Pappas, Sununu Come Out Swinging In WMUR Debate

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

MANCHESTER, NH — Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas and Republican John Sununu came out swinging in Wednesday night’s WMUR debate, their final face-off before Tuesday’s election, showing neither candidate is taking anything for granted.

Pappas repeatedly linked Sununu to President Donald Trump, whose approval rating among Granite Staters is hovering around his all-time lows. Sununu hit Pappas for failing to deliver for New Hampshire and for his lack of accomplishments during eight years in office.

For example, when asked about former Vice President Kamala Harris proposing to expand the U.S. Supreme Court during her recent campaign visit, both candidates said they opposed the idea. But Sununu used it to reiterate his “California Chris” attack against Pappas.

“The fact that Kamala Harris is coming in and Chris is embracing her befuddles me. He’s campaigning with Gavin Newsom, with Kamala Harris,” Sununu said. “I don’t know what Chris’s infatuation is with California, but it’s not New Hampshire, and it’s not a good model for our state.”

Pappas fired back.

“Well, senator, here in New Hampshire, we welcome out-of-town guests. That’s part of what we do here every four years. I’m proud to have the former vice president who carried the state of New Hampshire in the last election, unlike the guy who’s given you complete and total endorsement and tens of millions of dollars to prop up your campaign, the most corrupt president in our nation’s history, Donald Trump.”

And so it went, as the debate moved on to topics ranging from inflation to energy to Social Security and health care policy. Pappas portrayed Sununu as an ally of an unpopular president, while Sununu countered that Pappas was offering promises to solve problems he has had years to address.

“This election is about Team New Hampshire versus Team Trump,” Pappas said.

“Tonight, Chris Pappas talked about all the things he wants to do and wants to accomplish, but he’s been there for eight years, and he hasn’t gotten the job done,” Sununu responded.

Pappas has consistently led in the polls—a new UMass Lowell/YouGov survey released Wednesday put him ahead of Sununu, 48% to 41%—but he didn’t play prevent defense Wednesday night.

He hit Sununu for his original support of Trump’s military action against Iran earlier this year.

“You did support that operation at the beginning, and it was very clear from the outset that Donald Trump didn’t have a plan to keep the strait open and to keep costs low for Granite Staters,” Pappas said. “We’re now eight months into this, and I can count on one hand the number of Republicans in Washington who are actually standing up and doing something about it.”

Sununu responded by saying Pappas “voted for $100 billion in energy taxes when you were in the Congress. You’ve consistently voted to increase taxes, and that’s not going to deliver affordability for anyone.”

Sununu pushed back against the suggestion that he would simply follow Trump, pointing to disagreements with the president over trade with Canada and his handling of Iran.

When asked to name a Republican who has successfully opposed Trump while remaining effective in Washington, Sununu named Maine Sen. Susan Collins.

“Susan Collins is a great example, a great model. She stands up for what she believes in. I’ll stand up for what I believe in,” he said.

One of the most contentious exchanges was over Social Security. Pappas accused Sununu of wanting to “privatize Social Security” and claimed that a 2005 Sununu proposal “would have taken people out of the system and provided for fewer people contributing toward today’s retirees who need to be able to count on their benefits.”

Not true, Sununu said.

“It maintained a guaranteed minimum benefit for everyone. People still continued to pay Social Security taxes.

“The idea of ‘taking people out of the system,’ that’s designed to scare senior citizens, and that’s just wrong.”

“Bush’s proposal did that,” Pappas countered, a reference to President George W. Bush.

“That wasn’t my bill, Chris. You can’t ascribe every crazy bill ever introduced in Congress to me. That’s dishonest.”

Both candidates were asked how they plan to vote on the property tax cap on Tuesday’s ballot. Pappas is a “no,” while Sununu is a “yes.”

“I think it just makes common sense in a state like New Hampshire, where we pride ourselves on having the lowest state and local taxes in the country, but we also have the lowest poverty rate in the country,” Sununu said.

On foreign policy, Pappas did something many of his fellow Democrats have declined to do: He called Israel an “ally.”

Asked if the U.S. should be willing to offer another Obama-era cash payout to Iran similar to the one that was part of the so-called “Iran deal” to end the current war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Pappas said, “The regime in Iran, which continues to pledge death to our ally Israel and to the United States, is no friend, and we have to be very clear-eyed about any negotiations.”

Sununu called him “a little naive.”

“In some way, shape, or form, when you have the amount of frozen assets, when you have questions about access to international finance, money’s going to be some part of the equation.”

Sununu also argued that Pappas had failed to secure New Hampshire’s fair share of highway funding despite serving on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Contrasting his own record, Sununu cited legislation on internet taxes, protecting the White Mountain National Forest and the Lamprey River, and vehicle safety legislation he worked on with Hillary Clinton.

“So I’ve not just talked about what I want to do; I’ve taken a stand and won on issues really important to New Hampshire and to the country,” Sununu said.

Pappas said Sununu had been out of step with New Hampshire during his previous Senate service and called for “a new generation of leadership” that would challenge the administration and lower costs.

Sununu said the election would determine who represents New Hampshire for six years, extending beyond Trump’s presidency.

“I’ll stand up to my party and the president when it’s right for New Hampshire, and I’ll get things done,” Sununu said.

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.