MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
One of the most competitive midterm Senate races has its matchup set for November. Former U.S. Senator John Sununu won the Republican primary in New Hampshire last night. He will face Congressman Chris Pappas, who won the Democratic primary. That's according to race calls by The Associated Press. They're running to replace Democrat Jeanne Shaheen in a race that both parties see as key to determining control of the Senate. Josh Rogers with New Hampshire Public Radio is up early for us after a late night, and he's with us now to tell us what happened. Good morning, Josh.
JOSH ROGERS, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So walk us through the key results.
ROGERS: Well, there was a tight open Democratic primary for one of the state's two House seats that was really only called early this morning. And that was for Stefany Shaheen. She's the daughter of Jeanne Shaheen. That was a big race. The younger Shaheen beat former Obama administration official Maura Sullivan. The race featured millions of dollars of outside spending and really became quite nasty and personal. That was by far the tightest primary.
But the Senate race is the bigger deal. It's also an open-seat race due to Jeanne Shaheen's retirement. Democrats chose four-term Congressman Chris Pappas, a political moderate, over a more progressive challenger, Karishma Manzur. And Republicans chose John E. Sununu over former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown. Sununu comes from a big political family here and actually held the same seat he's now seeking nearly 20 years ago.
MARTIN: And President Trump had backed Sununu over Brown. But given Trump's low approval ratings, does that actually help him now? Or would it be better for Sununu...
ROGERS: Well...
MARTIN: ...To maybe keep some distance from the president going forward?
ROGERS: I mean, we'll see if it helps. It may have helped him in the primary, but the distance-making on Sununu's part is already happening. During the primary, Sununu tended to downplay the significance of Trump's endorsement, and he's also worked to distance himself from the president on some key issues. He said he never would have attacked Iran, for instance, and he's criticized Trump's tariff policies. But Trump made the endorsement. Sununu accepted it. And Chris Pappas is going to and has been looking to tie Sununu to Trump really at every turn.
And, you know, for Sununu, Trump's backing does mean money and support from the party's base. And for Trump, you know, picking Sununu gives him a better chance of flipping a seat that a Democrat, Jeanne Shaheen, has held since she beat Sununu back in 2008. So we'll see.
MARTIN: And what about the issues? What issues have New Hampshire voters been telling you are most important to them?
ROGERS: They've been talking a lot about the economy - really the high costs across the board, from gasoline to healthcare and housing. The war in Iran is another big concern. So are tariffs. Canada is a major trading partner with New Hampshire, and state tourism officials have reported that cross-border visits from Canadian tourists were down significantly this summer. So tariffs are really a concern here.
MARTIN: And, you know - and the Trump administration sent election observers to New Hampshire and other states for primary elections. What were they doing yesterday? And what do local officials think about them being there?
ROGERS: Well, local officials have said nondisruptive monitoring is fine. And from what I understand, that's basically what took place here in New Hampshire yesterday. In the run-up to this election, there was real concern that it wasn't going to be noninvasive monitoring. And there's been tension between state election officials and the Trump administration over things like nonpublic voter rolls, and the possibility of more intense monitoring in November remains a real concern. And - you know, and it obviously comes as President Trump continues to allege without evidence that election tampering is widespread in New Hampshire and across the country.
MARTIN: That's New Hampshire Public Radio's Josh Rogers. Josh, thank you.
ROGERS: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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