NH-01: Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter surprised everyone when she announced she would retire from this swing seat in October, but it didn't take long for a very crowded Democratic primary to develop to replace her.
Eleven Democrats ended up filing, and the early frontrunner looks like Executive Councilor Chris Pappas. Pappas has been touted as a rising star for years, and he has the support of Sen. Maggie Hassan and Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig. The state National Education Association backed him in March and the State Employees Association endorsed him this month, which gives him the support of the two largest unions in the state as well as a number of smaller groups. Pappas would also be the state's first openly-gay member of Congress.
However, Pappas isn't the best-funded candidate in the primary. That honor goes to Iraq War Marine veteran and former Department of Veterans Affairs official Maura Sullivan, who held a wide $697,000 to $339,000 cash-on-hand edge over Pappas at the end of March. Sullivan also has EMILY's List and VoteVets in her corner. However, Sullivan only moved to New Hampshire last year, and she considered a House bid in her native Illinois at the start of this cycle.
The only other Democrat who had more than $100,000 in the bank at the end of March was state Rep. Mark MacKenzie, who had $115,000 to spend after mostly self-funding his campaign. MacKenzie led the state chapter of the AFL-CIO from 1990 to 2015, and they and several other labor groups are in his corner. Naomi Andrews, who has served as Shea-Porter's chief of staff and campaign manager, entered the race in May with the retiring congresswoman's endorsement.
The candidate with the most national name-recognition is Levi Sanders, a son of Bernie Sanders. However, many of the Vermont senator's political allies are backing other candidates, and Bernie Sanders has refused to endorse his son. The younger Sanders also hasn't tapped into his father's fundraising network either, and he had just $10,000 in the bank at the end of March. It also doesn't help that he doesn't live anywhere close to the 1st District, and he's faced lots of questions about his past social media outbursts.
A few other local politicians are in: businessman Deaglan McEachern; former Somersworth Mayor Lincoln Soldati; state Rep. Mindi Messmer; and Iraq War Army veteran Terence O'Rourke; as well as two other candidates who appear to be Some Dudes. None of these candidates look like they have the resources or major support to pull off an upset in September, but weird things can always happen in very crowded races.
While Obama and Trump each only narrowly carried this seat, it's going to be a tough GOP pickup in a year where they're largely on the defensive; it doesn't help Team Red that New Hampshire tends to swing wildly depending on the political climate, and this year the wind is very much not at the GOP's back. National Republicans initially showed some interest in state Sen. Andy Sanborn, but he's struggled with fundraising for months. However, Sanborn boosted his war chest in 2018 after he loaned his campaign $250,000, which gave him $496,000 to spend at the end of March.
Former state Liquor Commission official Eddie Edwards is also in, but he had just $160,000 in the bank after about a year on the campaign trail. Technology executive Bruce Crochetiere announced he would run in May, and he's pledged to self-fund at least $500,000.