{"id":8096,"date":"2025-04-08T16:03:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T16:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/former-new-hampshire-gov-sununu-wont-run-for-senate-in-2026\/"},"modified":"2025-04-08T16:03:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T16:03:40","slug":"former-new-hampshire-gov-sununu-wont-run-for-senate-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/former-new-hampshire-gov-sununu-wont-run-for-senate-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Former New Hampshire Gov. Sununu won\u2019t run for Senate in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said he will not run for U.S. Senate, despite scoring President Donald Trump’s endorsement.<\/p>\n

Sununu \u2014 who served four terms as the state\u2019s governor before declining to seek a fifth \u2014 made the announcement<\/a> Monday on The Pulse of NH\u2019s \u201cGood Morning NH\u201d radio show. Sununu had been viewed as a frontrunner for the 2026 Senate race since Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen<\/a> announced she would not seek reelection.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really thought about it,\u201d he said to The Pulse of NH\u2019s Jack Heath. \u201cI actually talked to the White House this morning. I talked to Tim Scott. Thanked him for all their support and confidence and all that, but I don’t have to be the candidate, and I’m not going to be the candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sununu\u2019s remarks follow Trump backing the Republican\u2019s potential run over the weekend. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe came to my office, came to the Oval Office, and met with Chris Sununu, and I support him fully. I hope he runs,\u201d Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. \u201cHe\u2019s been very nice to me over the last year or so, but no, I hope he runs. I think he\u2019ll win that seat.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s support came as a surprise given how he and Sununu have clashed over the years. Sununu has previously criticized Trump\u2019s rhetoric<\/a>, backing Nikki Haley in the 2024 Republican primary. However, he quickly threw his support behind Trump after he became the presumptive nominee.<\/p>\n

Scott Brown, a former Massachusetts GOP senator and U.S. ambassador, who is weighing a potential run, praised Sununu on Tuesday. Brown was the Republican nominee for the New Hampshire Senate seat in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201c@ChrisSununu and the entire Sununu family are patriots who have made our state a better place – looking forward to seeing what\u2019s next for him and working alongside him for New Hampshire\u2019s future,\u201d Brown said in an X post<\/a> Tuesday, referring to Sununu\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas<\/a> launched a campaign<\/a> for Shaheen\u2019s Senate seat last week, seeking to maintain Democrats\u2019 grasp of the seat.<\/p>\n

With a Senate run out of the picture, Sununu said he would continue his work in the private sector for now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said he will not run for U.S. Senate, despite scoring President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Sununu \u2014 who served four terms as the state\u2019s governor before declining to seek a fifth \u2014 made the announcement Monday on The Pulse of NH\u2019s \u201cGood Morning NH\u201d radio show. Sununu had been viewed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}