The Boston Globe is calling openly gay Congressman Chris Pappas of New Hampshire’s race for reelection one of four top New England contests to watch in 2020.
In 2018, Pappas became the first openly gay person to represent New Hampshire in Congress. He currently serves as co-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, and is a member of other caucuses and committees, including the House Committees on Veterans’ Affairs and on Transportation and Infrastructure.
The May 5 Globe article places Pappas’s race right up there in national significance with Senator Susan Collins’s reelection campaign, which could turn the Senate blue should she lose; Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy III’s bid for Bay State Senator Ed Markey’s seat; and incumbent Congressman Jared Golden of Maine’s effort to keep a district blue that Trump had won in 2016—a position Pappas finds himself in as well.
Reports the Globe:
For some time, New Hampshire’s First Congressional District was known as the “swingiest swing district” in the country. From 2006 to 2016 the seat changed parties five times in six elections.
In 2018, Democratic incumbent Carol Shea-Porter retired and Democrats kept the seat when Chris Pappas, now 39, won a crowded Democratic primary before cruising to victory with a nearly 9-point win in the general election. In so doing, he became the first openly gay person to win major office in the state’s history.
While New Hampshire has been trending Democratic in the last few decades, Trump narrowly won this district in 2016. That said, Republicans initially struggled with who to put up in this election against Pappas. But now there are two Republicans facing-off in the September primary. One, former Trump administration staffer Matt Mowers, raised more money than any non-incumbent Republican in history in the first three months of 2020. The other, Matt Mayberry, a former vice-chairman of the state Republican Party, has the backing of a few former governors.
National pundits say this race leans Democratic. But if the Trump campaign follows through on its talk to make a big play in this state, it could have big implications in this race.
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