Former New Hampshire GOP Sen. John Sununu Running for Senate
He wants his seat back.
I had to do a double take.
Former Senate and Representative of New Hampshire, JOHN Sununu, launched his Senate campaign.
At first, I thought the candidate was his brother Chris, another former New Hampshire governor. Chris has said many times he wouldn’t run.
I cannot keep up with the Sununu family. John’s father, also named John, was a governor and representative of New Hampshire.
Anyway, Sununu wants his seat back.
Sununu represented New Hampshire in the House from 1997 to 2003 and in the Senate from 2003 to 2009.
Then-Gov. Jeanne Sheehan defeated Sununu and has held the seat since. Sheehan announced her retirement in March.
Sununu said in his video:
It’s been a while since you elected me to serve New Hampshire, and boy, have things changed. Washington’s never been perfect. It’s not meant to be. But when I was there, people with different opinions could get together, work things out, and come to solutions that made a real difference, but now Congress just seems loud, dysfunctional, even angry, but Granite Staters still talk. We don’t always agree, but we respect one another and work together for the common good. That’s the New Hampshire way.
Maybe you’re surprised to hear that I’m running for the Senate again, I’m a bit surprised myself. Why would anyone subject themselves to everything going on there right now? Well, somebody has to step up and lower the temperature. Somebody has to get things done. Laser focus on the economy, jobs, our debt and making our lives more affordable. Somebody has to protect Medicare do a better job for our veterans and really tackle our health care costs and on social security, we keep our promises to seniors, all of them. Over 12 years, I never voted to cut benefits, and I never will.
I’d be honored to have your support and return to the Senate to help calm the waters as senator, I’ll have just one job stand up for the people of New Hampshire every single day, the New Hampshire way needs to be the American way. Thanks for considering me. I’ll see you around.
The New Hampshire way is simple.
Freedom, hard work, and independence; those aren’t just Granite State values, they’re American values. That’s what I’ll fight for every day. pic.twitter.com/Ril2I7bm9r
— John E. Sununu (@SununuSenator) October 22, 2025
“Washington, as anyone who observes can see, is a little dysfunctional right now,” Sununu told WMUR. “There’s yelling, there’s inactivity. We’ve got a government shutdown. Friends, family, they always say, ‘Why would anyone want to work there?’ And the short answer is it’s important to New Hampshire. It’s important that we have someone who knows how to get things done.”
Sununu faces former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who tried to unseat Sheehan in 2014.
Politico reported that a University of New Hampshire poll has Sununu leading Brown by 42% to 19%.
“Anyone who thinks that a never Trump, corporate lobbyist who hasn’t won an election in a quarter century will resonate with today’s GOP primary voters is living in a different universe,” Brown said in response, according to WMUR. “While John was supporting John Kasich in 2016, I was campaigning with Donald Trump. While John was fighting for special interests, I was serving in the first Trump administration. While John was wooing the DC establishment this summer, I have been working with grassroots activists across the Granite State. Senate seats are earned, not handed down. I stopped one political dynasty before, and intend to do the same in 2026.”
Rep. Chris Pappas is the leading Democrat in his primary.
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Comments
Just what we need , another rino
Another rino battling another rino.
“Anyone who thinks that a never Trump, corporate lobbyist who hasn’t won an election in a quarter century will resonate with today’s GOP primary voters is living in a different universe,” Brown said in response”
Scott Brown? The guy who actually captured a Massachusetts US Senate seat from a Democrat, then immediately rolled over and voted for everything the Democrats wanted?
Yes he did
These career pols just don’t go away.
It looks like another Collins or Murkowski.
Sorry, Sununu. You turned mojo into voodoo which just won’t do.
Nu nu to Sununu.
Isn’t this the RINO idiot that went all-in on Nikki Haley and was out there gushing they were totally gonna win?
I expect he’ll win the primary fairly easily over Scott Brown.
Has a pretty good shot at winning the general election also.
This puts that seat in play. Definitely.
And, yeah, bit of a RINO but NH is really a light Blue State of late when it comes to national politics. Had been a swing State for awhile, but the last several cycles it has gone D pretty badly. Currently has 2 D Senators and 2 D Congresscritters. Hasn’t been won by R’s in a POTUS election since 2000 (though Trump came close in ’16).
For State level politics, just the opposite. R Supermajority in the Senate and firm control in the Assembly, R Gov and R Sec State.
Hoping to get a solid Conservative R Senator out of NH is a pipe dream, so a RINO is the best we can hope for.
And, yes, a RINO is far better than a D. Majority controls the agenda, majority controls the Chair for every committee and subcommittee. So, before a vote is even cast, just having the majority is HUGE. As the current shutdown shows, getting to 60 in the Senate is the key to enacting into federal law the Republican agenda. Without it, the best we can get is temporary, 10 year, bills passed by reconciliation – but reconciliation rules exclude policy changes being included.
The Big Beautiful Bill, for instance, was a budget reconciliation bill. Several things that R’s wanted to do, and had the votes for, were excluded by the Senate Parliamentarian.
Uphill battle to defeat an incumbent, as always, and made worse by the fact that the Sununu family has been openly anti-Trump. So, he’s not going to get a boost from the President stumping for him. Probably won’t even get an endorsement.
“Hoping to get a solid Conservative R Senator out of NH is a pipe dream, so a RINO is the best we can hope for.”
Your arguments are reasonable and for someone from out of state they are helpful. Thanks.
You outline a large problem in the New England states. Everything north of Rt 2 from Burlington, VT east is fairly conservative or at least center/center right. The southern parts especially in NH and ME have been overrun by people from Mass moving in to escape the taxes and policies they instilled but still commuting to Boston Metro for work. This has flipped the states as they continue to vote for exactly the same policies and politicians that ruined MA.
the political dynamic of our time.
Nonetheless Mr Sununu, Live Free or Die.