Minutes before addressing a Granite State Taxpayers gathering in Bedford, Gov. Chris Sununu told NHJournal that the Granite State is in play, Donald Trump is on a path to win the White House, and President Joe Biden “ain’t gonna turn it around.”
Sununu also said Trump’s pick of U.S. Sen. JD Vance was “terrific,” though it’s not likely to make much impact in the Granite State.
“Brilliant Marine,” Sununu said when asked to briefly describe Vance. “He’s a very smart guy, and he’s a Marine,” a fact he said is generating excitement with his son, who recently joined the U.S. Marine Corps, and those serving with him.
“[Vance] being a Marine is a big win in our family.”
Sununu acknowledged there might be other candidates who would have more natural appeal to the white-collar suburbanites who play a key role in New Hampshire politics, but argued that in the end, there’s only one name on the ballot that matters: Trump.
“Trump is Trump, you’re voting for him. Biden is Biden. There’s so much there to absorb for those two. Very few people are going, ‘You know, I don’t know if I’m with Trump, so I’m going to wait to see who he picks for VP.'”
Asked about the assassination attempt on Saturday and its impact on the American people, Sununu said it was “shocking.” And like many Americans, he has concerns about the performance and management of the Secret Service.
“I heard the head of the Secret Service [Kimberly Cheatle] say, ‘Well, it was a sloped roof [where the shooter was], so we didn’t have anybody up there.’ That makes no logical sense whatsoever,” Sununu said. “If that’s your excuse, you’re really grasping at straws. And if that’s your message to the public, then you’ve got a serious, serious accountability problem.”
If he were president of the United States, would Cheatle still have a job?
“Of course not,” Sununu said.
After taking the stage, Sununu told the crowd — which featured gubernatorial candidate Chuck Morse and First Congressional District candidates Hollie Noveletsky and Russell Prescott — that while it’s good to celebrate the state’s successes, they would need to fight to keep those policies in place by making the right choices in November.
“We’ve got businesses coming out of Boston and moving to our state, like New Balance, and they’re creating — not a few hundred jobs, but thousands and thousands of high-paying jobs. Why? The free market.
“We are proof positive of Milton Friedman’s thesis that a free market really does work, that a rising tied lifts all boats,” Sununu said.
And the Granite State is going to need that lift, Sununu said, because he’s predicting a recession is on its way, “probably in late 2026.”
He said the federal funding already in the pipeline would probably prevent the economic downturn through 2025, and it is the job of New Hampshire’s leaders to “make sure we’re the last state in and the first state out” of the recession’s impact. One thing he’s been able to do to prepare is to reduce the debt burden on the state.
“From the time I became governor until today, we’ve reduced our overall debt load in the state by about 25 to 30 percent,” Sununu said. “And we didn’t blow through our rainy day fund to do it.”
Not surprisingly, Sununu told NHJournal, he believes keeping Republicans in charge of state government is how to keep those positive trends going. And the person who’s helping the state GOP the most is Joe Biden.
“I believe we’re going to have strong Republican candidates up and down the ticket,” Sununu said. “You have a unified Republican Party, and you have a Democrat Party that’s never been in more disarray, and at the worst possible time for them. And it’s their own doing, they created this mess, and now they have to live with it.”
But that doesn’t mean, he added, that New Hampshire Republicans should spend their time thinking about the Democrats’ civil war.
“Whether they stick with Biden — which is a disaster for them — or if they move on from Biden, which is probably little better, Republicans still have to earn it. It’s the Boston Marathon, and we’ve made it past Heartbreak Hill, but we still have four or five miles to go.
“Let’s run this thing and finish strong,” Sununu said.
