Independent voters hold the key in New Hampshire's high-stakes Senate race

Control of the Senate may hinge in part on New Hampshire, where Republican John Sununu and Democrat Chris Pappas are competing for the support of voters who belong to neither party. Reporting for NBC News, Julie Tsirkin says independents are the group each campaign most needs to win over, and that the outcome could help decide which party holds the chamber. Both men are therefore directing their efforts at the same pool of nonpartisan voters, whose preferences NBC News portrays as the deciding factor in a high-stakes race.

Resentment about everyday costs is, in NBC News' account, changing the dynamics between Sununu and Pappas as they court independents. The coverage ran on October 31, 2026, four days before the midterm elections.

Elsewhere in the network's pre-election coverage, segments looked at Trump's revised travel plans, an investigation announced by federal prosecutors into the Alaska Senate race, and the Maine Senate race. Other listed segments covered the economy ahead of the midterms in five charts and the Israeli election, where Netanyahu led with most votes counted.

Summarized by PolitiKool from NBC News’s reporting. Read the full story at NBC News →