Sununu: On Second Thought …

What a difference a retreat makes, eh?

To be fair, Chris Sununu’s reconsideration of a midterm run for the US Senate came before Jeanne Shaheen’s surprise retirement announcement. Sununu told the Washington Times yesterday that Republican recruiting for the election against Shaheen had given him an opportunity to reconsider his retirement. And not just the recruitment, but also what Donald Trump has done in office with DOGE in eliminating waste and fraud:

“I have not ruled it out completely, but folks in Washington have asked me to think about it and to consider it, and that is just kind of where I am,” Mr. Sununu told The Washington Times on Tuesday.

After previously rejecting the idea, Mr. Sununu, who was governor of New Hampshire from 2017 to 2025, said he is listening to the Washington Republicans urging him to run. Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, holds the seat and is up for reelection next year. 

Mr. Sununu said President Trump’s focus on making the federal government more efficient and accountable to taxpayers has forced him to at least give it more thought.

“That makes me think, OK, maybe things are changing,” he said. “Maybe there’s a path here.”

Something has changed, and it’s not just “things.” Sununu has never been a fan of Trump or the MAGA movement. He endorsed Nikki Haley in the 2024 GOP primary, claiming that Trump was not the future and that “a**holes come and go.” Sununu encouraged Haley to stay in even when it became clear that Trump would win the nomination overwhelmingly. After the primaries, Sununu began tempering his criticism, so much so that the Atlantic accused Sununu of being “Trump’s willing accomplice” in April of last year … before the June 27 debate made clear where “accomplices” actually were and who they were really protecting. 

Lately, Sununu has been more vocal in that support for Trump. He appears on CNN as a commentator, the Washington Times notes, and often praises Trump’s efforts to cut back on the federal bureaucracy. That led to this infamous moment a month ago with Anderson Cooper, where the CNN host called Sununu a “dick” for defending DOGE:

🚨 WOW… Chris Sununu was just called a “d*ck” by Anderson Cooper over DOGE.

COOPER: Some of the details, like millions for hotels, it’s actually not…

SUNUNU: You mean the FEMA money for migrants? That’s OK now?

COOPER: I’m not saying it’s OK, don’t put words in my mouth.… pic.twitter.com/MCNAnRLMkR

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 12, 2025

COOPER: Some of the details, like millions for hotels, it’s actually not…

SUNUNU: You mean the FEMA money for migrants? That’s OK now?

COOPER: I’m not saying it’s OK, don’t put words in my mouth. Don’t be a d*ck.

Emphasis mine. As I noted at the time, Cooper was trying to claim that the argument that FEMA spent $59 million on New York City luxury hotels was misleading, and Sununu embarrassed Cooper by pointing out that the money was spent to house illegal aliens rather than disaster victims. It’s one of the reasons that FEMA began pleading poverty last year, and it had been policy to redirect disaster funds to illegal-alien housing since 2021. 

With all of that, will MAGA voters embrace Sununu? The bigger risk might be in the other direction. Trump ran nearly three points behind Kamala Harris in New Hampshire last November, getting only 47.9% of the vote despite winning all seven of the other swing states. Trump lost the Granite State in 2020 by seven points, and barely lost in 2016 by less than half a point against Hillary Clinton. Trump has not been a popular figure in New Hampshire, at least not popular enough to carry an election.

Sununu, on the other hand, has been very popular with voters. Last August, he was the eighth-most popular governor in the US, with an approval rating of 62.5% and disapproval at only 32.1%. An earlier Emerson poll tested Sununu as a primary candidate against Trump, where he only scored 7% among Republicans — but still had a 48/30 overall approval rating, and 53% approval from independents in the state. 

Most importantly, though, is a New Hampshire Journal poll from this month showing that Sununu might have easily beaten Shaheen. Scott Brown didn’t compete nearly as well:

In theoretical head-to-head matches, Shaheen currently holds a solid lead 55-45 percent lead over likely GOP candidate Scott Brown.

If conservative Commissioner of Education Frank Edelblut chose to challenge her, she’s got a 59 to 41 percent lead.

But if four-term governor Sununu chose to challenge her, the new poll shows he would handily defeat her, 54 to 46 percent.

Among unaffiliated voters, he leads 52-48 percent.

That might explain Sununu’s renewed interest in electoral politics. It might also explain Shaheen’s sudden lack of interest in running again, too. Did she hear that Sununu had reconsidered retirement and suddenly began considering her own? It might explain today’s announcement better than Shaheen’s stated reasons. 

Given the circumstances, Donald Trump should reach out to Sununu to get him back in the game. He might still be sore over the primaries and Sununu’s harsh words, but Sununu has been back on side for a while, and a pickup in New Hampshire would give Trump a chance to claim a victory in the Granite State that has long eluded him.