MANCHESTER, N.H. — Hardly a word was uttered about President Trump at a forum for Senate candidates Wednesday.
Former Sen. John Sununu, a Republican, and Rep. Chris Pappas, a Democrat — the two candidates vying for an open U.S. Senate seat — stuck to the issues top of mind for voters casting ballots in the midterm elections on Nov. 3.
In New Hampshire, where most voters are older than 50, Social Security, not Mr. Trump, tops the list.
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As Election Day approaches, warnings are mounting over the looming insolvency of Social Security.
New estimates project the program will run out of money needed to pay full retirement benefits in 2032. If nothing is done to shore up the program, retirees face a 22% cut in their Social Security checks.
The new senator from New Hampshire will likely be among the lawmakers devising a legislative fix, and voters want to know how they will get it done.
“Most candidates don’t have a plan. They all say, ’We’ve got to work bipartisan,’ and all that, which is all well and good. But somebody’s got to have an idea to work first,” Len Morrill, 80, said after listening to both Mr. Sununu and Mr. Pappas.
People older than 50 made up 65% of Granite State voters in 2024, according to Edison Research exit poll data, and are expected to dominate the electorate in the midterms. An AARP-St. Anselm College Survey Center poll released last week found 96% of voters older than 50 planned to back a candidate “who makes sure workers receive the Social Security they paid into and earned through a lifetime of work.”
Mr. Sununu and Mr. Pappas, who are in a competitive race, spoke extensively about the need to preserve Social Security during the forum at St. Anselm College.
Still, neither offered proposals to shore up funding for the program, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law in 1935.
Mr. Sununu, during a campaign stop at Gemini Electric in Auburn, said he would not talk specifics about saving Social Security because Mr. Pappas would twist his proposals into a campaign weapon and hurt his support among seniors.
“Democrats like Chris Pappas are out there simply trying to scare today’s retirees, even though all of us know there are going to be no changes or cuts to benefits for those retirees. That’s the worst kind of politics,” Mr. Sununu, 62, said during an interview with The Washington Times.
Mr. Sununu is running for his old Senate seat. He served one term, from 2003 to 2009, and sponsored legislation that would have shored up Social Security by allowing workers younger than 55 to direct some of their payroll taxes to individual investment accounts. The proposal died in Congress, and Mr. Sununu said he would not necessarily pitch the same plan today.
Whatever solution Congress comes up with to fix Social Security, he said, must be bipartisan.
Mr. Pappas, who has served in the House since 2019, did not offer a plan to fix Social Security but pledged not to cut benefits. He accused Mr. Sununu of refusing to make the same promise, even though Mr. Sununu has said he would never support a plan that reduces benefits.
“I think we’ve got to be transparent about what we support and what we don’t support,” said Mr. Pappas, 46. “I’m the only candidate who’s clearly saying I don’t support cutting Social Security benefits.”
The 2026 Social Security Trustees Report, issued in June, said the program faces $3.8 trillion in deficits over the next decade.
Mr. Pappas said some of the funding gap can be filled by “millionaires and billionaires,” who, he said, “should be paying their fair share.” He also proposed a higher cost-of-living increase for seniors receiving Social Security.
On Wednesday, the Social Security Administration announced a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients beginning in 2027, an increase of about $75 a month for the average retiree.
Mr. Pappas said Congress should raise benefits further for low-income seniors.
“The cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security have not kept up with the true cost of living,” he said.
Neither candidate specifically mentioned several proposals lawmakers are likely to consider to rescue the faltering program. They include increasing the payroll tax rate by up to 3.5% and lifting or eliminating the $184,500 cap on taxable payroll wages.
Raising the retirement age past 67 and cutting benefits for high earners are also likely to be considered by Congress. Neither Mr. Sununu nor Mr. Pappas said they would support those ideas.
Mr. Pappas’ tax-the-rich solution appealed to some voters who turned out at the candidate’s forum, which was sponsored by AARP New Hampshire.
“I think we’ve heard more specifics from Chris Pappas about what he would do than from his opponent,” said Thomas Foerster, 71.
Ryan Corneau, 51, an electrician who came to shake Mr. Sununu’s hand later in Auburn, is wondering whether he will ever receive his Social Security benefits. He plans to vote for Mr. Sununu.
“Something needs to happen to make sure it’s there for the future,” Mr. Corneau said. “We need to make sure that we are using the funds appropriately, make sure that the taxpayers and the citizens are receiving benefits, and they’re not being shared with noncitizens. And that goes with every benefit that the United States offers.”
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