NEW HAMPSHIRE voters head to the polls Tuesday for primary elections that test whether political dynasties can survive an anti-establishment year.
John E. Sununu, a former three-term congressman and senator, is mounting a comeback bid for the Senate as the Republican frontrunner. Polls show him leading ex-Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown by 30 to 40 points in the GOP primary. National Republicans recruited Sununu, and the general election race has tilted in his favor.
Sununu served three House terms before his 2002 Senate election. He lost that seat to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) in 2008. His father, John H. Sununu, was New Hampshire's Republican governor in the 1980s. His brother, Chris Sununu, completed a record fourth term as governor in 2025.
Brown has attacked Sununu as running an "entitled" campaign built on family name recognition. The criticism has not dented Sununu's commanding lead.
In the 1st Congressional District, Stefany Shaheen, a health advocate and former Portsmouth city councilor, is competing to succeed Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH). She trails former Obama administration official Maura Sullivan, with progressive Democrat Carleigh Beriont making a late push.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's decision to forgo a fourth term triggered the contest. That retirement prompted Pappas to seek higher office, opening the House seat.
The races offer a test of whether family names still carry weight in an anti-establishment political environment. Other dynastic candidates have faltered recently: in neighboring Maine, a Bush family scion and Angus King III, son of Sen. Angus King (I-ME), both lost their gubernatorial bids. Jack Schlossberg, grandson of President John F. Kennedy, lost his House primary in New York. Unlike Sununu, those were first-time candidates.
For Stefany Shaheen, her surname has proved no advantage. Early polling showed her as a front-runner, but latest surveys place her in second.
New Hampshire voters are also selecting candidates for governor and the 424-seat state legislature on Tuesday.
