New Hampshire voters will see two familiar names on the ballot Tuesday, when John E. Sununu and Stefany Shaheen compete to keep their political dynasties alive.
Sununu, a former senator and the son and brother of two popular governors, is mounting a comeback run for Senate, and polls show him comfortably ahead of ex-Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown in his bid for the Republican nomination.
Downballot, Shaheen is attempting to succeed Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District. She’s largely shied away from discussing her mother, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), but the association has both helped her campaign and spurred attacks as she runs in a crowded field of Democratic challengers.
The younger Shaheen narrowly trails former Obama administration official Maura Sullivan ahead of Tuesday’s primary elections, with progressive Democrat Carleigh Beriont attempting a late surge.
The races are part of a game of musical chairs spurred by Jeanne Shaheen’s impending retirement from the Senate. Her decision to forgo a fourth term prompted Pappas to run for higher office, opening up his House seat.
Sununu, for his part, has been gone from New Hampshire politics since he lost his Senate seat to the elder Shaheen in 2008, a blue wave year. But he is regarded as a formidable challenger, and his recruitment by national Republicans has turned the race into a toss-up.
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Their campaigns are the latest test of how far a family name goes in a decidedly anti-establishment year in politics. In neighboring Maine, the governor’s race featured a scion of the Bush clan and Angus King III, the son of Sen. Angus King (I-ME). Both of the candidates lost.
Even the Kennedy family has had a rough go of it lately, with Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of President John F. Kennedy, losing his House primary in New York this year. Schlossberg and his counterparts in Maine were first-time candidates.
In the case of Sununu, he already has an electoral record in New Hampshire, serving three terms in the House before his 2002 election to the Senate.
But after two decades away from politics, voters are likely better acquainted with his brother, Republican Chris Sununu, who declined to run for Senate after finishing out a record fourth term as governor in 2025. One initial separates John E. Sununu from his father, John H. Sununu, who was the Republican governor of New Hampshire in the 1980s.
Brown, a former Massachusetts senator who is vying for Jeanne Shaheen’s seat, has accused Sununu of running an “entitled” campaign that banks on his family name. The attacks have fallen flat as polls show Sununu ahead by 30 or even 40 points in the GOP primary.
For Stefany Shaheen, a health advocate and former Portsmouth, New Hampshire, city councilor, her last name hasn’t proven to be the asset it was thought to be when polls showed her as an early front-runner.
The latest survey shows her 6 points behind Sullivan, a former Marine.
“She’s kind of topped out with the name recognition and really hasn’t moved up since that time,” said Andrew Smith, a professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire and director of the UNH Survey Center.
“It gets you name recognition, gets you contacts, gets you fundraising, but it doesn’t necessarily help you connect with the voters,” he added.
She even appears wary of associating too closely with her mother, whose pragmatic streak is out of step with a primary electorate that has gravitated to progressive, less compromising Democrats this cycle.
The younger Shaheen made waves last year for publicly disagreeing with her mother’s decision to help Republicans end a government shutdown.
Sullivan has responded much like Brown, accusing Stefany Shaheen of coming from an entitled background.
“I want a fighter, not a fancy last name,” Sullivan said in an ad that began airing last month.
The race has otherwise featured the same dynamic playing out in Democratic primaries nationally, with Shaheen tying Sullivan to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, and a third candidate, Beriont, trying to capture the progressive wing of the party.
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Tuesday’s elections in New Hampshire mark some of the final primaries of the 2026 cycle and will be followed by races in Rhode Island and Delaware later this month.
In the general election, New Hampshire could decide which party controls the Senate next year. The 1st District House race, meanwhile, is likely to stay in Democratic hands, according to nonpartisan election forecasters.