One night of primaries in New Hampshire offered Democrats two nearly opposite pictures of their changing relationship with Israel. In the more important race, the Senate primary, Chris Pappas, a moderate congressman with a clear pro-Israel record, defeated a progressive challenger who made Israel and allegations of genocide a central part of her campaign. Hours later, in the race for the House seat Pappas himself is vacating, Stefany Shaheen, the daughter of one of the state’s most powerful political families, cruised to victory after making an anti-AIPAC campaign one of her most prominent weapons.
Pappas, 46, quickly won the Democratic Senate primary with about 63% of the vote, securing a place in one of the most important races of the November midterms. He will face Republican John Sununu, a former senator and the son and brother of two former governors, in a contest that could prove significant in the fight for control of the Senate. Democrats must hold the seat of retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen — Stefany's mother — and Republicans have already identified New Hampshire as one of their best opportunities.
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Chris Pappas. Openly gay congressman, grandson of the man credited with inventing the chicken tender and supporter of Israel’s right to defend itself
(Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo)
But Pappas is not just another moderate Democrat with a long résumé. If he wins in November, he will be the first openly gay man to serve in the U.S. Senate. He also comes from a family that holds another, far less stately American distinction: His grandfather, Charlie Pappas, is credited with inventing the chicken tender in 1974, the fried chicken strip that has since become a national institution. The Pappas family still owns the Puritan Backroom restaurant, a pilgrimage site for politicians visiting New Hampshire, where Pappas also celebrated his victory. The claim that the family invented the tender is difficult to prove, but Manchester, New Hampshire, has already officially declared itself the “Chicken Tender Capital of the World.”
His connection to the Shaheen family also completes an almost perfect political circle. In 1996, when he was a 16-year-old high school student, Pappas volunteered on Jeanne Shaheen’s first campaign for governor. Since then, he has passed through nearly every possible stage of local politics, from the state Legislature to a powerful executive council, before being elected to Congress in 2018. Now, 30 years after handing out campaign literature for her, he is the candidate seeking to replace her in the Senate.
For Jerusalem, Pappas has long been considered part of the more Israel-friendly wing of the Democratic Party. AIPAC supported him in previous House races and he was among the Democrats who voted to condemn Palestinian American Rep. Rashida Tlaib over her use of the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” He supports Israel’s right to defend itself and a two-state solution. But the current primary highlighted just how much the atmosphere inside the party has changed. In recent months, Pappas has distanced himself from Israel’s right-wing government, saying Netanyahu “has to go” and is not a reliable U.S. partner. He also voted present on a proposal to completely eliminate $3.3 billion in aid to Israel and pledged that in the Senate he would support restrictions on shipments of heavy bombs and certain military equipment.
Chicken tenders at the Pappas family restaurant
(Photo: From social media)
That was not enough for his opponent, Dr. Karishma Manzur, a medical scientist and member of the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, the faction that has produced figures such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Manzur accused Israel of “genocide” and claimed Netanyahu controls nearly 90% of Congress and the White House. She called Pappas “AIPAC’s emissary” and accused him of “getting paid” by the lobby in exchange for his votes. Billboards attacking his ties to AIPAC were even put up in his hometown.
Manzur managed to narrow the polling gap in recent weeks and ride the same anti-establishment wave that has carried other progressive candidates this year. But on Election Day, it became clear that the establishment is still alive. Pappas had the backing of Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Mark Kelly and, above all, a nearly absurd financial advantage: He had raised more than $15 million through the end of August, compared with less than $500,000 for Manzur.
'Choose a fighter, not a family name'
That same night, however, a few miles away, the family name was working in an entirely different direction. Stefany Shaheen, the daughter of the retiring senator, was on her way to a narrow primary victory for the House seat Pappas is leaving behind. Her main rival, Maura Sullivan, a former Marine officer who served in Iraq and a former senior Obama administration official, tried to turn the political dynasty into a liability. In a campaign ad, she urged voters to “choose a fighter, not a fancy family name” and accused Shaheen of feeling entitled to the seat. Sullivan had already tried to win the same seat in 2018, when Pappas was the one who defeated her in the primary.
Krishma Manzur
(Photo: John Tully / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
The “nepo baby” label attached to Shaheen Jr. also has a numerical basis. Nearly $740,000 raised by her campaign came from donors who had previously contributed to her mother. At least one major donor said the senator herself contacted him and asked him to support her daughter. Her father, Billy Shaheen, is also a longtime Democratic establishment figure in New Hampshire who has managed local campaigns for presidential candidates including Jimmy Carter, Al Gore and John Kerry over the years.
But Stefany Shaheen has a story of her own. She served on the Portsmouth City Council and chaired its police commission, founded a digital health company and has spent years working on diabetes issues after her eldest daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 8 and nearly died. She is the mother of four, is a graduate of programs at MIT and Harvard and wrote a bestselling book about her family’s experience with the disease. Her campaign focused on health care and support for universal health insurance, but in recent weeks Israel and AIPAC took on a more prominent role.
Shaheen campaign ad
Shaheen repeatedly attacked Sullivan over donations from people who had also contributed to AIPAC and aired an ad portraying her as “funded” by the pro-Israel lobby “aligned with Netanyahu.” Her campaign showed an image of Netanyahu alongside the declaration: “Let’s show them New Hampshire’s not for sale.” Sullivan, for her part, insisted that AIPAC itself had neither donated to nor supported her.
Shaheen sought to fend off accusations of antisemitism by securing the support of J Street, the liberal pro-Israel lobby considered an ideological rival of AIPAC, as well as pointing to her Jewish supporters. She is a staunch supporter of ending U.S. military aid to Israel and pledged to vote for any proposal to do so. She still describes Israel as an “our strongest ally in the Middle East,” recognizes its right to exist alongside a two-state solution, but on aid and the pro-Israel lobby she is clearly to the left of Democrats of her mother’s generation.
Thus, while Pappas demonstrated that a Democrat with a pro-Israel record can still easily defeat a rival who built a significant part of her campaign around attacks on Israel and AIPAC, in the neighboring race the daughter of the senator he is seeking to replace found that one way to prove to voters that she is more than just “the daughter of” is to attack AIPAC and oppose military aid to Israel. The two results do not tell the same story, but they once again demonstrate where the Democratic Party stands in 2026: Israel is no longer a foreign policy issue that candidates can skip over in a primary. It has become a political test in which candidates are expected to choose a clear side.