Sununu Distances From Trump as New Hampshire Senate Race Tightens

Chris Pappas, a four-term U.S. representative and the Democratic nominee for New Hampshire's open Senate seat, says he is not taking Tuesday's outcome for granted. "I take nothing for granted," Pappas said while campaigning across the state. "This is a very purple, competitive state. Elections are never in the bag here," he told The Guardian.

The contest to replace retiring Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen has become a late source of anxiety for national Democrats, who are trying to net four seats to reclaim the Senate majority and cannot afford to lose a seat they already hold, according to the Guardian.

Why did this race become competitive?

September polling showed Pappas virtually tied with his Republican opponent, former Senator John Sununu, unsettling party strategists in a state Donald Trump has lost in each of his three presidential bids, the Guardian reported. The tightening forced both parties to treat New Hampshire as an unexpected battleground rather than a safe Democratic hold.

What do the polls show now?

Pappas has regained a narrow advantage in most surveys since September, and the Cook Political Report moved its rating of the race from "toss-up" to "lean Democrat" in early October, according to the Guardian's reporting.

How is Trump shaping the closing message?

Pappas's final pitch leans heavily on linking Sununu to a president whose approval rating sits at just 32% in New Hampshire, according to a recent University of New Hampshire poll cited by the Guardian. "Sununu has spent most of the last year on team Trump, and now that we're getting within range of the election, he's recognizing how unpopular the president is," Pappas said, campaigning in the race's final days.

Who is campaigning alongside Pappas?

Pappas has been joined on the trail by Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Guardian reported, as national Democrats work to shore up a seat they consider essential to their majority hopes.

By the numbers

• 32% — Trump's approval rating in New Hampshire, per the University of New Hampshire poll cited by the Guardian.
• 4 — Senate seats Democrats need to flip nationally to reclaim the majority, according to the Guardian's reporting.
• Cook Political Report's rating shift: toss-up to lean Democrat, made in early October, per the Guardian.

Sununu, who previously served as a U.S. senator, has not publicly detailed how he plans to counter the Trump-focused attacks in the race's closing days, based on the material in the Guardian's report. The Guardian noted that Trump has lost New Hampshire in all three of his presidential campaigns, a pattern Democrats are counting on to carry into Tuesday's Senate contest.

With polls closing Tuesday, the race stands as one of the closer-watched contests nationally, not because Republicans expect an easy flip, but because Democrats cannot absorb the loss of a seat long considered safely theirs, the Guardian reported.

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