Sununu jokes about not running for governor

Apr. 5—Gov. Chris Sununu hinted to a business audience Wednesday that his political plans for 2024 may not involve a run for an unprecedented fifth two-year term as governor.

Regarding his presidential ambitions, Sununu, 48, said he would decide by early August whether to enter the race.

In the event he does not, Sununu vowed to actively endorse a Republican other than former President Donald Trump.

In recent media appearances, Sununu has waxed nostalgic on being the state's only governor in modern history other than Democrat John Lynch of Hopkinton to have won four terms.

Sununu's address to the New England Council at Saint Anselm College's New Hampshire Institute of Politics included another tantalizing witticism on that topic.

"I'm not saying I am not running again, but you know, I've got to get a real job," Sununu said, chuckling. "My wife is very excited when I say that. I'll be sending all of you resumes shortly."

Later, regarding politics, he said, "It is not a career; it really has to be about service."

Sununu told New England Council President and CEO James Brett that he will make up his mind by August whether to run for president, because the first major debate of Republican contenders is later that month.

"I will say this. People ask me to run, and I am thinking about it, but one thing is for sure: I am not sitting this one out. I will get behind somebody, I will endorse somebody, and I will put my weight behind somebody," Sununu said.

Democratic Party spokesperson Monica Venzke said Sununu's comments show he has checked out on New Hampshire.

"Chris Sununu doesn't see being the governor of New Hampshire as a 'real job,' and it certainly shows. Since the beginning of 2023, he's taken over ten out-of-state trips in an attempt to boost his national profile," she said in a statement. "He has never viewed being the governor as anything but a stepping stone. At every opportunity, Chris Sununu has left Granite Staters in the dust to build his celebrity status."

In 1988, Sununu's father, then-New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu, gave Vice President George Bush a key endorsement which helped Bush go on to win the first-in-the-nation primary.

The elder Sununu did not seek reelection as governor, and Bush named him White House chief of staff.

Candidates in waiting

Last month at this same venue, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Trump's 2016 nomination hopes were boosted when only four of the nation's 33 Republican governors chose to endorse anyone in that primary race.

Three of them backed Christie, including Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, Paul LePage of Maine and Larry Hogan of Maryland. Hogan recently took himself out of the running for president in 2024.

Currently, 26 governors are Republicans.

In the 2016 primary, Sununu's older brother, former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, endorsed former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who finished a distant second to Trump in New Hampshire. Chris Sununu would make his first run for governor later that year.

On Wednesday, Sununu praised the personal story of Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, who will make his first exploratory trip to New Hampshire next week. Sununu said the next president needs to have "executive leadership experience."

New Jersey's Christie has said he will decide on a run by June. "Chris likes his gig on ABC," Sununu said, referring to Christie's role as a GOP analyst on "This Week," ABC's Sunday news program hosted by George Stephanopoulos. "We will see if he actually gets in."

Sununu said Trump's criminal indictment this week on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records only enhanced the former president's 2024 bid in the short term. He said there is zero chance Trump would quit the race even with other criminal investigations swirling around him.

"Getting a conviction is going to be really, really hard to do," Sununu said of the New York case that alleges a Class E felony, the state's lowest level felony charge. "I don't know who came up with the idea of charging him with this kind of stuff."

Sununu said a trial would be a circus.

"Wait until they try to find a jury. Twelve impartial individuals in New York City on a jury? Think about that," Sununu said. "Judges in New York are very liberal elected individuals. When you are elected, politics always comes into play. I know because I'm elected. Anybody who elects their judges, I think is a big mess there."

GOP messaging

Sununu said even though Trump is a serious contender for the nomination, "there is no pathway" for him to win back the White House next year.

"What state (that he lost in 2020) is going to flip back to him?" Sununu asked.

Sununu said all the GOP presidential aspirants need to focus on free market conservative principles and personal freedom and spend less time attacking the "woke, cancel culture" of the left.

"We have a great product on the Republican side," he said, but "we are awful on branding and messaging, just horrible."

While Trump did some "good things," such as negotiating tough with China and other countries on trade and delivering the vaccine to combat COVID-19, Sununu said he failed to deliver on his campaign promises about border security, immigration reform, health care and fiscal discipline.

Sununu urged Congress to insist on a "parallel deal" with Biden to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for meaningful controls on federal spending.

klandrigan@unionleader.com