If U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas wins New Hampshire’s open Senate seat in 2026, he will become the first out gay man ever elected to the U.S. Senate and only the third LGBTQ+ person. But Pappas, a 44-year-old Democrat now in his third term in the House of Representatives, says his campaign isn’t about making history.
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“To me, I’ve never sought to make history,” he told The Advocate in an exclusive interview in his Capitol Hill office. “That’s just happened along the way while I’ve tried to be of use to people in New Hampshire through public service.” Still, he added, “I do think it’s a moment where we need to ensure that the community is represented in the halls of Congress.”
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Pappas is running to succeed U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a fellow Democrat who announced she would not seek a fourth term. The race is expected to be one of the most closely watched in the country, with potential challengers including Republican former Gov. Chris Sununu and ex-Sen. Scott Brown, who previously represented Massachusetts before relocating to New Hampshire. Pappas enters the contest with the backing of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and a reputation as a seasoned campaigner who has flipped a congressional district and then defended it since.
If elected, Pappas would take office in 2027 in the final two years of President Donald Trump’s second term. For LGBTQ+ Americans, he said, that reality heightens the urgency of the moment.
“I’ve worked very closely with my colleagues in the LGBTQ Equality Caucus to help meet this extraordinary moment and make sure that we’re standing up for the community and giving voice to the concerns, fears, and outrage that people have with what they see this administration doing on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
A Manchester native and Harvard graduate, Pappas launched his political career at 22. He was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 2002, and served in several elected offices in the state. In 2018, he became New Hampshire’s first out LGBTQ+ member of Congress.
He now serves as the top Democrat on the Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity and is also a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee member. Pappas is one of the co-chairs of the Congressional Equality Caucus and the Hellenic Caucus and is active in bipartisan mental health, addiction, and infrastructure efforts. Related: Out U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas Marries His Boyfriend
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Related: Out U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas Marries His Boyfriend
Pappas says his LGBTQ+ advocacy remains central to his mission. In the House, he’s co-led the Equality Act, introduced a federal ban on the gay and trans panic defense, and fought for access to Veterans Affairs benefits for LGBTQ+ veterans — including those discharged under “don't ask, don't tell”
When he’s not in D.C., he said he tries to unwind with a daily run, yard work (he’s notably not a plant person), or — when lucky — some time on the hiking trails back home.
“There’s very little downtime,” he admitted, adding that staying active and rooted in New Hampshire helps him reset.
Pappas faced backlash last year for voting in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act, which included a Republican-backed provision barring Tricare, the military health insurance program, from covering gender-affirming care for trans minors. Pappas was the only LGBTQ+ member of Congress to support the final bill.
“Look, that was not an easy vote,” he told The Advocate. “I made clear at the moment that I opposed the specific provision that targeted trans individuals in the NDAA. I believe that people should be able to access health care that’s between families and their doctors, and that the government doesn’t have a role to play.”
He cited essential investments in defense and district priorities, including support for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, which employs thousands of civilian workers. Still, he said, “I regret that through the negotiations between the House and Senate last year, that we weren’t able to have the kind of traditional process that we need on bills like that, which keeps out any amendments that are dealing with issues that are not at the core of our national security.”
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Since then, Pappas has affirmed his support for trans rights and the right to medical care without political interference.
"We are now in a new administration, and this is a moment for us to figure out how we can stand up for the community and make sure that their voice is right here and very present in Washington,” he said. “I just am really committed to doing what I can to make sure we bring this nation closer to the promise of its founding for everyone. That includes the trans community, which I know is under a great threat and attack from the White House to state capitals across our country, and I want to continue to engage with community members and make sure that they feel heard.”
Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) talks to members of the press on November 8, 2022 in Manchester, New Hampshire.Sophie Park/Getty Images
The threat Pappas described is not theoretical. Since returning to office in January, Trump has issued sweeping executive orders aimed at erasing transgender people from federal policy. His first major directive redefined sex under federal law as immutable and binary — male or female, assigned at birth — eliminating recognition of gender identity across the U.S. government.
Federal agencies have begun rewriting regulations to remove references to gender identity. Social security records, passports, and other identification documents must now reflect a person’s sex assigned at birth. Trans women are being forced into men’s prisons. Schools and shelters are no longer required to accommodate trans students or residents. Federally funded health care programs, including Medicaid and the VA, are barred from covering or providing gender-affirming care.
Major U.S. medical associations have condemned the Trump administration's moves as dangerous, unscientific, and discriminatory.
“This administration continues to pursue efforts to deny people health care,” Pappas said. “We’ve got to be willing to meet this moment and make sure there’s no discrimination — whether that’s in the military or public spaces.”
He added, “Whether it’s the military ban which this administration continues to pursue or other efforts to deny people health care, I think there’s a way for us to focus Americans’ attention on how we include everyone because I think that generally has broad support. People want their neighbors to be able to live their own lives and be themselves and have the protection of the law."
In May, Pappas joined more than 100 House Democrats in demanding that the Trump administration reverse its plan to eliminate LGBTQ+-specific services from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The specialized line for LGBTQ+ youth has fielded more than 1.3 million contacts since 2022.
“Ending this mental health support for youth in distress would devastate a vital resource for some of our nation’s most vulnerable young people,” he and his colleagues wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Trump.
The letter called the proposed cut “shortsighted and dangerous,” warning that it would “undermine suicide prevention efforts that have already saved countless lives.”
Pappas said the erosion of civil rights is part of a broader unraveling of constitutional norms under Trump’s second term.
“Our constitutional principles cannot be inconveniences,” he said. “They can’t be mere suggestions. They have to be bedrock principles that all Americans are willing to rally behind.”
“We are a nation of laws. No one is above the law, including the President of the United States.”
Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., speaks during a House Democrats news conference on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
He said bipartisan concern about democratic backsliding exists even in New Hampshire.
“I talk to conservative people who share the same beliefs as progressives about the nature of what we’ve been given in this country,” he said. “We have to make sure that our democracy continues to stand the test.”
That divide, he noted, is just as stark inside the Capitol. “You quickly learn that some people in this building are serious legislators and others aren’t,” he said. “And frankly, Marjorie Taylor Greene and the kind of people that use the rhetoric that she does are not serious legislators.”
He added: “They just want to throw bombs and try to throw sand in the gears of the ability of Congress to work and make things happen.”
Pappas married his husband, Vann Bentley, in 2023. But he said Justice Clarence Thomas’s call to revisit past rulings in his Dobbs concurrence — including Obergefell — should be taken seriously.
“What Thomas has laid out is a roadmap for how the far right is going to continue to attack reproductive rights and get at the right to privacy, which is well established by the court,” he said. “That intersects with the way all of us live our lives — who we are, the protections that exist in statute and constitutionally.”
“I’m from a state that cherishes liberty and freedom,” he said. “They want to make sure that the government is not in your bedroom, is not interfering with how you live your life.”
Pappas came out in college with the support of his parents. “They were unequivocal in terms of their love and support for me,” he recalled. But even with that foundation, the journey wasn’t easy.
“To that younger self, I would say: There’s a place for you,” he said. “You’ll be able to find a loving relationship, and really, you’ll be able to get everything you want to get out of life.”
For LGBTQ+ youth watching today’s political climate with fear or dismay, he had a message: “We’ve got to take democracy into our own hands,” he said. “Especially for people of a younger generation, they’re going to be dealing with the consequences of the decisions that are being made far longer than me or anyone else here in Washington.”
