NEWFIELDS, N.H. – After eight years in office, Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire is in his final weeks steering New England’s only swing state.
Sununu announced last year that he wouldn’t seek an unprecedented fifth two-year term as governor. New Hampshire and Vermont are the only two states in the nation to hold gubernatorial elections every two years.
And he’s leaving office on a high note, with his approval ratings remaining firmly in positive territory.
So what’s next for the 50-year-old Sununu, who eight years ago, when first elected, was the nation’s youngest governor?
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Republican Gov. Chris Sununu is interviewed by Fox News Digital, on July 11, 2024, in Newfields, New Hampshire. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
“I’m excited to get back to the private sector. I like businesses, I like deal sourcing,” the governor said in a Fox News Digital interview. “I’m not sure exactly what the private sector is going to bring, but I think it’s going to be pretty exciting.”
New Hampshire, a perennial swing state, will likely have a competitive Senate contest in 2026 when longtime Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a former governor, is up for re-election. And Sununu is likely to be courted by national Republicans to run for the Senate.
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But Sununu reiterated what he told Fox News Digital in July.
“Definitely ruling out running for the Senate in 2026. Yeah, definitely not on my dance card,” he said.
But the governor predicted that Republicans will “have a good candidate. There’s no question about it. A couple of different folks that might be interested in running. I think that’d be fantastic. We’ve had an all-Democrat [congressional] delegation for a long time. I think the people in the state… would love a different voice, would love just some sort of change.”
Sununu, one of the more recognizable governors nationwide thanks to his regular appearances the past few years on the Sunday talk shows and cable news networks, mulled a Republican presidential nomination run before announcing a year and a half ago that he wouldn’t seek the White House in 2024.
Republican Gov. Chris Sununu speaks at a news conference on Nov. 15, 2023, at the Statehouse in Concord, New Hampshire. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Asked if there’s another run for office in his future, the governor said he’s “not thinking about that at all, excited for the private sector. And that’s all… that’s in my windshield.”
But he didn’t entirely shut the door, adding, “We’ll see what political chapters write themselves down the road.”
Sununu will be succeeded as New Hampshire governor by Gov.-elect Kelly Ayotte, a fellow Republican and former state attorney general and former U.S. senator.
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The governor was a top surrogate on the campaign trail and on the airwaves for Ayotte, who pledged to continue the Sununu agenda.
Asked if Ayotte’s nearly nine and half point win over former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, the Democratic Party gubernatorial nominee, was also a victory for him, Sununu said, “It was a victory for New Hampshire.”
Gov-elect Kelly Ayotte and Gov. Chris Sununu meet in the Statehouse in Concord on Nov. 7, 2024. (Office of New Hampshire governor)
“Kelly’s going to be phenomenal. She has that experience as an attorney general, as U.S. senator. She understands how the systems work,” Sununu emphasized. “Our transition is already going incredibly smoothly; discussions virtually every single day about all aspects of government, where it’s going, how to build good teams and, most importantly… the opportunities to listen to what’s happening in the communities.”
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Asked if he’d be offering advice to his successor, Sununu said “she’ll have my cell number. I don’t know if she’ll need it, because I think she’s going to be fantastic on her own, but she’ll always have my cell number.”
Sununu pointed to John Lynch and now-Sen. Maggie Hassan, his Democratic predecessors as governor, who Sununu said shared their cellphone numbers with him. He noted, “We want New Hampshire to be successful. So, it’s not just me helping Kelly out. It is always a team effort. She’s going to have a host of people that she can lean on for any advice when she needs it.”
