Sununu publicizes 2026 Senate bid to succeed Shaheen in New Hampshire

EXCLUSIVE: Former Republican Sen. John E. Sununu of New Hampshire needs his previous job again.

And on Wednesday, Sununu took an enormous first step in the direction of returning to Capitol Hill as he introduced his candidacy within the 2026 race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New England’s solely swing state.

Sununu, in a marketing campaign launch video shared first nationally with Fox Information Digital, stated that these days “Congress simply appears loud, dysfunctional, even indignant,” and that he needs to “return to the Senate to assist calm the waters.”

Sununu is a former three-term consultant who defeated then-Gov. Shaheen in New Hampshire’s 2002 Senate election. However the senator misplaced to Shaheen of their 2008 rematch. 

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Shaheen introduced earlier this yr that she would not search re-election in subsequent yr’s midterms and Republicans are working to flip the seat as they goal to not solely defend however increase their Senate majority. 

Now, after almost 20 years within the non-public sector, Sununu is able to return to the Senate marketing campaign path in New England’s solely swing state.

“Possibly you’re stunned that I’m working for the Senate once more,” Sununu says to the digital camera in his video. “I’m a bit stunned myself. Why would anybody topic themselves to all the pieces happening there proper now. Properly, anyone has to step up and decrease the temperature. Any person has to get issues carried out.”

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Sununu is a model identify in New Hampshire politics. The previous senator’s father, John H. Sununu, is a former governor who later served as chief of workers in then-President George H.W. Bush’s White Home. And certainly one of his youthful brothers is former Gov. Chris Sununu, who received election and re-election to 4 two-year phrases steering the Granite State.

However Sununu will not have a glide path to the GOP nomination.

Former ambassador and former Sen. Scott Brown, who was elected and served three years within the Senate in neighboring Massachusetts, and who, because the 2014 GOP Senate nominee in New Hampshire, narrowly misplaced to Shaheen throughout her first re-election, jumped into the race in late June.

“Our marketing campaign may have the required sources for the lengthy haul, and permit me to marketing campaign the one means I understand how: relentless laborious work and a deal with retail politics that Granite State voters anticipate,” Brown stated after Fox Information first reported that he hauled in roughly $1.2 million in fundraising the previous three months.

Brown has repeatedly taken goal at Sununu the previous month over the previous senator’s lack of previous help for President Donald Trump, who holds immense clout over the GOP.

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Sununu served as nationwide co-chair on the 2016 Republican presidential marketing campaign of then-Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who declined to help Trump because the celebration’s nominee.

And Sununu, together with then-Gov. Chris Sununu, endorsed former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley within the 2024 New Hampshire Republican presidential main, as she battled Trump for the nomination. 

And on the eve of the first-in-the-nation presidential main, the previous senator wrote an opinion piece titled “Donald Trump is a loser,” that ran within the New Hampshire Union Chief, the state’s largest day by day newspaper.

Brown endorsed Trump forward of his 2016 New Hampshire main victory, which launched him towards the GOP presidential nomination and finally the White Home. Brown later served as U.S. ambassador to New Zealand throughout Trump’s first time period.

“Anybody who thinks {that a} by no means Trump, company lobbyist who hasn’t received an election in 1 / 4 century will resonate with immediately’s GOP main voters resides in a unique universe. Whereas John was supporting John Kasich in 2016, I used to be campaigning with Donald Trump,” Brown charged in an announcement to Fox Information.

And pointing to Sununu’s previous decade and a half within the non-public sector, Brown argued that “whereas John was combating for particular pursuits, I used to be serving within the first Trump administration. Whereas John was wooing the DC institution this summer time, I’ve been working with grassroots activists throughout the Granite State. Senate seats are earned, not handed down.”

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Trump, whose endorsement in Republican primaries is extraordinarily influential, has remained impartial up to now. 

However the president could also be prepared to miss Sununu’s previous jabs.

Earlier this yr, when Chris Sununu flirted with a Senate bid after leaving workplace, Trump urged him to run.

The youthful Sununu, who was Haley’s prime supporter and surrogate in New Hampshire, repeatedly criticized Trump through the 2024 Republican presidential primaries.

Trump informed reporters in April that he had met with the previous governor within the Oval Workplace and that he’d “help him absolutely.”

“He’s been very good to me during the last yr or so,” Trump added. “I hope he runs. I believe he’ll win that seat.” 

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And a nationwide Republican strategist accustomed to the Senate race in New Hampshire informed Fox Information Digital final month, “President Trump appreciates winners and understands that John E. Sununu places this race on the map for Republicans.”

As Fox Information reported, Sununu met final month with Senate Majority Chief John Thune and former Sen. Cory Gardner, who served as chair of the Senate Management Fund, which is the highest tremendous PAC supporting Senate Republicans. Nationwide Republicans view Sununu because the strongest candidate to win again the seat in New Hampshire.

4-term Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, who launched his Senate marketing campaign in early April, is the clear frontrunner for his celebration’s nomination. 

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Whereas New Hampshire has for over a century held the first-in-the-nation presidential main, its state main, which might be held subsequent September, is without doubt one of the last-in-the-nation.

Whereas Republicans have had success in state elections — they management the governor’s workplace and each chambers of the state legislature — the GOP hasn’t received a Senate election in New Hampshire since 2010.