Former Gov. Chris Sununu has said publicly — and repeatedly — that if he gets into the 2026 U.S. Senate race, he will win. And Democrats aren’t waiting around to find out if he’s right.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump made news in New Hampshire when he told a reporter Sununu had been to the White House to talk about the race to replace U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. And, Trump added, if Sununu runs, he will have the president’s full support.
On Monday, Democrats pounced.
“Chris Sununu went to the White House to nab an endorsement while Trump was destroying the economy and pushing devastating cuts to Medicaid,” U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH01) posted on social media. “Apparently the cost of a Trump endorsement is selling out New Hampshire. Hope it was worth it.”
Pappas is the only announced candidate in the Senate race.
American Bridge, a liberal Super PAC and opposition research group that supports Democrats, also took to Twitter/X Monday to target Sununu, posting multiple messages.
“Chris Sununu wants to keeps (sic) prices high for Granite State families,” it posted in one. It included audio of Sununu calling Trump’s pledge to “bring your prices down” a “messaging mistake.” Sununu appeared to be warning about the economic impacts of widespread deflation.
And last week, Pappas posted a video responding to comments Sununu made to radio host Jack Heath. Asked about Pappas entering the race, Sununu reportedly said, “He still has an awful haircut.”
“What else can a Republican say right now? You’ve got an economy on the brink, Trump raising prices for families in New Hampshire, and he wants to talk about my hair,” Pappas says in the video.
Polls show Sununu is currently the strongest potential candidate in either party, and Republicans have made no secret of the fact that they are hopeful he will enter the race. That’s even more true as Trump’s tariff policy begins to have an impact on the political landscape in next year’s midterms.
“For the Republican Party, there’s a lot of turbulence, as they might say on an airplane, a lot of unknowns between now and Election Day 2026. So you want your strongest team on the field,” said Jim Geraghty, senior political correspondent of National Review, on his “Three Martini Lunch” podcast Monday.
“Sununu looks like the strongest team on the field, and the president is being a team player, not letting old grudges get in the way of that. So that is very good news for Republicans. We’ll see if it holds.”
As for what Sununu might do, Geraghty observed, “I think all in all, if he weren’t interested, he’d be saying he’s not interested.”
