If you couldn’t tell from the blitz of campaign ads, the fight for the U.S. Senate runs through Northern New England.
Senate races in New Hampshire and Maine are in the “toss up” category for the midterm elections, according to the Cook Political Report, which provides non-partisan analysis of elections. In short: both races are competitive, with either party having a chance of victory in November.
In New Hampshire, it’s an open seat. Congressman Chris Pappas, a Democrat, and former Sen. John E. Sununu, a Republican, are running to succeed Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who’s retiring.
In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, is seeking her sixth term. She’s trying to hold off a challenge from Troy Jackson, the Democratic nominee after Graham Platner’s campaign imploded in July.
NHPR Senior Political Reporter Josh Rogers and Maine Morning Star Editor-in-Chief Lauren McCauley joined the weekly news roundup on 1A on Friday to discuss these Senate races.
Highlights from this 1A segment:
- Democrats are hoping to make the midterms a referendum on President Trump, Rogers points out.
- “John Sununu is not a Trump Republican from central casting. He’s kind of a man out of time in a way. He’s sort of a Paul Ryan, Phil Gramm fiscal conservative.”
- The Senate race could affect races down the ballot as well. Another open seat is in New Hampshire’s the 1st Congressional District, which Pappas is leaving to run for Senate. That is a contest between Republican businessman Anthony DiLorenzo and Democrat Stefany Shaheen, daughter of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
- Maine’s Senate race may also be a photo finish.
- “Right now we’ve had several polls come out in recent weeks that essentially show Collins and Troy Jackson in this deadheat,” McCauley said. “Some have him a few points ahead, some have her a few points ahead. In my mind it really comes down to who is going to show up on Election Day.”
This weekly news roundup was recorded live in the NHPR studios in Concord. Listen to the full 1A program, produced by WAMU.
1A airs weekdays on NHPR from 10 a.m. to noon.
