Report: Pappas Pulls TV Ad Money from NH Senate Market Amid Tight Race

Rep. Chris Pappas’s U.S. Senate campaign is revising its New Hampshire broadcast advertising, pulling money from the Portland television market, according to a report published this week.

The New Hampshire Journal reported that the Democrat’s campaign cut its TV spend, citing tracking data from the ad-monitoring firm AdImpact.

Pappas is revising his broadcast flight for the Sept. 22–28 window, with roughly $24,825 removed from the Portland market, according to an AdImpact “Spend Alert.” The alert noted that one of eight previously active markets had been reported at the time of the disclosure.

AdImpact’s market breakdown listed the Portland buy at $24,889, with 92 percent of stations reported. The firm showed the campaign’s dominant investment in the Boston market at $516,340, with 98 percent of stations reported, and a Burlington, Vermont, buy at $27,000.

The reported reduction comes as Republicans argue the race is far tighter than Democrats have acknowledged. A poll conducted for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) by GOP firm Fabrizio, Lee & Associates put former Sen. John E. Sununu (R) at 37 percent and Pappas at 36 percent, a one-point margin inside the survey’s four-point margin of error.

“While the race is statistically tied and well within the survey’s margin of error, these results clearly challenge the prevailing media narrative that Democrats have a lock on New Hampshire,” the NRSC pollsters’ memo stated. The memo claimed voters are taking “a fresh look” at Sununu.

Sununu won the Sept. 8 Republican primary with 69.6 percent against former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, earning President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Pappas defeated democratic socialist Karishma Manzur to claim the Democrat nomination. Republicans have grown increasingly confident about the seat, pointing to neck-and-neck polling and Sununu’s statewide name recognition, though nonpartisan forecasters still rate the contest as leaning Democrat.

Pappas has also drawn heavy outside spending. The Senate Majority PAC, aligned with Senate Democrats, reserved $10.2 million in New Hampshire TV ads backing him earlier this year — the smallest reservation of the group’s eight target states, and one the PAC described only as an “initial” buy. Meanwhile, the conservative One Nation launched a $6 million buy hitting Pappas over his past ties to an Amazon lobbyist.

The seat, held by retiring Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, has not gone to a Republican since 2010. The general election is scheduled for Nov. 3.