'Chris Is Lying': Sununu Fires Back At Pappas In First Senate Debate

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

The first U.S. Senate debate between Democrat Chris Pappas and Republican John Sununu featured plenty of celebrity cameos: Batman, Superman, Joe Biden and — of course — Donald Trump.

George Epstein, who moderated the Mt. Washington Valley Economic Council event in North Conway, used the first question to put the unpopular Republican president at the center of the debate.

“First question is: Why are we here? Who really cares about what you two believe as individuals?” Epstein asked. “Aren’t we really here just going to vote on the decision as to whether to support the ongoing policies of President Trump or to try to rein in those policies?”

Pappas, who has campaigned hard to link Sununu to Trump, was happy to agree.

“I think there is a fundamental question in this election about whether you think the country is moving in the right direction, whether you support the leadership of Donald Trump,” Pappas said. If so, “there’s another candidate on this stage.”

Sununu rejected the question’s premise.

“This election is about much more than the president,” Sununu said. “This race isn’t about next year or the next two years. It’s about the next six years and the kind of voice and leadership we’re going to have in New Hampshire.”

Both candidates took rhetorical swipes at each other. When Sununu repeated his line about having never met Trump, Pappas replied, “I’ve never met the guy either. But the fact is, I know who he is. I see how devastating his policies are to New Hampshire.”

Pappas had his own presidential problems as Sununu hit him for his loyal support of former President Joe Biden.

“You supported his open border policies. You supported his inflation acts, and you even supported him for reelection when everyone knew that he had no business running for office,” Sununu said. “So when you couldn’t stand up to Joe Biden, you’re not going to be able to stand up to any other presidential leader.”

And it wasn’t just Sununu. Epstein asked Pappas whether he regretted backing Biden, “whether it was out of party loyalty or your actual belief,” in the 2024 write-in effort that let the elderly president avoid campaigning in the state. Did he regret that “you did not call for him to step down from the race until after he had already done so,” Epstein asked.

“I wish there was another candidate who had stepped to the fore, who either could have challenged Joe Biden or that there were people around him that could have pushed him out of the race,” Pappas said. “But that wasn’t the reality that we were facing at that moment in time, and I didn’t want Donald Trump to come back as president.”

Sununu corrected him.

“There was another candidate that was on the ballot, and you chose not to support him,” Sununu said, referring to Pappas’ then-colleague Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn.

The most heated moments came when Pappas repeated his accusation that Sununu “worked for” big drug manufacturers, a claim Sununu has repeatedly denied.

Pappas said he supported policies to lower drug costs, such as allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices and capping insulin costs for Medicare beneficiaries. He said Sununu is “least capable of being able to solve this problem for the people of New Hampshire.”

“Senator Sununu voted with Big Pharma when he was in office,” Pappas said, accusing him of subsequently “working for these same corporate special interests, earning up to $35 million.”

“Chris is lying. I never worked for Big Pharma, and goodness knows I didn’t make $35 million,” Sununu responded.

When Pappas repeated the charge, Sununu called him out.

“What Big Pharma company did I work for? What Big Pharma company did I work for? I think that’s a perfectly reasonable question.”

When Pappas couldn’t answer, Sununu said, “It’s disgraceful that you would say that here in North Conway and not be able to name the company.”

The debate offered occasional lighter moments, including a question about favorite superheroes.

Sununu chose Superman. Pappas picked Batman.

For most of the event, however, the candidates focused on challenging each other’s claims to independence.

“What we don’t need is a senator who’s just going to be a yes man for this president,” Pappas said in his closing statement.

Sununu closed by rejecting the career politician label for himself and applying it to Pappas.

“I don’t care what anyone thinks in Washington,” Sununu said. “I’ll stand up for New Hampshire every single day.”

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.