Incumbent	John E. Sununu
Party	Republican
Seeking Re-election?	Yes
Candidate Website	Senate Website

Challenger	Steve Marchand (City of Portsmouth Mayor)
Party	Democratic
Source of Information	Nashua Telegraph
Candidate Website	Marchand for Senate
Fundraising Link	ActBlue
Contribution Data	FEC

Challenger	Katrina Swett
Party	Democrat; daughter of Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA); ran for a NH House seat in 2002; wife of ex-Rep. Dick Swett (D-NH), Katrina endorsed Joe Lieberman against Ned LaMont in Connecticut after the primary
Source of Information	Katrina Swett announces for seat
Candidate Website	Swett for Senate
Fundraising Link	ActBlue
Contribution Data	FEC

Potential Challenger	Jeanne Shaheen, former NH Governor (1997-2003)
Party	Democrat
Source of Information	Guess/CW/Media Speculation: Unlikely to leave post at Harvard Institute of Politics for a campaign
Candidate Website

Potential Challenger	State Senator Peter Burling
Party	Democrat
Source of Information	speculation: D C Political Report
Candidate Website	Peter Burling website

Potential Candidate	Jay Buckey- Dartmouth Medical Professor & former Astronaut
Party	Democrat
Source of Information	Source of Buckey for Senate rumor Swing State Project Comment
Candidate Website	Buckey Exploratory Website

Potential Challenger	State Sen. Maggie Wood Hassan
Party	Democratic
Source of Information	Says no; Hotline 1/17/07
Candidate Website

Background Information

Republican Senator John Sununu is up for re-election in 2008. Sununu, originally elected in 2002, is expected to seek a second term as Senator. Although some early speculation suggested that Democratic Governor John Lynch (also up for re-election in 2008) would challenge the Senator for his seat, Lynch's spokespeople have denied this talk, saying the Governor has "no plans" to run against Sununu.

Media speculation and pundits have suggested more recently that former Democratic NH Governor Jeanne Shaheen may challenge Sununu for his Senate seat in 2008. Shaheen ran for Senate against Sununu in 2002, however the latter won by less than 10,000 votes.

It was later discovered that Republican operatives working on behalf of the New Hamsphire State Republican Party had hired an Ohio-based telemarketing firm to flood Democratic Get Out The Vote hotlines (as well as those of NH firefighters unions), in an attempt to jam them, thereby stopping legitimate Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters from getting rides to the polls on election-day. This resulted in a large scandal, and several State Republican officials have been convicted and are serving/have served prison time. Some believe that had this illegal plot to suppress votes not occurred, Shaheen would have won against Sununu.

Many political analysts (such as Chuck Todd and John Mercurio of the National Journal) consider Sununu one of the top endangered Senate incumbents up for re-election in 2008. Senator Chuck Schumer, who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has already announced that he intends to target Sununu aggressively when he comes up for re-election.

NH State Demoratic Party Chair Kathy Sullivan began talking up City of Portsmouth Major Steve Marchand in late 2006. Marchand says he is concentrating on the present and being as good a Mayor as possible (he isn't giving a thought to 2008, he claims). Also, note that if Democratic Governor John Lynch ran for Senate against Republican incumbent Sununu, Marchand might run for the Governor's mansion instead of Senate. Keep in mind however that Lynch maintains he is not interested in running for Senate.

Steve Marchand announced on June 8th that he would bow out of the race if former governor Jeanne Shaheen entered it, which she is not expected to.


Note: John E. Sununu happens to share a very similar name with John H. Sununu (a former New Hampshire Governor who just happens to be his father). So don't get the two confused when looking for information on Google.

Issues

Democrats are planning to use Sununu's vote against stem-cell research in the 2008 campaign. Being against stem-cell research is code for being outside of the mainstream.

Resources

Below you will find links to further information about the 2008 New Hampshire Senate race.

Political Environment

• CQ 1/18/07 on "new political environment" in NH
  

Sununu (Republican incumbent)

Wikipedia: John E. Sununu
Official Senate website
On The Issues: John Sununu

Shaheen (possible Democratic challenger)

Wikipedia: Jeanne Shaheen

Local blogs

Blue Hampshire (NH politics group blog)
Lost Nation