Chris Pappas Becomes First Openly Gay Man Elected to Senate

New Hampshire Democratic Senator-elect Chris Pappas delivers his acceptance speech at a watch party at the Puritan Backroom on November 3, 2026 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Pappas ran in a close race against Republican challenger John Sununu in a state that Republicans had high hopes of flipping.

New Hampshire Democratic Senator-elect Chris Pappas delivers his acceptance speech. Joseph Prezioso/Getty Images

Chris Pappas is set to become the first openly gay male U.S. senator, following his projected defeat of former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu in New Hampshire.

The Democrat is the third LGBTQ+ person to be elected to the Senate, following former senators Tammy Baldwin and Kyrsten Sinema.

His victory keeps the open Senate seat in Democratic control as Pappas and Sununu were facing off against retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

After his win, Pappas told supporter it was a “victory for Team New Hampshire over the broken status quo,” per the Associated Press.

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“Tonight’s results are a wake-up call for corporate special interests and billionaires who have been rigging the economy, for the cowards in Congress who have enabled health care cuts, tariffs and war and for the incompetent president who can’t even be bothered to care how people are being hurt,” he added.

As Pappas makes history as the first openly gay male senator, Andrew Scott is generating similar buzz to potentially become the first openly gay man to win a best actor Oscar. The Hollywood Reporter‘s executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg’s latest Oscar forecast has Scott as a frontrunner for a potential 2027 best actor nomination.

Scott stars in Simon Stone’s Elsinore, out Nov. 20, and would become the third-ever openly gay actor to receive a best actor nod from the Academy (after Sir Ian McKellen and Colman Domingo).

Elsewhere in potential history-making results from the 2026 midterms, Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is on track to become the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Senate. Republican Byron Donalds also became Florida’s first Black governor on Tuesday, as Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman ever to be elected governor with her win in Georgia.