Vulnerable Democrat Chris Pappas Announces Longshot Reelection Bid

 Vulnerable Democrat Chris Pappas (D-NH) announced his longshot reelection bid Friday, officially starting what will become one of the most contested House races in the 2022 midterms.

Pappas said in a statement after touting the work he has done in the House:

There’s more to be done and I’m eager to continue this work. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished by delivering vaccines and relief to Main Street, a tax cut for more than three-quarters of New Hampshire families, lower health care premiums, and a bipartisan infrastructure program that is a game-changer for New Hampshire.

Shortly after Pappas announced, his opponent, Matt Mowers, in New Hampshire’s First Congressional District released a statement slamming him, as well as the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House Republican campaign arm.

“Everywhere I travel in our district, I hear the same thing – we’re not being listened to. Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi are taking our country down the wrong path and our Congressman Chris Pappas is content to let them,” said Mowers, the one time senior White House adviser — advising the secretary of state to advance the America First agenda and issues such as religious freedom, immigration, the border, and more.

A spokeswoman for the NRCC, Camille Gallo said, “Chris Pappas supports Nancy Pelosi’s socialist agenda of rising prices, open borders, and skyrocketing crime. Granite State voters will ensure he loses in 2022.”

During an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday, Mowers said, “The policies of Biden and Pelosi and supported by Pappas… whether it’s slowing down the American economy, whether it’s paying people not to work, while the rest of us subsidize it, whether it’s the disaster that’s happening in the Mideast, the fact that they’re not holding China accountable,” declaring that Republicans will win back the House and immediately put a check on Biden’s administration.

Mowers recently called on Pappas to condemn a television ad funded by billionaire Bill Gates’ “dark money” organization, which directly thanked the congressman for supporting the Democrats’ disastrous $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill — which President Biden signed into law — and the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act, also known as the Democrats’ reconciliation infrastructure bill, which was passed in the House on a near party-line vote, with one Democrat defector. Mowers has also slammed the congressman for his initial vote to pass Biden’s marquee legislation.

In recent months, Mowers has also gained momentum. According to internal polling data from the Mowers campaign,  the Republican leads the field with 34 percent from likely Republican primary voters in the district, 27 points ahead of his closest competitor. None of his Republican primary opponents received more than single digits in the poll, only two of them having more than two percent.

Breitbart News also reported that Mowers had outraised the vulnerable Democrat by nearly $80,000 after the latest deadline for the fundraising filing, meaning the Republican outraised the vulnerable incumbent’s whole third-quarter fundraising after being in the race for one month.