Former GOP Sen. John Sununu announces Senate bid for New Hampshire seat

Former Republican Sen. John Sununu announced his campaign for New Hampshire’s Senate seat this morning, embarking on a competitive primary ahead of an open battleground race next November.

Sununu, who served the Granite State in the Senate until losing re-election to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., in 2008, said in an announcement video: “I would be honored to have your support and return to the Senate to help calm the waters.” »

In his announcement video, Sununu emphasized working with people who disagree with each other, now criticizing Congress as “loud, dysfunctional, even angry.”

“But Granite Staters are still talking,” he said. “We don’t always agree, but we respect each other and work together for the common good. It’s the New Hampshire way.”

Sununu said he was “a little surprised” to find himself running for Senate again, asking, “Why would anyone submit to everything that’s going on there right now?”

“Someone has to raise and lower the temperature,” he said. “Someone has to get things done.”

Shaheen announced earlier this year that she would not run again next year.

Former Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown entered the race in June, becoming the first major Republican candidate to launch a campaign for the seat.

Across the aisle, Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas is running for the Democratic nomination and is facing progressive activist Karishma Manzur.

Rachel Petri, Pappas’ campaign manager, fired back at Sununu’s candidacy, describing the Republican as “making millions selling to corporations and working for special interests.”

“Chris Pappas will stand up to corporate special interests and hire anyone to do what’s best for New Hampshire, and that’s why Granite Staters will elect him to the U.S. Senate this November,” she said in a statement.

On the other hand, the Senate Leadership Fund, which works to expand the Republican majority in the Senate, characterized Pappas as continuing to “serve Washington’s Democratic Party leaders.”

“John E. Sununu is a respected leader and trusted voice for New Hampshire whose candidacy instantly expands the Senate map and puts the Granite State in play for Republicans,” the fund said in a statement.

The Granite State Senate seat is considered competitive and is rated a “Lean Democrat” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. While Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan won her re-election campaign in the state by more than nine percentage points in 2022, two years later, Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte won her statewide gubernatorial race, defeating Democratic candidate Joyce Craig by a similar margin.

Sununu launched his Senate bid earlier this year, telling ABC affiliate WMUR last month that “I’m going to seriously consider running,” adding that he would make a final decision by the end of this month.

Sununu’s name is well known throughout New Hampshire, not only for his own service in Congress, but also because of his brother, former Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who served as governor for eight years before passing the torch to Ayotte last year. The former governor said earlier this year that he would not run for the open Senate seat.