State Sen. Dan Innis (R-Bradford) has suspended his campaign for the U.S. Senate and is throwing his support to former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu.
“I entered this race earlier this summer because there was no real conservative running. Chris Pappas would be a disaster for our state, and I believe that only a true Republican with unquestionable conservative credentials can defeat him next November,” Innis said in a statement.
“When I learned that Sen. John Sununu was considering a run to return to the Senate, all of that changed for me in an instant. Sen. Sununu is the respected, experienced, and trusted conservative that I was hoping would jump in the race last spring,” Innis said. “That is why today I am proudly suspending my campaign for the U.S. Senate and joining the campaign to draft John Sununu for U.S. Senate!”
And Innis is urging fellow Republican Scott Brown to do the same.
“I strongly encourage Sen. Scott Brown to follow my lead and get behind Sen. Sununu,” Innis said.
“If Sen. Brown truly wants to see his adopted home state elect a Republican U.S. senator next year, we will need a unified Republican Party supporting the best candidate. The last thing we need is a long, drawn-out primary that will inevitably end with Sen. Sununu as the nominee, because Granite Staters will never accept a former Massachusetts senator who consistently sided with Barack Obama and the Democrats the last time he was in Washington.”
Speaking at the Bedford Republicans’ annual breakfast Thursday morning, Brown reiterated that he has no intention of dropping out of the race in deference to John E. Sununu.
“No one’s going to anoint anybody. The monarchies are gone, okay? I don’t care who it is — the Kennedys, the Bushes, whoever,” Brown told the crowd. “I enjoyed beating the Kennedy family back in 2010, and I look forward to beating anyone else who wants to come forward. I’m not going anywhere.”
Brown won a long-shot victory in the 2010 Massachusetts U.S. Senate election to fill the vacancy left by the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) In 2014, he narrowly lost his bid to unseat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)
Innis is slated to seek reelection in the New Hampshire state Senate next year, but he left open the door on possibly returning to the federal field.
“While I am excited to refocus my efforts on running for re-election to the New Hampshire state Senate, it is my intention that if Sen. Sununu chooses not to run for the U.S. Senate, I will reactivate my campaign because I truly feel that New Hampshire needs a real conservative in this race.”
After the news broke, Brown took to social media to respond.
“I wish Dan Innis well in his re-election to the New Hampshire State Senate. I look forward to a hard-fought, issue-oriented, spirited primary campaign once John E. Sununu concludes his so-called “listening tour.” Come on in, John, the water’s warm! Heck, bring John Kasich along to campaign with you.”
