John Sununu, the former senator of New Hampshire, is weighing a comeback Senate bid in 2026 and has spoken with Republicans in Washington about a campaign.
Sununu, the brother of four-term ex-Gov. Chris Sununu, has expressed interest in running again in recent conversations with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Cory Gardner, the outgoing chairman of the Senate Leadership Fund, according to a source familiar with the matter. A second source confirmed that Sununu has spoken with Thune.
Senate Republicans failed to recruit Chris Sununu for the seat of retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), but his older brother could offer GOP leadership a similar appeal. The Sununu family is a political dynasty in New Hampshire with near-universal name ID, and John Sununu previously won the seat in a 2002 contest against Shaheen.
Six years later, Shaheen challenged Sununu and unseated him.
If he were to enter the race today, Sununu would be expected to face Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, who represents New Hampshire’s 1st District in the House. His path to the nomination, however, would be complicated by the entrance of Scott Brown, a former Massachusetts senator who announced a campaign for Senate in New Hampshire in June.
Brown won the Republican nomination for Senate in New Hampshire in 2014.
On Wednesday, Thune told the Washington Examiner that he believed Sununu would make for a “great candidate.”
“Obviously I’ve served with him in the past, in both the House and the Senate, and I think he’d be a great candidate and be a great senator,” Thune said.
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NOTUS reported Sununu’s interest in the race earlier on Wednesday.
Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.
