It seems that President Donald Trump has buried the hatchet in the case of former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who for years was a prime Republican critic of the previous and present president.
Trump now says that if Sununu runs for the Senate in 2026 for the seat at the moment held by retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, his former antagonist would have his full help.
Sununu, who in January accomplished his fourth and last two-year time period steering swing state New Hampshire, instructed Fox Information Digital in an interview final month that he aimed to decide relating to a 2026 marketing campaign within the “subsequent few weeks.”
He emphasised that “I’ve little question I might have the president’s help,” if he determined to make a bid for the Senate.
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President Donald Trump talks to members of the press aboard Air Pressure One throughout a flight to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on April 6, 2025. ( REUTERS/Kent Nishimura )
Trump, when requested by reporters about Sununu as he flew to Washington, D.C., on Sunday evening aboard Air Pressure One, revealed that the 2 politicians met not too long ago on the White Home.
“I instructed him — He got here to my workplace, got here to the Oval Workplace, and [I] met with Chris Sununu, and I help him absolutely. I hope he runs,” Trump mentioned. “He’s been very good to me during the last 12 months or so, however no, I hope he runs. I believe he’ll win that seat.”
Sununu supported Trump through the 2016 normal election and once more when Trump unsuccessfully ran for re-election in 2020. The then-governor had a powerful working relationship with the Trump White Home, together with shut ties with then-Vice President Mike Pence.
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Nonetheless, Sununu pushed again in opposition to Trump’s unproven claims that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” and “stolen.” He additionally began stating in early 2021 that the GOP was bigger than anyone individual, which was perceived as a swipe on the then-former president.
Sununu amped up his criticism of the previous president throughout quite a few nationwide interviews on cable information networks and Sunday speak reveals, repeatedly arguing that Trump had an excessive amount of political baggage to win again the White Home. Moreover, Sununu started mulling a potential 2024 White Home run of his personal, which he finally determined in opposition to.
Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire endorses former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at a marketing campaign occasion in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Dec. 12, 2023. (Fox Information – Paul Steinhauser)
Nonetheless, he ended up backing and changing into a prime surrogate of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley within the 2024 GOP presidential main. Haley ended up being the ultimate rival to Trump within the nomination race.
Trump sometimes returned fireplace at Sununu, calling him a “spoiled brat” and a “nasty man,” amongst different issues.
Nonetheless, after Trump clinched the 2024 GOP nomination, Sununu mentioned he would vote for his social gathering’s presidential nominee.
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Earlier this 12 months, Sununu mentioned in a Fox Information Digital interview that “Donald Trump is the top of the social gathering, and he is the voice of the Republican Get together, and I acquired to say, I believe he is doing a fairly darn good job within the first couple months.”
Relating to a possible 2026 Senate run for a seat Republicans are aiming to flip from blue to pink as they hope to increase their present 53-47 majority within the chamber, Sununu instructed Fox Information Digital final month that whereas “the door’s open” to operating, he emphasised “it isn’t open so much, to be trustworthy.”
Sununu, who was elected and re-elected to 4 straight two-year phrases as governor, touted that “I’ve little question I can win.”
Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire is interviewed by Fox Information Digital on his last full day in workplace, on Jan. 8, 2025 on the Statehouse in Harmony, New Hampshire. (Fox Information – Paul Steinhauser)
The previous governor’s feedback in latest interviews are a change from final 12 months, when he repeatedly mentioned he wouldn’t search to run for the Senate in 2026.
4 years in the past, Sununu expressed curiosity in operating for the Senate in opposition to his predecessor as governor, Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, who was up for re-election in 2022. The favored governor was closely courted by nationwide Republicans to tackle Hassan, however on Nov. 9, 2021, Sununu introduced that he would as an alternative run for a fourth time period as governor, upsetting many Republicans within the nation’s capital.
Moreover, he closely criticized the Senate. “They debate and speak and nothing will get finished,” he mentioned on the time.
Sununu, who left workplace in January with very optimistic approval and favorable rankings, is seen by nationwide Republicans as the very best candidate to win the seat. Nonetheless, he’s not the one Republican mulling a Senate bid in New Hampshire.
Former Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who later narrowly misplaced to Shaheen in New Hampshire within the 2014 election, is severely contemplating a 2026 run.
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Former Sen. Scott Brown is interviewed by Fox Information Digital on Dec. 24, 2024 in Rye, New Hampshire. (Fox Information – Paul Steinhauser)
Brown, who served 4 years as U.S. ambassador to New Zealand throughout Trump’s first administration, has been holding conferences with Republicans throughout New Hampshire for a few months and has met a number of instances with GOP officers within the nation’s capital.
Earlier this 12 months, Brown met with prime Trump administration political officers on the White Home, sources instructed Fox Information.
When requested in regards to the president’s feedback relating to Sununu, Brown instructed Fox Information in a press release that “President Trump is the chief of the social gathering, and he has earned the precise to endorse whoever he helps. There isn’t a path to a Republican nomination operating in opposition to President Trump-backed candidates.”
Within the race for the Democratic Senate nomination in New Hampshire, four-term Rep. Chris Pappas formally launched his marketing campaign final week.
Utilizing clips of a listening tour he made via all ten of New Hampshire’s counties final month as he ramped up towards operating for the Senate, Pappas mentioned voters really feel like “the system’s rigged.”
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Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., publicizes his bid to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a fellow Democrat, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Manchester, New Hampshire. ( AP Photograph/Robert F. Bukaty)
“You consider the Social Safety workplace that is going to be closed in Littleton, drastic cuts to Medicaid, all within the title of giving large tax breaks to billionaires like Elon Musk,” he argued, as he pointed to Trump’s prime donor and the world’s richest individual, who’s main the administration’s controversial downsizing of the federal authorities workforce.
Pappas emphasised, “I do get offended, as a result of whenever you’re speaking about public service, you have to be targeted on how one can assist individuals, how one can make individuals’s lives higher.”
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Pappas could not have the Democratic Senate main in New Hampshire all to himself.
Sources near Rep. Maggie Goodlander, New Hampshire’s different Home member, mentioned final month that the first-term consultant is contemplating a Senate run.
