NEW: Hypothesis Swirls After Hillary Clinton Confirms Journey To Key Battleground State
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will return to New Hampshire next month in order to serve as the keynote speaker at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s Shaheen McIntyre Dinner in Nashua. The event is one of the state party’s largest annual fundraisers and will also honor retiring U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who announced her retirement last year.
New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley described Clinton’s participation as an opportunity to recognize her decades of public service. He added that the dinner marks her first appearance at a state party event in many years.
Clinton last visited New Hampshire publicly in 2019 for a speech at Dartmouth College and made a book tour stop in Concord in 2017. She previously competed in the state’s presidential primaries and achieved arguably the high water mark of her 2008 campaign when she emerged victorious.
In 2016, Clinton came up short against Senator Bernie sanders (I-VT) but ultimately clinched the party’s nomination.
The timing of Clinton’s address aligns with preparations for New Hampshire’s 2026 midterm elections. The state will feature an open U.S. Senate seat following Shaheen’s retirement, along with two U.S. House races and a gubernatorial contest.
Clinton’s involvement is expected to support party fundraising and draw attention to Democratic priorities in a state that has elected an all-Democratic congressional delegation since 2017 while maintaining Republican control of the governorship and state legislature. Such events typically feature a heavy focus on midterm, and oftentimes presidential politics.
The U.S. Senate race is the most prominent contest on the 2026 ballot due to Shaheen’s retirement, which has created an open seat that projects to be competitive.
On the Democrat side, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas of the 1st Congressional District is the leading candidate by a sizable margin. The Republican primary features former U.S. Senator John E. Sununu, who held the seat from 2003 to 2009 before losing to Shaheen, and former Massachusetts U.S. Senator Scott Brown, who relocated to New Hampshire and lost to Shaheen in 2014.
According to the RealClearPolling average, Pappas maintains a lead over both candidates, though the gap is significantly smaller in a hypothetical race against Sununu, who has already received President Donald Trump’s endorsement.