Missing Rivals Mar New Hampshire Democrats' Unity Breakfast, Showing Divisions Remain

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

It was political theater at the New Hampshire Democratic Party unity breakfast Wednesday morning.

Stefany Shaheen, who narrowly won a bitterly contested primary to become the Democratic nominee in NH-01, stood at a lectern before a roomful of Democrats and asked her former rivals to stand and be recognized.

Christian Urrutia, Sarah Chadzynski, and Carleigh Beriont rose and were greeted with applause.

Then Shaheen called the name of her closest rival, Maura Sullivan, who finished about 2 percentage points behind her.

No Sullivan.

She was spotted leaving the New Hampshire Institute of Politics just moments after the event began.

She was not the only candidate absent from the gathering.

Karishma Manzur was also missing when U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, who defeated her by a nearly 2-to-1 margin in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, spoke to the crowd.

“Last night I got a very gracious call from Dr. Karishma Manzur, and I salute her campaign and the passion she brought,” Pappas said.

Manzur has said publicly that she told Pappas he needed to “earn my vote and the votes of my supporters,” rather than pledge to endorse the party’s nominee.

Manzur declined throughout the primary to promise her support for Pappas, part of the “no compromise” politics that helped her — a political newcomer with little funding — win about 33% of the vote against a four-term congressman in his own party’s primary.

In addition to skipping the unity breakfast, Manzur had not released a statement supporting Pappas as of late Wednesday.

“I believe they are making plans to meet. I’m sure I will have a statement following that,” a Manzur spokesperson told NHJournal.

Manzur’s actions since the primary have prompted criticism from some progressives. One told NHJournal on background that they were “f*cking tired of being bullied by Karishma and her people.”

Others made their criticism public.

“You can quote me on this (and I’m posting here of course): she’s an a**hole,” state Rep. Kris Schultz, D-Concord, posted on X in response to NHJournal’s reporting on Manzur’s endorsement demands.

“Many progressives saw this and happily voted for Rep. Chris Pappas. He is just a wonderful human being.”

A progressive activist who has worked on multiple Granite State campaigns told NHJournal on background that “sympathetic progressives didn’t like her or her classless attitude. And saying she wouldn’t support Pappas cost her votes.”

Sullivan, meanwhile, issued a statement endorsing Shaheen in her race against Republican businessman Anthony DiLorenzo.

“I want to congratulate Stefany Shaheen on winning the Democratic nomination. She is a dedicated Granite Stater, and I’m proud to offer her my full support over these next 55 days,” Sullivan said in a statement.

Still, divisions remain, and it may take time for the party to move past them, in part because New Hampshire Democrats have fewer primaries than Republicans and, therefore, less practice dealing with the aftermath. For example, 39 Republican state representative primaries were held Tuesday, compared with 17 Democratic contests.

And when Democrats do hold primaries, they are rarely as close as the NH-01 race. For Republicans, they’re a regular occurrence. In 2024, Russell Prescott edged Hollie Noveletsky by about 2.3 percentage points. Two years earlier, Don Bolduc defeated Chuck Morse by 1.2 percentage points.

Before Shaheen’s victory Tuesday, however, the last New Hampshire Democrat to win a federal primary by less than 3 percentage points was Robert L. Dupay, who defeated Russell J. Verney 51% to 49% in the 1982 NH-02 primary.

Dupay went on to lose the general election to Judd Gregg, 71% to 29%.

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.