Trap
Jeanne Shaheen is stepping down, and the Republicans are treating her open Senate seat like a garage sale of political relics. On September 8, New Hampshire voters are being asked to choose between a few flavors of the same old failure. According to PBS, the GOP primary is a scramble featuring former senators John Sununu and Scott Brown—men who think a resume from twenty years ago is a viable platform for 2026.
The Democratic side is a different kind of struggle. Rep. Chris Pappas, a moderate and member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, holds a 13-point lead over Karishma Manzur, a scientist and democratic socialist, per a University of New Hampshire poll cited by CNBC. In my experience in the ER, the loudest person in the room isn't always the one who knows how to stop the bleeding. Manzur is the quietest patient here, but she’s the only one talking about the structural rot—the kind of science-backed, systemic overhaul we need when the profit motive is strangling the bedside.
The Independent Mask is Slipping
Scott Brown is running the same play he used in the United States Senate election in Massachusetts 2010. He’s claiming to be "the only truly independent candidate" who can vote with a "clear conscience," as PBS reports. That was the magic trick in 2010: put a Republican in a truck, call him an independent, and sneak into a blue state. But the mechanism of that victory relied on a specific kind of New England hesitation that has since evaporated.
The strongest case for Brown is that he can peel off moderate voters who find the current GOP too volatile. But that’s a fantasy. The record shows New Hampshire hasn't elected a GOP senator since 2010, and hasn't voted for a Republican president since 2000. This isn't a "swing" state anymore; it's a state that has seen the GOP's trajectory and decided it doesn't want to go there. Like the shift we saw in the United States Senate election in Georgia 2020, the electorate is finally prioritizing the baseline of public health and infrastructure over the performance of "independence."
A Dynasty of Defaults
While the Senate race is a battle of ghosts, the 1st Congressional District is a battle of legacies. CBS News notes that Stefany Shaheen, daughter of the retiring senator, is fighting Maura Sullivan, a former VA official. It’s a race between a name and a resume. Meanwhile, in the governor's race, Kelly Ayotte is seeking a second term, while Cindie Warmington runs unopposed for the Democrats.
The GOP is betting on the "America First" brand. Donald Trump has given his "complete and total endorsement" to Anthony DiLorenzo in the 1st District and says John Sununu will "work tirelessly" for his agenda. This is just a rerun of the United States Senate election in New Hampshire 2004, only now the party has traded policy for personality. The transition from a long-serving anchor like Shaheen creates a vacuum, as seen in the United States Senate election in New Hampshire 2016, but filling that vacuum with recycled candidates is a desperate move.
The Republicans are trying to sell nostalgia to a state that is tired of being a political laboratory. Whether it's Sununu or Brown, they are offering a return to a past that never actually worked for the people at the bottom of the chart. New Hampshire will not hand this seat back to a party that views healthcare as a luxury and the climate as a suggestion.