CONCORD, N.H. – After eight years steering swing state New Hampshire, Republican Chris Sununu left workplace a couple of days in the past with a few of the highest approval scores amongst America’s 50 governors.
Sununu, who gained election and re-election 4 occasions [New Hampshire and neighboring Vermont are the only states in the nation where governors serve two-year terms], gave credit score to his group.
Requested about his tenure in workplace, Sununu mentioned, “Like anything in life, you want to just make sure you leave it better than you found it. And I couldn’t be more proud of where we’ve come in the last eight years.”
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Former Gov. Chris Sununu is acknowledged by Republican Kelly Ayotte throughout her inauguration on the State Home, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Harmony, New Hampshire. (AP Photograph/Charles Krupa)
“The key there is always finding a way to make it work for the citizens. That’s it. That’s the job. You have to be results-driven, regardless of the hand you’re dealt, the politics you’re given, the surrounding atmosphere,” Sununu mentioned.
“So I think in New Hampshire, we’ve done it pretty darn well,” he touted.
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His successor as governor, fellow Republican and former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, agreed.
Ayotte, who campaigned on persevering with the Sununu agenda, praised her predecessor.
“New Hampshire is moving in the right direction, and no one deserves more credit for that after four terms at the helm than Governor Chris Sununu. Thank you, Governor,” Ayotte mentioned.
Republican Kelly Ayotte is sworn in throughout her inauguration on the State Home, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Harmony, New Hampshire. (AP Photograph/Charles Krupa)
Longtime New Hampshire Democratic Social gathering chair Ray Buckely, a vocal Sununu critic, disagreed as he pointed to “years of failed Republican policies” beneath the retiring governor.
Sununu, who introduced final 12 months that he wouldn’t search an unprecedented fifth two-year time period as governor, reiterated what he’s mentioned for months, that he’s “very much looking forward to getting back in the private sector, maybe private equity or boards.”
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The 50-year-old Sununu, who when he was first elected in 2016 was the nation’s youngest governor, has additionally, for months, repeatedly dominated out operating for the Senate in New Hampshire in 2026.
“I’m not planning on running for anything right now. I’m really not, at least for the next two, four, six years,” he emphasised.
However Sununu, who in 2023 significantly mulled a Republican presidential nomination run in 2024 earlier than deciding in opposition to it, didn’t completely shut the door to a different run for workplace sooner or later.
“Who knows what happens down the road, but it would be way down the road and nothing, nothing I’m planning on, nothing my family would tolerate either short term,” he mentioned.
“I’m definitely talking to a few different networks that have come and asked me to do certain things, and I’ll continue doing stuff and helping them. Is there a long-term plan there to be a little more fixed with a network or a show or something like that? Definitely talking about it. I’m interested in it,” he shared.
Sununu, who hails from a outstanding political household (his father John H. Sununu served three phrases as governor and later as President George H.W. Bush’s chief of employees, and older brother John E. Sununu was a congressman and senator), emphasised, “I’m definitely going to want to keep scratching that political itch in some way, not necessarily running for office, but staying involved, having a voice, helping the party.”
However whether or not the social gathering, as soon as once more firmly beneath President-elect Trump’s management, needs Sununu’s assistance is questionable.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is joined by Gov. Chris Sununu as they go to a polling location at Winnacunnet Excessive Faculty to greet voters on main day, Jan. 23, 2024, in Hampton, New Hampshire. (Joe Raedle/Getty Photos)
Sununu, a really vocal critic of Trump following the then-president’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Biden, ended up endorsing Trump rival Nikki Haley within the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race. Sununu turned a prime surrogate for Haley, a former two-term South Carolina governor who served as U.N. ambassador in Trump’s first administration.
However after Trump cruised to the Republican presidential nomination, Sununu mentioned he would vote for him.
And he praised the politician he had lengthy criticized.
“Give the president credit. He earned it. He won the primaries. He got the votes,” Sununu mentioned. “He did the groundwork to be successful, not just in the primary, but really galvanized a whole new working class of voters for the Republican Party as the general election went on. So he did a phenomenal job there.”
However he mentioned the GOP is larger than anyone politician, even Trump.
“It’s not just a Donald Trump Republican or a Chris Sununu Republican. The Republican Party is big. Man. It is really, really, big, whether you have fiscal conservatives like myself, social moderates, whatever it might be, even some of the more extremist side of things, everyone has a place here and a voice.”
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And Sununu’s very optimistic concerning the GOP’s future.
“It’s a really big party, and it’s growing. I mean, it really is growing, and Nov. 5 was a huge example of that. So I’m very optimistic on where the Republican Party is going with Donald Trump, with other leaders. JD Vance, everybody, kind of coming to the table, putting their two cents in and making sure that it’s all about America.”
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based mostly in New Hampshire.
