10/08/2026
Compare Pappas and Sununu on Social Security
By Lou D’allesandro. Lou D’allesandro is a former Democratic member of the New Hampshire Senate.
“A hit dog will holler, and John Sununu has been doing a whole lot of hollering lately about his terrible record on Social Security.
He recently insisted, in remarks to the New Hampshire Republican Party, that his Social Security plan during his single term in the U.S. Senate nearly two decades ago was not privatization.
That’s quite a claim from a man whose record tells a very different story.
The truth is that John Sununu spent his political career leading efforts to privatize Social Security, putting millions of Americans’ retirements at risk by gambling their benefits away to Wall Street.
He championed personal accounts — a scheme that would have shifted workers’ retirement savings into private investment accounts and exposed their benefits to the risks of the financial markets.
The historical record is not in dispute: the Associated Press described Sununu in 2005 as an “enthusiastic supporter” of Social Security personal accounts, declaring him a leader in the so-called “modernizing” of Social Security.
Sununu led efforts to privatize Social Security — specifically the Personal Lockbox Act — which would have steered worker retirement funds into personal accounts and risked cuts to tens of thousands of New Hampshire retirees’ benefits.
Sununu’s privatization plan would have devastated retirees during the 2008 financial crisis, with private account holders losing an estimated $26,000. Imagine telling a New Hampshire retiree who had spent 35 years paying into Social Security that their hard-earned retirement savings had been gambled on Wall Street — and then telling them it was never privatization.
Then there was the RyanSununu Social Security Plan, which would have shifted substantial Social Security revenues into private accounts while requiring the federal government to borrow enormous sums to keep the existing system running — an estimated $2.4 trillion during its first 10 years.
So much for fiscal responsibility.
Now, Sununu is doubling down on the campaign trail, supporting Trump’s Big Ugly Bill that threatens hundreds of thousands of New Hampshire workers’ retirements.
New Hampshire seniors deserve a candidate with a record of standing up for them, not a record they have to constantly dodge.
I know Chris Pappas. I have known him for most of his adult life, and I have had the privilege of watching him grow from a New Hampshire Executive Councilor into a congressman who has earned the trust of folks across the state.
And after all these years, I can tell you this: no one does it better.
Public service is personal for Chris. New Hampshire is his home, and we are his neighbors. He knows that behind every policy decision is a family, a worker, a small business owner, or a retiree who is counting on their government to do right by them. That’s the kind of person Chris has always been, and it’s the kind of senator Granite Staters need.
That matters when we talk about Social Security.
For someone who has spent a lifetime serving New Hampshire, I know how much seniors depend on Social Security — the fundamental promise that the benefits they have earned will be there when they need them. Chris knows that for Granite State retirees, that promise can mean the difference between being able to pay the bills, afford a prescription, or stay in the home they’ve lived in for decades.
I know that Chris will always fight to protect Social Security because listening to and standing up for the hardworking Granite Staters who count on him has always been at the heart of his work. And he doesn’t just promise never to cut benefits or move the goalposts for New Hampshire seniors — he has a record that proves he delivers.
Chris cosponsored the Social Security Fairness Act, which repealed provisions that reduced Social Security benefits for certain public-sector workers. He has opposed efforts to undermine the program, and just recently signed a bicameral letter urging the majority in Congress to protect Social Security — that record has earned him the endorsement of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare PAC.
Chris Pappas has promised — and proven — that he will always honor the promise of Social Security.
That’s the Chris I know. It’s the Chris I have watched work and deliver for New Hampshire, and it’s why I trust him to stand up for New Hampshire seniors when it matters most.
But when John Sununu had his chance to make good on that same promise, he chose to prioritize Wall Street instead.
So John Sununu can holler all he wants. But New Hampshire voters will remember what he actually did.
I know which record I trust when it comes to protecting the hard-earned benefits of New Hampshire seniors — that’s why I’m proud to be voting for Chris Pappas for U.S. Senate this November 3.” - New Hampshire Union Leader
