The guessing game is over. New Hampshire’s eight-day candidate filing period has closed, and the ballots for the September 8 state primary are now set. After a steady procession of candidates marched into the State House to declare their intentions before the June 12 deadline, Granite State voters finally know the full field competing for an open U.S. Senate seat, the governor’s office, two congressional districts, and hundreds of state and local positions. As New Hampshire Bulletin reported, the filings close one of the most consequential election years the state has seen in more than a decade.
This is a rare cycle in which New Hampshire’s two marquee federal contests, the Senate race and the First Congressional District seat, are both open at the same time, with no incumbent on the ballot in either. That combination guarantees competitive primaries in both major parties and sets up a general election on November 3 that national strategists are already watching closely. For a state that prizes its retail politics and its outsized role in presidential cycles, the 2026 midterm offers voters an unusually direct say in who represents them in Washington and in Concord.
The Open U.S. Senate Race
The headline contest is the battle to fill New Hampshire’s open U.S. Senate seat. With the seat unoccupied by an incumbent, both parties have assembled serious fields.
On the Democratic side, Congressman Chris Pappas enters the September primary as the clear front-runner. Pappas, who has represented the First Congressional District, gives up that House seat to run statewide, a decision that triggered the wide-open scramble in CD1. He faces a primary challenge from Karishma Manzur, but polling through the early part of the cycle has consistently shown Pappas with a commanding lead for the nomination and a competitive position in the general election.
The Republican primary is more crowded. Former Senator John E. Sununu, who held this same seat once before, is seeking to reclaim it and has worked to consolidate establishment support across the GOP field. He is joined on the Republican ballot by former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who has long maintained a New Hampshire political presence, along with Charlie Hough and Tejasinha Sivalingam. The contrast between Sununu’s bid to return to a job he once held and Brown’s effort to win a Senate seat in a second state gives the Republican primary a storyline that reaches well beyond the state line.
The outcome of these two primaries will determine the matchup in one of the most closely contested Senate races in the country. Because the seat is open, neither party carries the advantage of incumbency, and both nominees will start the general election sprint on roughly even footing the morning after the primary.
The Governor’s Race
Incumbent Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte is running for re-election to a second term. Ayotte, who filed for re-election earlier this year, has spent her first term navigating a Republican-controlled Legislature while clashing at times with members of her own party over priorities ranging from firearms policy to school enrollment, as covered in our reporting on her decision to help sink two GOP priority bills on the session’s final voting day.
On the Democratic side, former Executive Councilor and attorney Cinde Warmington is mounting another statewide campaign after running in the 2024 cycle. Warmington has built her message around health care access, child welfare oversight, and affordability, themes that have defined much of her public profile. The governor’s race will test whether Ayotte’s brand of pragmatic Republican governance continues to resonate in a state that frequently splits its tickets and rewards independence.
Two Congressional Districts in Play
The retirement of an incumbent from the Senate seat and Pappas’s decision to vacate CD1 mean New Hampshire’s congressional delegation could look very different after November.
In the First Congressional District, a large Democratic field is competing for the nomination to replace Pappas. Stefany Shaheen, a businesswoman and public health advocate, has emerged near the front of a crowded primary that includes multiple candidates seeking to define themselves to a district that covers the Seacoast, Manchester, and the eastern half of the state. We have tracked the Democratic fight to shape the CD1 primary message as candidates jockey for position. On the Republican side, the open seat has drawn its own competitive field eager to flip a district that has changed hands several times over the past two decades.
In the Second Congressional District, incumbent Democrat Maggie Goodlander is seeking re-election and holds a strong lead over her primary challenger. The Republican field includes Lily Tang Williams, who ran in 2024 and is positioning for a rematch. CD2, which spans the western and northern portions of the state, has historically leaned more reliably Democratic than CD1, but Republicans are hoping a strong midterm environment could put it in reach.
State and Local Races
Beyond the federal and statewide contests, the September primary will also decide nominations for all 400 seats in the New Hampshire House, the 24-member state Senate, the Executive Council, and a long list of county offices. New Hampshire’s enormous Legislature, one of the largest representative bodies in the world, means dozens of these down-ballot primaries will quietly shape the balance of power in Concord for the next two years. Candidates such as Sarah Chadzynski, a nonprofit director and former teacher from Lyndeborough, and Heath Howard, a 25-year-old two-term state representative from Strafford, illustrate the range of newcomers and incumbents competing across the state.
What Voters Should Know Before September 8
New Hampshire uses a semi-closed primary system. Voters registered with a party may vote only in that party’s primary, while undeclared voters may choose either party’s ballot at the polls and can return to undeclared status afterward. That flexibility makes the undeclared bloc, the largest single category of New Hampshire voters, a decisive factor in close primaries. Residents who want to participate should confirm their registration status and review the rules well before election day. Our guide to recent changes in voter identification guidance, including the treatment of student IDs, covers some of the procedural shifts voters may encounter at the polls this year.
The winners of the September 8 primaries will advance to the general election on November 3, when New Hampshire will decide its next U.S. senator, its governor, both of its U.S. House members, and control of its statehouse. With open seats at the top of the ticket and competitive fields up and down the ballot, the filings that just closed have set the stage for a fall campaign in which Granite State voters hold genuine sway over the direction of both their state and the national balance of power.
For related coverage, see our reporting on New Hampshire Voters Have Until Tomorrow to Change Party Affiliation Before S….
For related coverage, see our reporting on Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire Unanimously Endorse Governor’s 20….
