(The Center Square) — Dashing the hopes of President Donald Trump and other top national Republicans, former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu says he won’t run for U.S. Senate next year.
Sununu, a popular Republican who stepped down last year after four terms as governor, told reporters he appreciated the support he has received from Trump and others to run for the seat but isn’t interested.
“I’ve done eight years and it was a hard eight years as governor,” Sununu told New Hampshire Public Radio. “To sign up for the Senate, you’re really signing up for 12 more years, so that’s a commitment I hadn’t really put into the mix, and, again, it’s just not right for my family at this time.”
Sununu had been encouraged by Trump and other top Republicans to run for the Senate seat held by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, who announced last month that she would not seek reelection.
Shaheen, a three-term Democrat, and former New Hampshire governor, announced last month that she made the “difficult” decision not to seek another six-year term in next year’s elections. Shaheen, 78, was first elected to the Senate in 2008.
Sununu’s decision to run for the Senate seat opens a potential lane for former Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who lost a New Hampshire Senate race against Shaheen in 2014. The former New Zealand ambassador has reportedly been weighing another run in the Granite State.
Last week, Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas launched a campaign for Shaheen’s Senate seat, arguing the Democrats can’t afford to lose another seat in the chamber. In the 2022 elections, the incumbent Pappas defeated Republican candidate Karoline Leavitt, now White House press secretary.
Democratic Rep. Maggie Goodlander, who represents the state’s 2nd Congressional District, is also openly weighing a bid for the seat.
Sununu, whose lineage hails from one of New Hampshire’s most storied political families, had been urged by national Republicans to run for U.S. Senate several years ago — when Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan was up for reelection — but he opted for another term as governor.
Speculation that he would jump into the Senate race escalated after Shaheen announced that she wouldn’t seek another term. Sununu recently said President Trump’s focus on making the federal government more efficient and accountable prompted him to rethink a run for higher office.
Republicans currently have a 53-47 edge in the U.S. Senate, and Democrats would need to flip at least four seats to win a majority in the 2026 midterms. The GOP holds the tie-breaking vice presidency.
New Hampshire’s four-member congressional delegation is controlled by Democrats, but Republicans control the state government, and the state has a history of sending members of both parties to Washington.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has listed the New Hampshire U.S. Senate seat as a toss-up race, saying internal polling shows Republicans with a slight edge over Democrats.
“The NRSC continues to believe Republicans are going to win New Hampshire in 2026,” Nick Puglia, a regional press secretary for the NRSC, said in a statement. “While Democrats duke it out in a race to the left, we are excited about the number of candidates we are talking to who appreciate the privilege of representing Granite Staters in the Senate and are ready to build winning campaigns.”
