MANCHESTER, N.H. – The polls have started to close in swing state New Hampshire as Democratic and Republican Senate nominations are up for grabs on Tuesday, in a race that may determine if Republicans keep control of the chamber in the
Socialist-aligned candidate Karishma Manzur is on the move as she tries to pull off a major upset and defeat establishment-backed four-term Rep. Chris Pappas in the Democratic .
Once a longshot, Manzur gained momentum in recent weeks as the national spotlight turned to New Hampshire after a six-month primary season that saw the far-left score a slew of high-profile victories over centrists in what’s been framed as a battle for the Democrats’ ideological future.
The winner of the Democratic primary will take on either John E. Sununu or Scott Brown, two former senators who are battling for the GOP Senate nomination in the race to succeed retiring longtime Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the first woman in the nation’s history elected governor and senator.
Republicans haven’t won a Senate election in New Hampshire in 16 years, but they view the open Democrat-held seat as a top flip opportunity in the fight to hold their slim majority in the midterm elections.
In the , Manzur is taking the fight to Pappas.
“All he wants to do is just get his little cushy job and go to D.C., go to all these parties and these restaurants and just do whatever the bare minimum is,” she charged in a Fox News Digital interview.
The first-time candidate, scientist with a Ph.D. in biochemistry and nonprofit leader who is a member of a local (DSA) group, is pushing for universal healthcare, raising the minimum wage to at least $20 per hour, abolishing ICE and ending all military aid to Israel for what she argues is the Israeli government’s “genocide” against the Palestinian people in their war against Hamas in Gaza.
Manzur charged that Pappas, who has been supported over the years by the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, is a “genocide enabler.”
“Chris Pappas has had his turn and has not been able to serve this state honorably. He hasn’t done a good job in serving his corporate donors, his AIPAC foreign-aligned lobbies,” she claimed.
Pappas, in an interview with Fox News Digital, said, “Israel’s a historic ally of the United States, the only democracy in the region. And you can say that while you have vehement disagreements with the Netanyahu government as I’ve expressed.”
Referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pappas said, “I think Netanyahu’s being incredibly reckless right now. He faces voters in a matter of weeks and could lose his election. And I think that would be important to set a new tone for the U.S.-Israel relationship.”
Pappas, who has been the frontrunner for his party’s nomination ever since Shaheen announced early last year that she wouldn’t seek re-election, enjoys strong establishment and union backing. And for over a year, as he runs for the Senate, Pappas also takes aim at what he calls a political system “rigged for billionaires.”
Regardless, Manzur charges that Pappas is taking a page from her playbook.
“It’s really embarrassing and insulting to the people of New Hampshire. He’s been there for eight years. He has not provided any of that sort of populist messages, and now he’s realizing, wait, he’s dropping in the polls, and now he has to catch up,” Manzur argued.Â
Pappas defended his record, noting, “I’ve been fighting to change Washington to get big money out of our political system since I got elected to Congress in 2018.”
And Pappas emphasized he’s “appealing to those voters between the 20- and 80-yard line on the political playing field, and there are a lot of them in New Hampshire. This is not a left wing or a right wing state. It’s a state of voters who are pragmatic.”
