Chris Pappas

Professional background

Co-owner and operator of the Puritan Backroom restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Public service

New Hampshire House of Representatives (2002–2010); New Hampshire Executive Council (2012–2018); U.S. Representative for New Hampshire's 1st congressional district (2019–present).

Military service

None

In this race

• John Sununu (Republican)

Issue positions

Healthcare (Policy)

Pappas calls healthcare a “right, not a privilege” and supports the ACA rather than Medicare for All. He would restore the enhanced marketplace premium tax credits, protect Medicaid, expand telehealth and rural care, accelerate generic drugs, and broaden Medicare’s ability to negotiate prescription prices. Pappas opposed the 2025 Working Families Tax Cuts, which created a $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program. Pappas’ promise to permanently restore the enhanced ACA credits would increase federal deficits by $350 billion from 2026 through 2035 while increasing the insured population by 3.8 million in 2035. KFF estimated that expiration of the enhanced credits would raise the annual benchmark-plan payment for a subsidized New Hampshire enrollee by about $4,877. He also supports national abortion protections, which would supersede restrictive state laws while leaving New Hampshire's comparatively permissive framework largely intact. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Pappas campaigns on preserving private insurance while making federal subsidies and drug-price regulation more generous. Under Pappas, taxpayers would absorb a higher long-term cost unless Congress identifies offsets."

Taxes (Policy)

Pappas opposed the Working Families Tax Cuts bill, which provided low- and middle- income Americans with the largest tax cuts in history. Instead, Pappas campaigns on implementing a stronger Child Tax Credit, a refundable Energy Burden Tax Credit for households spending a high share of income on utilities, a first-time homebuyer credit, restoration of clean-energy credits, and tariff relief or refunds for small businesses. Pappas opposes President Trump’s tariffs, calling them a “tax on the working families,” and he campaigns on repealing the tariffs. Pappas’ ideas are targeted but not a complete tax plan. A refundable energy credit could help oil-heated and rural households quickly, yet it subsidizes bills without necessarily increasing New England generation or transmission. A gas-tax holiday is similarly visible but temporary. The Heritage Foundation argues that part of the benefit may be captured upstream and that suspending the tax weakens the Highway Trust Fund. Additionally, a larger Child Tax Credit would increase after-tax income for families with children and could reduce child poverty, but if not offset it would add to federal deficits. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Pappas supports tax increases, and his plan is politically tangible but fiscally incomplete."

Environment & Energy (Policy)

Pappas supports an “all-of-the-above” strategy, federal clean-energy tax credits, weatherization, EV charging, expanded transmission, domestic production, conservation, and stricter PFAS standards. He voted for the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and has introduced PFAS liability and cleanup legislation. CBO’s January 2025 baseline placed the 2026–2035 deficit cost of federal wind and solar investment and production credits at about $300 billion. CBO also found the credits would stimulate investment while warning that wage, domestic-content, and location conditions can steer capital toward higher-cost projects. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Pappas’s energy platform could lower household exposure to fuel prices and address serious water contamination, but affordability depends on faster siting and grid construction, not tax credits alone. Federal subsidies and compliance costs deserve tighter accounting."

Immigration (Policy)

Pappas supports amnesty for illegal immigrants. He opposes the Trump administration’s illegal immigration crackdown, saying ICE is “out of control” and has conducted “operations that are actually making our country less safe.” He supports redirecting ICE’s funding and authored a bill to redirect ICE’s funds to local law enforcement. He is in favor of downsizing Border Patrol to 22,000 agents and only supports the deportation of select illegal immigrants. The Working Families Tax Cuts bill, which Pappas opposed, provided $170 billion for immigration enforcement and border security efforts, including funding for the border wall, employing additional CBP personnel, customs officers, and Border Patrol agents. Abolishing or defunding ICE without a detailed transfer of authorities, personnel, databases, detention capacity, and congressional oversight invites a costly reorganization and potential enforcement gaps and would continue to allow illegal immigrants to benefit from American taxpayer dollars. Under Biden, nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants attempted to cross the border in a single month, with millions in total entering the United States. CBO estimates the immigration surge under Biden’s watch imposed a direct $9.2 billion net cost on state and local governments in 2023, chiefly for schools, shelter, and border security. New reporting shows it also increased home prices in the United States. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Pappas supports defunding ICE, decreasing Border Patrol, and legalizing Dreamers. The effectiveness of his policies would hinge on detention capacity, case-processing speed, and clear enforcement standards that the campaign has not fully defined."

Public Safety (Policy)

Pappas is in favor of expanding gun control measures and has been endorsed by several anti-Second Amendment organizations. Pappas supports federal grants to hire and retain police, upgrade body cameras and emergency communications, improve accreditation and training, and modernize police, fire, and EMS facilities. He backed permanent Schedule I treatment for fentanyl-related substances and additional scanners and precursor-chemical enforcement, while also funding addiction treatment, mental-health care, and homelessness services. For New Hampshire, the combined enforcement-and-treatment model fits an opioid crisis that remains serious despite improvement. CDC reported that the state’s overdose deaths fell by at least 35% in 2024, among the nation’s largest declines, but synthetic opioids still caused hundreds of deaths. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Pappas favors funded, professionalized policing plus treatment, not police abolition. The approach is practical for New Hampshire, but Congress should protect research, avoid indiscriminate penalties, and prevent short-term grants from creating unfunded local obligations."

Economy & Labor (Policy)

Pappas supports the PRO Act, restoration of collective-bargaining rights for federal employees, apprenticeships, veterans’ job training, domestic semiconductor and energy investment, small-business tariff relief, and housing-supply measures. The PRO Act, Heritage notes, would preempt state right-to-work protections and broaden employee classification, harming workers and costing businesses $47 billion each year, and would be funded by a $2 trillion tax hike. His housing proposals include permitting incentives, manufactured-housing finance modernization, expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and grants to reduce development costs. The campaign says New Hampshire may need nearly 90,000 additional homes by 2040, broadly consistent with state housing research. His opposition to the Working Families Tax Law also means he opposes the cuts for those earning tips and overtime wages. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Pappas mixes pro-investment and small-business policies with a strongly pro-union legal agenda. His opposition to the 2025 tax bill gives insight about how he would approach overtime and tip wages. Housing supply, skills, and tariff restraint could aid growth and the PRO Act would ultimately harm workers and businesses alike."

Foreign Policy (Policy)

Pappas has condemned the actions of Hamas in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and has condemned antisemitic incidents in the United States, including an event in which Israel was blamed for the violence on Oct. 7. He has supported arms assistance to Israel and calls for a “ceasefire that ensures the return of all hostages, the destruction of Hamas, and the unfettered flow of humanitarian support.” His platform does not specify aid ceilings, end states, or when U.S. leverage should be used. Pappas supports NATO, continued bipartisan aid to Ukraine, sanctions on Russia, competition with China, security assistance for Israel, humanitarian aid for Gaza, a ceasefire tied to hostage release and Hamas’s defeat, and a negotiated two-state solution. He also links national security to domestic semiconductor, infrastructure, and energy production. — "𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Pappas would sustain traditional U.S. alliances and foreign assistance while investing in domestic resilience. The approach offers continuity and deterrence, but it risks open-ended commitments unless Congress sets objectives, reporting requirements, burden-sharing benchmarks, and exit conditions."

Sources (Reference)

◆ Healthcare
• Chris Pappas Campaign — Health Care
• Congressional Budget Office — Budgetary Effects of Permanently Extending Enhanced Marketplace Tax Credits
• KFF — New Hampshire Marketplace Premium Effects of Enhanced Credit Expiration
• Chris Pappas Campaign — Reproductive Freedom

◆ Taxes
• Tax Foundation — Tax Changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
• White House — Preserving and Expanding Low Tax Rates to Create American Economic Prosperity
• Chris Pappas Campaign — Lower Costs and Tax Cuts Blueprint
• Chris Pappas — Public Statement on Tariffs
• Heritage Foundation — Analysis of a Federal Gas-Tax Holiday

◆ Environment & Energy
• Chris Pappas Campaign — Energy and Environment
• Congressional Budget Office — January 2025 Budget and Economic Outlook

◆ Immigration
• Chris Pappas Campaign — Immigration
• National Republican Senatorial Committee — Criticism of Pappas’s Immigration Position
• Rep. Chris Pappas — Proposal to Redirect ICE Funding to Local Law Enforcement
• CBS News — ICE Funding in the 2025 Reconciliation Law
• Department of Homeland Security — Border-Security Funding in the 2025 Reconciliation Law
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection — U.S. Border Patrol Records Zero Releases for Eighth Consecutive Month
• Congressional Budget Office — Effects of the Immigration Surge on the Federal Budget and the Economy
• New York Post — Reporting on Immigration and Housing Prices

◆ Public Safety
• Chris Pappas — Public Statement on Gun Policy
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — 2024 Drug-Overdose Death Data

◆ Economy & Labor
• Heritage Foundation — Analysis of the PRO Act
• Americans for Tax Reform — Analysis of the PRO Act
• House Committee on Education and the Workforce — PRO Act One-Pager
• Chris Pappas Campaign — Housing
• New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute — Housing Affordability and Supply

◆ Foreign Policy
• Chris Pappas — Statement on the October 7 Attacks
• Chris Pappas Campaign — Foreign Policy