(The Center Square) – A political action committee aligned with Senate Democrats is planning to spend $10.2 million on TV ads in New Hampshire backing U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas’s bid for the Senate ahead of the midterms.
The Senate Majority PAC announced Monday that it will be focusing its campaign spending in eight key states, including New Hampshire, as it seeks to win back control of Congress from Republicans in the Nov. 5 election. The PAC said the two Republicans in the Senate race – former U.S. Sens. John E. Sununu and Scott Brown – are “locked in a bitter, drawn-out primary.”
“Granite Staters are facing rising costs, higher insurance premiums, and are struggling to afford care for their families – all while Sununu and Scott are at one another’s throats,” Lauren French of the Senate Majority PAC said in a statement. “Chris Pappas is focused on the issues that matter to New Hampshire voters, and it’s why he’ll come out ahead come November.”
Pappas, serving his fourth term in Congress from the state’s 1st Congressional District, jumped into the Senate race in April after veteran Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen declined to seek reelection.
To be sure, Pappas is facing at least one opponent in the Sept. 8 Democratic primary – medical scientist Karishma Manzur of Exeter – who is making her first run for elected office. The Senate Majority PAC didn’t mention his primary opponent.
On the GOP ticket, former Sununu will face off against Brown, a former Massachusetts senator, in a Republican primary to set the party’s nominee for the Senate seat.
The Senate Leadership Fund, which is aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, has already announced plans to devote $17 million on Sununu’s bid to the U.S. Senate district, hoping to flip the Democratic held seat as the GOP tries to hold onto the chamber.
The leadership fund said it will run ads this summer through Election Day, “expose the extraordinary obstruction and failures of the Democratic Party while highlighting John Sununu and Senate Republicans’ plans to keep America safe, strong, and prosperous.”
Sununu’s political comeback campaign has also been endorsed by second-term Republican President Donald Trump. He said the Senate race is one of several pivotal to keeping the GOP’s majority in the midterms.
A University of New Hampshire poll released in September found 42% of likely Republican voters favor Sununu versus 27% who would vote for Brown, in a primary matchup. About 31% of those polled were still undecided.
In a hypothetical general election matchup between Sununu and Pappas, 49% said they would vote for Pappas compared to 42% for Sununu, with 6% still undecided.
Besides New Hampshire, the Senate Majority PAC is also planning ad buys in Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, Iowa, Alaska and Maine. In the later, it plans to spend $31.4 million on ads backing oyster fisherman Graham Platner, a Democrat who is hoping to flip a U.S. Senate seat held by incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Collins is seeking another six-year term.
