Sen. Shaheen Campaigns for Pappas at Mack's

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) told voters on Thursday that it was on her persuasive phone call that District 4 Executive Council candidate Chris Pappas decided to enter the race seven months ago.

According to Shaheen, someone told her that Pappas would make a good candidate, but he wouldn't do it because of his business priorities at the Puritan Backroom in Manchester, a restaurant that has been in his family for decades.

"I called him and I said Chris, we really need you to do this," she said. "You're young, you need to get started now, And he said 'OK.'"

Shaheen told a cluster of about 30 voters that she wished she had someone like Pappas on the Executive Council when she was governor of N.H. from 1997-2003.

Pappas, 32, joked that he wouldn't have been old enough at the time to laughs from both Shaheen and the crowd.

Shaheen referred to his youth as a great thing.

"We need to see young people coming in to run for office," she said.

During her five-minute address, Shaheen slammed the current GOP-heavy group of councilors.

"What we have seen over the last two years has been an Executive Council that's really been driven by ideology," she said. 

She referenced Planned Parenthood, saying how the councilors tried to deny the contract for the provider of reproductive health services.

"We have 16,000 women and some men and some children in this state who get their only healthcare through those Planned Parenthood clinics," Shaheen said, "and to deny people the access to try and shut down those clinics is to deny people access to healthcare."

She also talked about the Executive Council's rejection of a rail study, which she said caused federal agencies to be reluctant in providing grant funds to the state.

Pappas told Shaheen that he sees her work over the years in the state as a model for himself, and that her leadership is the same type that he will bring to District 4. 

He echoed Shaheen's concerns about the decisions of the current Executive Council, calling the position he is running for one that has to remain non-partisan. 

"This isn't about me or my party, this is about the future of our state," he said. "When you come to a location like this, there is nothing as quintessential to New Hampshire as a place like Mack's Apples. Here is a family business. We're out here on a crisp, sunny fall day. When you look at what's been happening in Concord, that's the furthest thing from the New Hampshire that I know. The New Hampshire that I know is a place like this."

He referenced the response to Hurricane Sandy as a good example of the country working together.

"That brings out the best in people, Pappas said. "That shows that our communities can work together, that our public employees can perform great work on behalf of our communities."

Both Pappas and Shaheen joined Andy Mack Sr. on a short tour of the facility before addressing the crowd.