MARCO ISLAND, Fla. — Together with his convincing White Home victory this month, President-elect Donald Trump’s grip over the Republican Get together is firmer than ever.
However a well-liked Republican governor who has lengthy been a vocal critic of the previous and future president says that there is nonetheless room within the GOP for these exterior of the MAGA and America First base.
“The celebration is a big-tent celebration. There isn’t any query about it,” Sununu mentioned in a Fox Information Digital interview this week alongside the sidelines of the Republican Governors Affiliation winter assembly, which was held at a waterfront resort in southwest Florida.
Sununu, who was a prime surrogate and supporter of former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Trump’s ultimate challenger within the 2024 GOP presidential primaries, backed the Republican nominee within the common election.
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Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu go to a polling location on Jan. 23, 2024, in Hampton, N.H. (Joe Raedle/Getty Photographs)
“It was an enormous victory throughout the nation, and the individuals of this nation have spoken very loudly and unequivocally,” Sununu mentioned of Trump’s electoral faculty and widespread vote victory.
And the governor acknowledged that Trump is “the standard-bearer of the celebration” and “the voice of the celebration.”
“However this can be a very massive celebration. If it wasn’t, he (Trump) would not have gained. If it wasn’t, we would not have had convincing wins all throughout this nation in a wide range of completely different states,” Sununu mentioned.
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Requested concerning the president-elect’s flurry of bulletins on Cupboard nominations this month, Sununu mentioned that “he positively has a few controversial Cupboard picks that … I do not thoughts saying I am not the most important fan of, however the overwhelming majority of them are terrific.” (Sununu was interviewed earlier than former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., withdrew his identify from consideration as lawyer common amid a rising scandal.)
President-elect Donald Trump is proven after talking on the America First Coverage Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Seaside, Fla., on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Picture/Alex Brandon)
“He is bringing people from the non-public sector, he is bringing in governors, he is bringing in people which have actual expertise in all of those points and that perceive the mission, which is fiscal duty,” Sununu mentioned, “getting rules out of the best way, which successfully lowers prices on enterprise, lowers prices on customers, lowers prices for on a regular basis residents.”
Sununu did not stump on Trump’s behalf in swing state New Hampshire, however he crisscrossed the marketing campaign path on behalf of down-ballot Republicans. The governor was a prime surrogate for former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, the GOP gubernatorial nominee who emerged victorious on Election Day and has pledged to proceed the Sununu agenda.
Requested if Ayotte’s practically 9 and half level win was additionally a victory for him, Sununu mentioned, “It was a victory for New Hampshire.”
Gov.-elect Kelly Ayotte and Gov. Chris Sununu meet within the New Hampshire governor’s workplace on the State Home in Harmony on Nov. 7, 2024. (Workplace of New Hampshire governor)
“Kelly’s going to be phenomenal. She has that have as an lawyer common, as U.S. senator. She understands how the methods work,” Sununu mentioned. “Our transition is already going extremely easily; discussions just about each single day about all facets of presidency, the place it is going, construct good groups and, most significantly … the alternatives to take heed to what’s taking place within the communities.”
“She’ll have my cell quantity. I do not know if she’ll want it, as a result of I feel she’s going to be incredible on her personal, however she’ll at all times have my cell quantity,” Sununu mentioned when requested if he’d offer recommendation to his successor.
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And pointing to his two Democrat predecessors as governor, who Sununu mentioned shared their cellphone numbers with him: “We wish New Hampshire to achieve success. So it is not simply me serving to Kelly out. It’s at all times a crew effort. She’s going to have a bunch of people who she will lean on for any recommendation when she wants it.”
After mulling a 2024 White Home run, Sununu introduced in the summertime of 2023 that he would launch a presidential marketing campaign, and weeks later he additionally mentioned he would not search an unprecedented fifth two-year time period steering the Granite State. (New Hampshire and neighboring Vermont are the one two states within the nation to carry gubernatorial elections each two years.)
Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire speaks at a information convention on the State Home in Harmony on Nov. 15, 2023. (Fox Information/Paul Steinhauser)
“I am excited to get again to the non-public sector. I like companies, I like deal sourcing,” he mentioned. “I am undecided precisely what the non-public sector goes to convey, however I feel it is going to be fairly thrilling.”
New Hampshire will possible have a aggressive Senate contest in 2026 when longtime Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a former governor, is up for re-election.
However Sununu reiterated what he informed Fox Information Digital in July.
“Undoubtedly ruling out working for the Senate in 2026. Yeah, positively not on my dance card,” he mentioned.
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However the governor predicted that Republicans will “have a superb candidate. There isn’t any query about it. A few completely different people that is perhaps curious about working. I feel that’d be incredible. We have had an all-Democrat [congressional] delegation for a very long time. I feel the individuals within the state, particularly with Kelly’s convincing win, would love a distinct voice, would love just a few kind of change.”
Requested if there’s one other run for workplace in his future, the 50-year-old governor mentioned he is “not occupied with that in any respect, excited for the non-public sector. And that is all … that is in my windshield.”
However he did not fully shut the door, including, “We’ll see what political chapters write themselves down the highway.”
