Dodging AIPAC, Embracing Harris, Pappas Scrambles As Manzur Gains

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

Call the NFL — Chris Pappas has got some moves.

In the span of 24 hours, Pappas broke both far left and wide right in his race to be the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, revealing the challenging political field he’s facing in his party.

On Monday morning, the four-term congressman was cheering an endorsement from former Vice President Kamala Harris, the establishment figure members of his own party in competitive states have spent the cycle avoiding.

The day before, Pappas was on CNN, juking his way around questions about his longstanding ties to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, distancing himself from his years of pro-Israel politics.

The result is a frontrunner trying to run up the Democratic center while head faking to the left — and getting hit from both directions as he sprints toward the Sept. 8 primary.

The trouble started on CNN, where Manu Raju asked Pappas a direct question: Does AIPAC do good for America? Open Secrets tallies more than $200,000 flowing to Pappas this cycle from AIPAC and affiliated donors, and the group has endorsed him.

Pappas declined to answer. Instead, he pivoted to campaign-finance reform, his work on disclosure legislation and his effort to overturn Citizens United. Asked again — plainly — whether he welcomes AIPAC’s endorsement, Pappas bobbed and weaved, only saying he welcomes “the support of individuals” and noting his willingness “to take on the Netanyahu government.”

It was a striking sidestep for a congressman who has declared on AIPAC’s own platform in 2022, “I’m proud to be a pro-Israel Democrat. And that’s why I want to continue to stay in the fight.”

Pappas has never returned any AIPAC money or disavowed the endorsement. But he’s clearly shifting his position on the field. This summer he was one of 10 House Democrats to vote “present” — rather than yes or no — on a proposal touching U.S. aid to Israel, and he now describes the relationship as at “a turning point” that calls for “a reset.”

His progressive challenger, medical scientist Karishma Manzur, pounced on the AIPAC feint.

“Granite Staters deserve leaders with honesty, integrity, and accountability. So, it’s a shame that Chris Pappas was unwilling to answer a simple question about AIPAC’s endorsement,” Manzur said. “When corporate politicians like Pappas, Trump, and Sununu say they want to get big money out of politics and then turn around and take millions of dollars from special interests, that’s plain hypocrisy.

“This is exactly why I’m surging in the polls right now; people are sick and tired of business-as-usual politicians who are deceiving the American people.”

A UNH survey last week put Pappas ahead of Manzur 47% to 34% — down from a 61%-18% lead in April.

Monday morning, Pappas was leaning into the Harris endorsement, posting on X that he was “proud to have her on Team Pappas” and that “she knows the stakes couldn’t be higher here in New Hampshire.”

That is the same Harris that Democrats in competitive states have gone out of their way to keep at arm’s length. Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign said she “isn’t seeking endorsements from anyone from the Lower 48.” Iowa Senate candidate Josh Turek answered a flat “no” when asked if he wanted Harris to campaign for him. Iowa gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand said, “No thanks. Let’s move on.”

New Hampshire has apparently moved on, too. In the latest St. Anselm College poll of Democrats on the 2028 presidential primary, the 2024 nominee who carried the state with 51 percent of the vote was at just three percent — well behind former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly.

“How much of a lifeline can she be?” one New Hampshire Democratic activist asked NHJournal on background.

Republicans say Pappas can’t stay in the political pocket because he’s not campaigning for principles; he’s following his party.

“Even as he dodges on national TV, this primary has moved Chris Pappas from a liberal rubber stamp to embracing a radical socialist platform,” said John E. Sununu campaign spokesman Mike Schrimpf. “We already knew he voted with Speaker Nancy Pelosi 222 out of 223 times. Now he’s embracing the endorsement of Kamala Harris, who recently embraced the Far Left’s agenda of statehood for Puerto Rico and packing the Supreme Court.”

At the National Urban League’s conference in Nashville on July 31, Harris called for packing the U.S. Supreme Court with four additional judges and announced her support for granting statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.

Team Sununu is also talking up the UNH survey results, which show the Republican with a narrow 45% to 43% lead.

As Pappas attempts to both run right and feint left, he feeds the fundamental weakness of his Senate campaign: the perception that he’s not a leader, that he’s weak.

Eight days out, Granite State Democrats will decide whether a candidate pointed in two directions can still reach the finish line — or whether, as Boston Globe reporter James Pindell put it on the NHJournal podcast, Pappas is set to “limp across.”

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.