New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on Tuesday announced he would not run for Senate, ending months of speculation about his political future. The move is a blow to Republicans’ chances of winning a Senate majority in 2022.
Sununu told reporters at a press conference his decision was “about New Hampshire, not about Washington,” and said his skill set was better suited to the role of governor than that of senator.
Sununu said he would rather seek a fourth term as governor, especially as the 2024 presidential primary draws closer and presidential candidates begin to visit the state, than “sit as one of a hundred” in the Senate.
Asked whether there was a tipping point in his decision, Sununu joked: “About 7:45 this morning.”
“I feel very at peace right now with this decision,” he said.
Sununu said he would seek reelection in 2022 to the office he first won in 2016. He was widely expected to run for a Senate seat after months of polling showed him outperforming other Republican prospects for the race. He also recently increased his criticism of the Granite State’s all-Democratic congressional delegation and President Joe Biden. Sununu on Monday backed a state lawsuit against the Biden administration to stop federal vaccination mandates for private businesses, although he has differed from many Republican governors by arguing in favor of allowing businesses to implement their own mandates.
Sununu would have challenged the state’s freshman Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, who also served as governor of New Hampshire.
With the Senate currently divided 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote giving Democrats the majority, New Hampshire was expected to be a linchpin of Republican plans to reclaim control of the chamber in 2022, after losing it in January 2020 due to a pair of losses in Georgia Senate runoff elections. Competitive Senate contests are also expected in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and other states.
Sununu polled ahead of Hassan in recent weeks before he announced his candidacy, unlike several other hypothetical Republican candidates in the state. Some of these potential candidates, including former Sen. Kelly Ayotte may pursue runs for governor instead.
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Sununu is the son of former New Hampshire governor and White House chief of staff John Sununu. One of his brothers, John E. Sununu, was a senator from 2003-2009 and a House member for six years before that.
