ICYMI: Pappas Discusses Lowering Costs, Taking on Corporate Special Interests, and Putting New Hampshire First on WMUR’s CloseUp

MANCHESTER, NH — In case you missed it, Congressman Chris Pappas joined WMUR’s CloseUp to discuss his campaign for U.S. Senate in the battleground state of New Hampshire — outlining his plans to lower costs for working families, reform a broken Washington, and stand up to reckless leadership at home and abroad.

Pappas emphasized his commitment to New Hampshire values, called for an economy that works for everyone — not just corporate special interests — and made clear the stakes of the Senate race as outside groups get ready to pour millions into the state to prop up John Sununu.

Watch the full interview here and read key quotes from Congressman Pappas below.

All Eyes on New Hampshire’s Battleground Senate Race

PAPPAS: “Look, this is New Hampshire. This is a competitive state, and that’s a good thing. That means that you’re out there having conversations, that voters are ultimately the ones who are in the driver’s seat. So we’re building a strong campaign, because the stakes are incredibly high right now. We need someone who’s going to stand up and put New Hampshire first, who’s going to push back against a reckless president that doesn’t have New Hampshire’s best interests at heart.”

PAPPAS: “We need to fight to create a fairer economy, to lower costs, to support things like housing and health care and child care that I’m hearing about all across the state of New Hampshire. So we’re building an effort that’s authentic, that’s based in New Hampshire communities and in our state’s values. That’s the work that I’ve done over the last four terms in Congress, standing up for what’s right, pushing back against my party when they’re wrong, working to get things done, and we need that kind of leadership moving forward.”

Corporate Special Interests Back John Sununu — Again

PAPPAS: “This campaign is going to be a hard fought contest. There’s a lot of outside interest in this race, and we’ve already seen the Koch brothers spend about a million dollars to prop up John Sununu, the National Republican Senate super PAC, has reserved about $17 million worth of ads for the fall already to support him and to attack us. So the fact is, with all this outside special interest money coming into New Hampshire, we got to do a lot of things right. We’ve got to have authentic conversations. I’ve got to gain the confidence of the voters of New Hampshire and show that we can get things done. We can stand up to this President. We can move New Hampshire forward. That’s the core of this campaign.”

PAPPAS: “He [Sununu] was defeated by voters in 2008 because he was down the line for an unpopular Republican president. He supported forever wars. He supported privatizing Social Security, he’s against a woman’s right to choose, and he was very much joined at the hip with the corporate special interests that run Washington DC. He spent the last 18 years as part of that revolving door that everyone hates about Washington. So he would potentially come back into the Senate with all sorts of new conflicts and relationships on the outside that are going to make it harder for us to lower the cost of prescription drugs, to hold Big Oil to account, to hold the line against corporate power in Washington, DC, and get things done.”

PAPPAS: “The answer for New Hampshire right now isn’t to go back to a failed candidate or failed ideas that have already been rejected. It’s about thinking about the kind of future that we can create, how we can come together, stand up to Donald Trump where he’s wrong, fight for health care, fight for housing, fight to lower costs for New Hampshire families, fight to get things done. That’s the kind of future that I want to be a part of.”

PAPPAS: “[Sununu] was supportive of the bailout of Wall Street, and he left Congress and got on the board of some of those firms that benefited from the bailout that he supported. This is about New Hampshire families, and what I’m hearing all across the state is people are anxious and worried about the future of this country. They know Donald Trump is taking us in the wrong direction. The war in Iran that is jeopardizing our national security and raising prices at the pump, the health care cuts that are jeopardizing the ability of New Hampshire families to get the care that they need, and is raising everyone’s premiums. John Sununu stands with Donald Trump, he supports these policies. We need someone who’s going to put New Hampshire first.”

Fighting for Meaningful Reforms in Washington

PAPPAS: “I’m a New Hampshire guy. I’ve lived in the same one mile radius in Manchester my entire life, and this is always going to be my home. I’m proud of the small business that we have here that has created jobs over the course of the last century. And so that’s what shapes my worldview and how I operate in Washington.” 

PAPPAS: “I’ve been a voice for reform, for changing the way that the system works in Washington. It’s not good enough. It’s broken. We’ve got members of Congress that are literally trading millions of dollars worth of stock any given year, participating in these prediction markets based on inside information that they have. We’ve got to ban those practices, and I’m working across the aisle to get that done.” 

PAPPAS: “We’ve got to stand up to an administration where the corruption and grift is right out in the open and insist on tougher ethical standards and accountability, and we’ve got to get big money out of our political system. Those are things that I fought for my entire political career. And I think we need to apply some New Hampshire common sense to the problems we see going on in Washington.”

Granite State Families Can’t Afford Trump’s War With Iran

PAPPAS: “In the early days of this operation, the President did not level with the American public. He did not put plans in place that he shared with Congress or with the American people about how to keep our service members safe and what objectives we were trying to pursue.” 

PAPPAS: “One Ayatollah has replaced another. They still harbor nuclear ambitions and a ballistic missile program. They now control traffic through the Strait of Hormuz in a way that puts their thumb on the global energy markets and is raising costs for Americans back home. […] I think we’ve got to bring it to a close. We’ve got to get our service members out of harm’s way. We can continue to hold Iran to account for their malign influence that they have in the region. We should be working to toughen sanctions and working with allies and partners in the region through diplomatic channels to keep a lid on their nuclear program. We can accomplish all of that, but what the President has delivered is a war of choice with no plan for how to win it or conclude it. And the American people and the people of New Hampshire don’t support an open ended commitment like that.”

Live Free or Die Means the Freedom to Choose

PAPPAS: “We are still exposed, and there’s still a political threat to an abortion ban at the federal level and at the state level, and I think we need language in the law that’s going to establish the framework of Roe and protect the ability of people to access the care that they need. So that’s why I’ll continue to fight for the Women’s Health Protection Act to make sure that we’re restoring Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.”

PAPPAS: “Folks I’ve talked to around New Hampshire, they have a range of concerns, including the cost of living being far too high, the need to invest in health care and housing and child care, the things that are going to support the needs of families. Folks are also deeply concerned about the affront on personal freedoms, and they know that this attack on the right to choose and the attack on the right to privacy is something that could continue. So I think people would feel additional urgency if they see legislation being filed, that they see that there are candidates running for office — including John Sununu, who helped install the judges and justices that gave us the Dobbs decision in the first place. So I think this will be a point of contrast in this campaign, and it’s something in the Live Free or Die State that people take very seriously in New Hampshire.”

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