CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire Republican John E. Sununu announced his U.S. Senate campaign Wednesday, hoping to win back a seat he lost nearly two decades ago and improve the Republican Party’s chances of regaining foothold in a predominantly Democratic region.
Sununu, 61, is seeking the Republican nomination for the seat vacated by Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who ousted him in 2008. His decision set up a primary race between two former senators. One is Republican Scott Brown, a Massachusetts representative who moved to New Hampshire in 2014 and lost to Shaheen, and has been running for office since June.
“You may be surprised to hear that I’m running for the Senate again, and I’m a little surprised myself,” he said in a video announcement. “Why would anyone expose themselves to everything that’s going on there right now? Well, somebody’s got to step up and turn the temperature down. Someone’s got to get things done.”
National Republicans believe Sununu is a strong candidate and one that will allow them to go on the offensive as they aim to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives next year.
Senate Republicans hold a 53-47 advantage, holding seats in Ohio, Maine and North Carolina against strong Democratic candidates. But Republicans are also on the offensive in states like Michigan, Georgia, and now New Hampshire, and if Republicans flip one of those seats, the chamber would likely be out of reach for Democrats until at least 2028.
However, Sununu must first win the primary, and his past opposition to President Donald Trump could be an issue. Brown worked closely with Trump and served as the US ambassador to New Zealand, while Sununu endorsed Nikki Haley in the 2024 Republican presidential primary and wrote an op-ed calling Trump a “loser.”
Trump won New Hampshire’s leadoff primary, but voters there rejected him for the third time in the general election. And while Republicans control the state Capitol and the governor’s office, Democrats have held all four seats in the New Hampshire General Assembly since 2017.
Sununu served three terms in the House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate at age 38. He was the youngest member of Congress throughout his term, a fact he emphasized in a 2008 campaign ad that showed him sprinting down a rugged mountain road.
“He’s younger, faster, faster,” intones a deep-voiced (and somewhat verbose) narrator. “Inexhaustible. Tireless. Energetic.”
He is now 16 years older than U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination, the same age he was at the time of Shaheen’s defeat.
Although Sununu has long been out of power, he remains well-known because of his politically prominent family. His father, John H. Sununu, is a former governor and former White House chief of staff. One of his brothers, Chris Sununu, served four terms as governor and flirted with his own Senate campaign in 2021. He also rejected a bid for this term, saying he had talked to the White House, which opposed it.
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Cappelletti reported from Washington.
