Legendary 'West Wing' president makes dramatic endorsement in must-win Senate race

Martin Sheen is trading his fictional Oval Office for the campaign trail — and he's doing it in the same state where President Josiah Bartlet once governed.

The actor, best known for playing the beloved Democratic president on NBC's "The West Wing," is throwing his support behind Chris Pappas in New Hampshire's Senate race, framing the contest as a pivotal battle for the soul of American democracy.

"You may know me from my role as Jed Bartlet, a fictional president from the great state of New Hampshire," Sheen said, leaning into the connection with a wink. "But outside of acting, I've devoted my life to political activism."

The race is shaping up to be one of the most consequential of the 2026 cycle. Polls show the contest in a dead heat, and Democrats have identified New Hampshire as a must-win if they hope to flip the Senate. Trump this week issued a formal endorsement of Pappas's Republican opponent, making the race an explicit test of the president's midterm influence.

For Sheen, 85, the New Hampshire connection is more than coincidental. "The West Wing" ran from 1999 to 2006 and built an enduring cultural mythology around a competent, principled Democratic president — a vision of leadership that has taken on new resonance for many liberals in the Trump era. Bartlet's New Hampshire roots were central to the character, making Sheen's involvement in the actual state's politics a full-circle moment that the actor himself appears to relish.

Sheen has been a lifelong activist, participating in hundreds of arrests at protests over the decades on issues ranging from nuclear weapons to immigration to homelessness. He has never run for office, he acknowledged — but said his years of up-close observation of campaigns have given him a clear sense of what's at stake in New Hampshire.