New Hampshire Votes Today to Pick Sununu-Pappas Matchup, Rhode Island's McKee-Foulkes Primary Follows Wednesday

New Hampshire voters cast ballots Tuesday, September 8, in a primary that will decide who replaces retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, according to the Associated Press. Rhode Island follows a day later, on Wednesday, September 9, when Gov. Dan McKee faces the toughest primary test of his career.

New Hampshire's Senate scramble

Shaheen, 79, announced in March 2025 she would not seek a fourth term. She was the first woman in U.S. history to serve as both a governor and a U.S. senator, according to the Epoch Times.

Her exit set off a chain reaction. Eight Republicans are competing for the nomination, led by two men Shaheen previously beat: former Sen. John E. Sununu, who lost to her in 2008, and former Sen. Scott Brown, who lost to her in 2014 after moving to New Hampshire from Massachusetts.

Trump has endorsed Sununu, despite Sununu backing Nikki Haley over Trump in the 2024 presidential primary, the Epoch Times reported. Sununu has also out-raised Brown by more than $4 million to $2.2 million.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Chris Pappas is the frontrunner, backed by former Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Maggie Hassan and former Gov. John Lynch, according to the Epoch Times. His most notable primary rival is Karishma Manzur, a Democratic Socialist who has built support around calls to end U.S. aid tied to what she calls "the genocide of Palestinians" in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera. Pappas has said he backs a two-state solution and increased humanitarian aid to Gaza while defending the broader U.S.-Israel relationship. Manzur has criticized Pappas over donors she says are connected to Israel.

A poll conducted in late August by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP's campaign arm, showed Sununu leading Pappas by one point in a hypothetical general election matchup, with roughly one in four voters undecided, Al Jazeera reported. That poll comes from a Republican campaign organization with an obvious stake in the outcome, and independent public polling was not cited alongside it.

Pappas's departure from his 1st Congressional District seat has drawn seven Democratic candidates, including Portsmouth City Council member Stefany Shaheen, the senator's daughter, and former candidate Maura Sullivan, according to the Guardian.

Republicans currently control the Senate and are also targeting open seats left by retiring Democrats Gary Peters of Michigan and Tina Smith of Minnesota, according to the Epoch Times. Democrats' best pickup opportunity remains Georgia, where Sen. Jon Ossoff, the only Democrat defending a seat in a state Trump won in 2024, faces Rep. Mike Collins in November.

Rhode Island's governor fights for his political life

McKee first became governor in March 2021 when Gina Raimondo left to become U.S. commerce secretary, then won a full term in 2022 with 32.8% in a five-way primary, narrowly ahead of Helena Buonanno Foulkes at 29.9% and then-Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea at 26.2%, according to the Associated Press.

Foulkes, a former longtime CVS executive and niece of former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, is challenging him again Wednesday. If McKee loses, he would be the first elected Rhode Island governor to lose renomination since 1994, and the first elected governor nationally to lose renomination since 2014, the AP reported.

The campaign has centered on the Washington Bridge, a span connecting Providence and East Providence that carries 100,000 vehicles daily. McKee closed its westbound side in December 2023 after structural flaws were discovered. Officials determined in March 2024 it would need full demolition and replacement. The reopening timeline has slipped from this year to November 2028, according to the AP.

McKee's opponents have also pointed to a 2024 joint investigation by Attorney General Peter Neronha and the state police, which found McKee "personally and directly intervened" in awarding a multimillion-dollar state contract. The same investigation concluded McKee did not violate the state's bribery or campaign finance laws, according to the AP. Neronha endorsed Foulkes in March. McKee has not been charged with any crime, and no further prosecution has been announced.

McKee has turned the campaign toward Foulkes's tenure at CVS, tying her to the company's alleged role in the opioid crisis, according to the AP. Foulkes has not been charged in connection with that allegation either. It remains a campaign attack, not a legal finding.

Foulkes has nearly doubled McKee's fundraising and spending, according to state campaign finance records cited by the AP. Independent survey data cited in that same reporting has shown her leading McKee for most of the year, though a large share of voters remained undecided in the most recent poll.

On the Republican side, trade association executive Aaron Guckian, the 2022 lieutenant governor nominee, faces Elaine Pelino, a former actress, for the RI gubernatorial nomination.

Beyond the ballot box

The same news cycle carried other Trump-related developments. On Monday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Canadian jet maker Bombardier would be barred from selling planes in the U.S. unless it builds them domestically, writing the company's "products aren't good enough" and accusing Canada of treating America "like a piggybank," according to the Guardian. In New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is set to appear alongside former Mayor Rudy Giuliani at the city's September 11 memorial, days after Giuliani told Newsmax it "offends" him that Mamdani, a Muslim, plans to attend.

Both New Hampshire's results tonight and Rhode Island's Wednesday outcome will shape which party heads into November with momentum in the fight for Senate control, a fight the AP describes as having grown "wide open" after early GOP confidence in holding its majority.