The 2026 elections may be more than a year away, but there is one race in New Hampshire that’s already drawing a large — and growing — field of candidates. That’s the contest for the 1st Congressional District seat, now held by Democrat Chris Pappas. NHPR’s Josh Rogers spoke with All Things Considered host Julia Furukawa to discuss why who’s running and what this race may tell us about the state of both political parties.

Below is a lightly edited transcript.

So, it’s July 2025, and there are seven candidates — five Democrats and two Republicans — in this race so far. Others are looking at it. This seems early, no? I mean, the primary is more than a year away.

It is early, and some candidates are already out there doing the kind of retail campaigning you’d normally expect to see a year from now.

For instance, I caught Stefany Shaheen, one of the Democrats in the race, in Manchester Thursday with former Gov. John Lynch, shaking hands with local business owners.

So it’s is already a lively race. Let’s start with the Democrats.

Sure. Congressman Chris Pappas is vacating this seat to run for U.S. Senate, and so far five Democrats have lined up to succeed him. It’s already clear the field covers a reasonably wide swath of the party as it’s really still working to define itself in the second Trump term.

We already heard from Stefany Shaheen. She’s a former Portsmouth city councilor, and now works as an executive at Dean Kamen’s government-backed bio-engineering effort, ARMI. But, in fact, she’s probably best known for her last name: She’s the daughter of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. That name — and the connections that go along with it — are on display already. Her ability to secure the endorsement of somebody like Lynch, a popular former governor, like is an obvious plus. But some of her opponents are already working to make all that a liability.

Here’s part of the campaign launch video of Democrat Christian Urrutia, a lawyer who lives in Moultonborough:

“There will be many good Democrats in this race, but familiar names and the politics of yesterday aren’t enough to meet the moment. We need to do better.”

Now, that’s not exactly a veiled poke at Shaheen there.

No, it’s not. Let’s stick with the Democrats. You indicated candidates are coming from several different corners of the party in this race. One has run for this seat before, yes?

Yes. Maura Sullivan of New Castle. She was new to New Hampshire when she ran the first time, in 2016. It’s seven years later, and these days she is vice chair of the state Democratic Party — and very comfortable working within the party’s power structure.

In this race, she’s also highlighting her background as a Marine and her time working on veterans issues during the Obama administration. And she’s definitely casting herself as next in line in New Hampshire’s Democratic establishment. Here’s Sullivan speaking to WMUR in April:

“When I’m elected, I will be the first female Marine elected to Congress in this country. It’s only fitting that the first female Marine be elected from New Hampshire, as we have such a strong and proud tradition here — sending the first woman in our country to be both governor and U.S. senator, in Jeanne Shaheen.”

OK, so Sullivan name-dropping Jeanne Shaheen — and putting an emphasis on her military background. She’s not alone on that last count in this Democratic field.

You are right. Christian Urrutia, who we also heard from a moment ago, is in the New Hampshire National Guard. He now works at AirBnb but worked as a Pentagon lawyer during the Biden administration. He talked up that experience when he launched his campaign. But he also notes that his parents are both immigrants. And as far as his policies go, he’s announced some progressive ones: Medicare for All, universal daycare, and tuition free community college and trade school. But, right now, Urrutia is little known to Democrats here in New Hampshire.

So who else is there among the Democrats?

There is Carleigh Beriont — a Harvard instructor and member of the Hampton Selectboard. Beriont is the only person in this race who now holds any elected office. That’s something she’s stressed. Her husband is a public school teacher, and she’s very much playing up that she understands the pressures people face in making ends meet these days: the cost of childcare and housing for example. She’s also taking a few interesting stances, including forgoing social media.

This is what Beriont said to WMUR about this.

“I am not going to spend a single penny advertising on those websites, or use forums that are created to divide us, and to destroy our democracy to have conversations with people in this community.’

Another Democrat who appears to be embracing a less conventional approach to this campaign is Sarah Chadzynski of Lyndeborough. Tell me about her.

She’s a former teacher who has led international non-profits, and she’s calling herself a “movement” candidate informed by the recent “No Kings” protests. She kicked off what is clearly a pretty homespun campaign earlier this week by announcing her candidacy with remarks standing before a razor wire-topped fence at Strafford County Jail, the only location in the state where ICE detainees are held.

 “Silence in the face of authoritarianism in our country or abroad is never an option. That’s why we are standing here today in front of Strafford County Corrections Center.”

So a strong human rights and democratic norms message there. It does seem like the Democrats in this race are working to harness whatever anti-Trump sentiment they think is animating people these days.

I think that’s right. They are doing so and in varying ways — informed by their backgrounds and temperaments.

What about the Republicans in this race? There are two so far. What are they saying?

There’s Chris Bright. He ran for this same seat last year, and finished fourth in the primary. Bright’s a veteran, a West Point graduate, and a businessman. He’s pointing to his leadership skills — and his experience running last year — as informing his candidacy. Here he is speaking to WMUR.

“I want to do this. I learned pretty much everything — well, I did learn absolutely everything — on the last run. And I almost feel like it’s a duty to take the lessons learned. The issues are still there.”

Now, in his last campaign, Bright initially seemed to be staking out a moderate place in the Republican Party. He’d said he supported Nikki Haley in the GOP presidential primary, and said abortion was an issue that was hurting Republicans. But eventually he described himself as a diehard Trump backer — willing to, as he put it, “crawl across broken glass” for Trump.

Intense. And the other Republican in this race so far?

That would be Melissa Bailey. She’s right now the vice chair of the Bedford Republican committee. She has a background in finance and accounting and she left the workforce to homeschool her kids about a decade ago. She told me she sees this as a good moment for Republicans, and she points to the raft of conservative policies coming out of the New Hampshire State House in recent months as proof of that:

“The political climate has changed quite a bit. And with our strong Republican legislators in our state having so much success, I think that’s going to help our party as well.”

Of course, voters won’t cast the first ballots in this race for more than a year. So who knows what the climate will look like then — for Democrats or Republicans?