United States Senate election in New Hampshire, 2026

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← 2022
U.S. Senate, New Hampshire
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: Pending
Primary: Pending General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: Varies by municipality Voting in New Hampshire
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Lean Democratic DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Battleground Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
U.S. Senate, New Hampshire U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd New Hampshire elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 Alabama U.S. Senate raceAlaska U.S. Senate raceArkansas U.S. Senate raceColorado U.S. Senate raceDelaware U.S. Senate raceGeorgia U.S. Senate raceIdaho U.S. Senate raceIllinois U.S. Senate raceIowa U.S. Senate raceKansas U.S. Senate raceKentucky U.S. Senate raceLouisiana U.S. Senate raceMaine U.S. Senate raceMassachusetts U.S. Senate raceMichigan U.S. Senate raceMinnesota U.S. Senate raceMississippi U.S. Senate raceMontana U.S. Senate raceNebraska U.S. Senate raceNew Hampshire U.S. Senate raceNew Jersey U.S. Senate raceNew Mexico U.S. Senate raceNorth Carolina U.S. Senate raceOklahoma U.S. Senate raceOregon U.S. Senate raceRhode Island U.S. Senate raceSouth Carolina U.S. Senate raceSouth Dakota U.S. Senate raceTennessee U.S. Senate raceTexas U.S. Senate raceVirginia U.S. Senate raceWest Virginia U.S. Senate raceWyoming U.S. Senate raceSubmit

Voters in New Hampshire will elect one member to the U.S. Senate in the general election on Nov. 3, 2026.

Incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who first assumed office in 2009, announced that she would not seek re-election in 2026. According to Inside Elections’ Jacob Rubashkin, “While New Hampshire was already on the Senate battleground, Shaheen’s decision could set off a prolonged and difficult primary between several prominent Democrats and entice stronger GOP recruits into the race than if she had run for re-election.”

As of April 14, 2025, noteworthy declared and potential candidates included the following. Click here to view all of the candidates for the seat:

• U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D), who has represented New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District since 2019 (Declared)
• Tejasinha Sivalingam (R), who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in the 2022 U.S. Senate election (Declared)
• Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R), who represented Massachusetts in the Senate from 2010 to 2013 and ran unsuccessfully against Shaheen in 2014 (Potential)

Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R), Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), and former Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.) also gained media attention as possible candidates but have all said they will not run for the seat.

All four members of New Hampshire's congressional delegation—Pappas, Goodlander, Shaheen, and Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.)—are Democrats. The state's most recent Republican senator was Kelly Ayotte (R), who served from 2011 to 2017.

In the six presidential elections from 2004 to 2024, Democratic presidential candidates won the state's popular vote. In the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden (D) won 53% of the vote to Donald Trump's (R) 45%. In 2024, Kamala Harris (D) won 51% of the state's popular vote to Trump's (R) 48%.

Since 2021, New Hampshire has been a Republican trifecta, meaning Republicans control the governorship and both legislative chambers. New Hampshire's last Democratic governor was Hassan, who resigned on Jan. 2, 2017.

As of April 14, 2025, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball each rated the general election Lean Democratic, while Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales rated it Battleground Democratic. Click here for more information on race forecasts.

To learn more about other elections on the ballot, click here.

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for U.S. Senate New Hampshire

Chris Pappas, Tejasinha Sivalingam, and Matt Giovonizzi are running in the general election for U.S. Senate New Hampshire on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Chris Pappas (D)
		Tejasinha Sivalingam (R)
	Submit photo	Matt Giovonizzi (Independent)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jeanne Shaheen (D)

Candidate profiles

There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here. You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Tejasinha Sivalingam

Voting information

See also: Voting in New Hampshire

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.

You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Tejasinha Sivalingam

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Chris Pappas	Democratic Party	$655,503	$205,792	$857,296	As of March 31, 2025
Tejasinha Sivalingam	Republican Party	$885	$885	$0	As of February 21, 2023
Matt Giovonizzi	Independent	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. *** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

• Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
• Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
• Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.
• Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: U.S. Senate election in New Hampshire, 2026
Race tracker	Race ratings
	5/6/2025	4/29/2025	4/22/2025	4/15/2025
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Battleground Democratic	Battleground Democratic	Battleground Democratic	Battleground Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access

This section will contain information on ballot access related to this state's elections when it is available.

Election history

The section below details election results for this state's U.S. Senate elections dating back to 2016.

2022

See also: United States Senate election in New Hampshire, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. Senate New Hampshire

Incumbent Maggie Hassan defeated Don Bolduc, Jeremy Kauffman, and Tejasinha Sivalingam in the general election for U.S. Senate New Hampshire on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Maggie Hassan (D)	53.5	332,193
		Don Bolduc (R)	44.4	275,928
		Jeremy Kauffman (L)	2.0	12,390
		Tejasinha Sivalingam (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	0
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	464

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 620,975
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Thomas Sharpe V (Independent)
• Kevin Kahn (L)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate New Hampshire

Incumbent Maggie Hassan defeated Paul Krautmann and John Riggieri in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate New Hampshire on September 13, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Maggie Hassan	93.8	88,146
		Paul Krautmann	3.9	3,629
	Submit photo	John Riggieri	1.8	1,680
		Other/Write-in votes	0.6	546

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 94,001
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate New Hampshire

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate New Hampshire on September 13, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Don Bolduc	36.9	52,629
		Chuck Morse	35.7	50,929
		Kevin Smith	11.7	16,621
		Vikram Mansharamani	7.5	10,690
		Bruce Fenton	4.5	6,381
		John Berman	0.7	961
		Andy Martin	0.6	920
		Tejasinha Sivalingam	0.6	832
	Submit photo	Dennis Lamare	0.5	773
		Edmond Laplante	0.5	723
		Gerard Beloin	0.4	521
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	623

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 142,603
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Devon Fuchs (R)

2020

General election

General election for U.S. Senate New Hampshire

Incumbent Jeanne Shaheen defeated Bryant Messner and Justin O'Donnell in the general election for U.S. Senate New Hampshire on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jeanne Shaheen (D)	56.6	450,778
		Bryant Messner (R)	41.0	326,229
		Justin O'Donnell (L)	2.3	18,421
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	486

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 795,914
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate New Hampshire

Incumbent Jeanne Shaheen defeated Paul Krautmann and Tom Alciere in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate New Hampshire on September 8, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jeanne Shaheen	94.0	142,012
		Paul Krautmann	3.9	5,914
		Tom Alciere	2.0	2,992
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	137

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 151,055
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate New Hampshire

Bryant Messner defeated Don Bolduc, Andy Martin, and Gerard Beloin in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate New Hampshire on September 8, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Bryant Messner	50.5	69,801
		Don Bolduc	42.5	58,749
		Andy Martin	4.7	6,443
		Gerard Beloin	2.2	3,098
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	241

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 138,332
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• William O'Brien (R)

2016

See also: United States Senate election in New Hampshire, 2016

The race for New Hampshire's U.S. Senate seat was one of nine competitive battleground races in 2016. Incumbent Kelly Ayotte (R) conceded defeat to challenger Maggie Hassan (D) on November 9, 2016. They were separated by less than 800 votes.

After conceding, Ayotte said in a statement, “It has been a tremendous privilege to serve New Hampshire in the Senate and to make progress on addressing our heroin epidemic, making it easier for our small businesses to create good paying jobs, and supporting those who keep us safe in a dangerous world. This is a critical time for New Hampshire and our country, and now more than ever, we need to work together to address our challenges. The voters have spoken and now it’s time all of us to come together to get things done for the people of the Greatest State in this Nation and for the Greatest Country on Earth.”

In her victory speech, Hassan said, "We know that this election exposed very serious divisions in our country, and it's up to all of us -- elected leaders and citizens -- now to come together and focus on our common challenges and our common opportunities. Our work going forward is going to be to remember what unites us as Americans and how we can make progress together."

Hassan also defeated Libertarian candidate Brian Chabot.

During the campaign, Hassan attempted to tie Ayotte to Republican President-elect Donald Trump, who lost the state to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Hassan's campaign manager, Marc Goldberg, said, "Trump helps. He unequivocally helps. [Ayotte] has this weight around her leg in Trump that she's dragging around."

Ayotte’s strategy was to distance herself from the top of the ticket and run a local campaign focused on issues that impacted New Hampshirites. Although she initially said that she would vote for Trump, on October 8, 2016, Ayotte withdrew her support for Trump after The Washington Post released a 2005 video of Trump making comments about women that were described as "extremely lewd." She added that she would cast her vote for Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Ayotte also chose to skip the Republican National Convention, preferring to attend campaign events across her state. She frequently spoke about her role in passing a bipartisan bill in the Senate that would help New Hampshire address its opioid abuse crisis and about her national security credentials.

Ayotte and Hassan both tried to define themselves as independent candidates who would stand up to members of their parties and special interest groups, in order to gain the support of independent voters in the state. Their task was difficult as outside groups tried to define these candidates by pouring nearly $91 million into the race. The candidates themselves had spent a combined total of $30.5 million, according to The Center for Responsive Politics.

U.S. Senate, New Hampshire General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Maggie Hassan	48%	354,649
	Republican	Kelly Ayotte Incumbent	47.9%	353,632
	Independent	Aaron Day	2.4%	17,742
	Libertarian	Brian Chabot	1.7%	12,597
Total Votes				738,620
Source: New Hampshire Secretary of State

U.S. Senate, New Hampshire Republican Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kelly Ayotte Incumbent	78.9%	86,558
Jim Rubens	17.4%	19,139
Tom Alciere	1.4%	1,586
Gerard Beloin	1.1%	1,252
Stanley Emanuel	1.1%	1,187
Total Votes		109,722
Source: New Hampshire Secretary of State

Election analysis

This section will contain facts and figures related to this state's elections when those are available.

See also

New Hampshire	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
New Hampshire congressional delegation Voting in New Hampshire New Hampshire elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

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Footnotes

[show]

New Hampshire's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Maggie Hassan (D)

Jeanne Shaheen (D)

Representatives

District 1

Chris Pappas (D)

District 2

Maggie Goodlander (D)

Democratic Party (4)