Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas will run to succeed fellow Democrat Jeanne Shaheen in a wide-open race for U.S. Senate.

“What I hear from people, they want someone who shows up, someone who listens and someone who isn’t afraid to take on the big fights, and more importantly today, who knows how to win them,” Pappas said in a campaign launch video posted on social media, as he struck a populist theme and made the case that he’s a fighter.

Using clips of a listening tour he made through all ten of New Hampshire’s counties last month as he ramped up his campaign, Pappas said voters feel like “the system’s rigged.”

“You think about the Social Security office that’s going to be closed in Littleton, drastic cuts to Medicaid, all in the name of giving big tax breaks to billionaires like Elon Musk,” he argued, as he pointed to President Donald Trump’s top donor and the world’s richest person, who’s leading the administration’s controversial downsizing of the federal government workforce.

“I do get angry, because when you’re talking about public service, you should be focused on how you can help people, how you can make people’s lives better,” he added.

The four-term congressman, who represents the eastern half of the state, including Manchester and Portsmouth, is the first major candidate to enter the race since Shaheen announced last month she would retire at the end of her third term. Shaheen, 78, was the first woman in the nation’s history elected governor and to the U.S. Senate.

The seat is one of the Senate Republicans’ top targets as they aim to expand their 53-47 majority in the chamber in next year’s midterms.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee instantly took aim at Pappas.

>kern 0.28pt<“Chris Pappas supports biological males competing in women’s sports, wants to ban gas-powered vehicles, and voted to raise taxes on hard-working Granite Staters,” the committe’s regional press secretary Nick Puglia charged in a statement. “Pappas is extremely out of touch, and New Hampshire families deserve better.”>kern 0pt<

And a memo from the committee to donors made the case that the GOP can flip the seat.

“Our internal polling data in New Hampshire demonstrates a favorable political environment for Republicans in this toss-up Senate race,” the memo states.

In the race for the GOP Senate nomination, former longtime Gov. Chris Sununu said last month that he was holding a dialogue with national GOP leaders about potentially running.

Sununu, who enjoys a large national profile thanks to his regular appearances on the cable news networks and Sunday talk shows, said he expected to make a decision in the coming weeks.

But he noted that while “the door’s open” to running, he emphasized “it’s not open a lot, to be honest.”

The former governor’s comments in recent interviews are a switch from last year, when he repeatedly said he ruled out running for the Senate in 2026.

Four years ago, Sununu was heavily courted by national Republicans to take on Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, who was up for re-election in 2022. Sununu ultimately decided to run for a fourth term as governor and took a swipe at politicians in the nation’s capital. “They debate and talk and nothing gets done,” he said at the time.

Sununu isn’t the only Republican mulling a Senate bid in New Hampshire.

Former Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who later narrowly lost to Shaheen in New Hampshire in the 2014 election, is seriously considering a 2026 run.

Brown, who served four years as U.S. ambassador to New Zealand during Trump’s first administration, has been holding meetings with Republicans across New Hampshire for a couple of months and has met multiple times with GOP officials in the nation’s capital.

Pappas, in his launch video, highlighted his Granite State roots, his business background and his record on Capitol Hill.

Pappas, a former state representative and county treasurer who later served on New Hampshire’s five-member executive council before winning election to Congress in 2018 (including a re-election victory in 2022 over now-White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt), hails from a family that’s owned and operated the famed Puritan Backroom restaurant and conference center in Manchester for over a century.

For decades, the Manchester restaurant has been a must-stop for White House hopefuls campaigning in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary.

“I learned about serving the community, running our family business, which has been around for over 100 years, every day at the restaurant, you need to bring hard work and determination to get the job done,” Pappas highlighted in his video.

Brown took to social media to take aim at Pappas in a possible preview of a potential general election clash.

“ChrisPappasNH talks about being grounded in ‘New Hampshire values,’ good luck squaring that rhetoric with his record in Washington D.C. supporting wide open borders, men in women’s sports and lying to his constituents about Joe Biden’s senility,” Brown charged in his post.

Pappas will hold a kick-off event at the Puritan Backroom later on Thursday and will stump across the state over the weekend.

Pappas, who is the first openly gay man to represent New Hampshire in Congress, currently serves on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs and on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Pappas has highlighted his ability to cross party lines to seek bipartisan support. He made headlines in January, when he and the newly elected Goodlander were among 48 House Democrats to break with the party and support a Republican bill to detain undocumented immigrants charged with crimes.