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PORTLAND, Maine – Republican Gov. Chris Sununu says his eyes are fixed this November’s election, when he’s running for a fourth two-year term steering New Hampshire.
And Sununu dismisses speculation by political prognosticators that he might have national ambitions and may be mulling a run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
“I’m not thinking past re-election. Right. If I don’t close the deal in November and earn those votes and get out and talk to voters, then nothing else really matters. So no, I’m solely focused on New Hampshire,” Sununu told Fox News.
Sununu was interviewed on Wednesday, ahead of his appearance at the National Governors Association’s annual summer meeting, which this year is being held in Portland, Maine.
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GOP Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire (center) and former Maine governor and 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee Paul LePage (right) get a tour of Messer Truck Equipment in Westbrook, Maine on July 13, 2022
(Fox News )
While Sununu hasn’t closed the door to any political opportunities in the future, he emphasized in a separate gaggle with reporters a few minutes earlier that “if Republicans as a party don’t focus on ’22, ’24 don’t matter. We’ve got to close the deal.”
And the governor told Fox News that “I’m very selfish about the people of New Hampshire in the 603. And that’s where my 100% of my focus is.”
However, Sununu has ventured outside the Granite State a couple of times this year to help fellow Republican candidates who are also running in the 2022 elections. Last month he traveled to Connecticut to campaign with and raise money for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski.
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On Tuesday, Sununu headlined a fundraiser for former two-term Maine Gov. Paul LePage, who is running this year against Democratic Gov. Janet Mills as he tries to win back his old job. The next day Sununu and LePage teamed up at Messer Truck Equipment, a more than century old family-owned business in Westbrook, Maine.
Sununu emphasized that LePage “brought some awesome economic opportunities to the state for eight years.” He predicted that “Maine is going to become a lot more competitive with New Hampshire in just a few short months when Paul gets elected.”
A lighter moment between Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire (left) and former Maine Gov. Paul LePage (right), the 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee, at Messer Truck Equipment in Westbrook, Maine on July 13, 2022
(Fox News )
Asked by reporters whom he might support in the next White House race, LePage joked that if Sununu ran, “I’d be right behind him.”
Early next month Sununu heads to another neighboring state of Massachusetts to headline a fundraiser for GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Doughty.
“I just want good candidates that believe in individuals, that don’t believe that big government is the answer. And I’m a big believer that states are the answer. Good governors in states can make huge differences for their communities,” Sununu emphasized. “So I’m out there helping everybody I can possibly do, whether it’s Glenn Youngkin down in Virginia, Paul LePage up here. Anyone who wants my help, I’m happy to go help them.”
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One issue that could present itself as a roadblock to Sununu if he eventually decides to seek his party’s presidential nomination is abortion.
Following last month’s seismic move by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority to overturn the landmark half-century-old Roe v. Wade ruling and give states the power to set limits on abortion, Sununu tried to quell fears about more restrictions on abortion in New Hampshire.
“I’m a pro-choice governor and as long as I am governor, we are going to remain a pro-choice state,” he said at the time.
That stance won’t do him any favors with a national Republican primary electorate. But it’s also not winning him any plaudits with New Hampshire Democrats.
Sununu’s Democratic gubernatorial challenger, state Sen. Tom Sherman, charged that “we have a governor that women can’t trust.”
Sherman pointed to the governor’s recent resistance to a request by Democratic state lawmakers to call a special legislative session to enshrine abortion rights in New Hampshire law.
The governor said such a move wasn’t necessary because abortion rights are not in danger of changing in the state but added that he would sign a bill codifying those rights if it reached his desk.
“Every state has to figure out where they are. Now it’s a state’s issue and every state has to kind of find their path. In New Hampshire nothing’s changing. A woman’s right to choose today’s the same as it was a couple months ago. And so you know, for me that’s that’s the most important thing — that folks know that nothing is changing here in New Hampshire,” Sununu told Fox News on Wednesday.
The New Hampshire Democratic Party isn’t buying it.
“Pro-choice governors do not sign abortion bans, and they certainly do not campaign with anti-choice extremists like Paul LePage. Sununu has never been and will never be pro-choice. He is pro building his national profile, and that’s it,” argued New Hampshire Democratic Party spokesperson Monica Venzke.
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Democrats in New Hampshire and across the nation hope that with the recent blockbuster move by the Supreme Court will lead to an energized electorate that will help them in November’s elections as they face a dismal political climate accentuated by soaring inflation and President Biden’s negative approval ratings.
But Sununu insisted that “party wise, look, when it comes to the November election, this is about kitchen table issues that are hitting every family, whether it’s inflation, gas prices, putting fuel in their home heating oil, propane prices come this winter. That is what is going to be the big driver in November. And that’s why I think you’re going to see a big red wave.”
