Exclusive: New Fields, New Hampshire — Former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu says he is in dialogue with national Republican leaders who may run next year to retire Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
Sununu, who enjoys a massive national profile thanks to his regular appearances on cable news networks and Sunday talk shows over the past few years, said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital that he aims to make decisions about his 2026 campaign in the “next weeks.”
For years as a critic of President Donald Trump’s Republican voice, the former governor said “there is no doubt the president’s support” if he decided to bid in the Senate.
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New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu was interviewed by Fox News Digital on January 8, 2025 at the State Capitol Building in Concord. (Fox News – Paulsteinhauser)
And Sununu, who was elected and re-elected for four consecutive two-year terms as governor of the major New England Swing state, touted, “I can definitely win.”
Shaheen, 78, is the first woman in national history to win an election as governor and US Senate, and has announced that she will retire at the end of next year, rather than seeking a fourth year term in the Senate this week.
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Even before Shaheen’s announcement, her swing state New Hampshire seating was considered one of the top picks opportunities for GOP in the mid-2026 period. Michigan, where Sen. Gary Peters is also retired, and Georgia, where Republicans consider first-term Sen. John Ossoff to be vulnerable, the Republic will now expand its 53-47 majority.
Longtime New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen has announced that he will not seek re-election in the middle of 2026. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Comments in Sununu’s recent interview were last year’s switch and repeatedly said he would not run for the Senate in 2026.
In a November interview with Fox News Digital, the then governor reiterated what he first said in a July interview.
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“I definitely rule out running for the Senate in 2026. Yeah, it definitely isn’t on my dance card,” Sununu said in an interview alongside the sidelines at the Republican Governors Association’s winter meeting in Florida.
Sununu, 50, who was the youngest governor in the country when he was first elected in 2016, was asked again in the Senate in the 2026 Senate in his last day in Fox News digital interview in early January.
Former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu was recognized by Republican Kelly Ayott during his inauguration in Concord on Thursday, January 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
“I’m not going to run for anything now. For at least the next two, four, six years, I’m not really that way,” he said. “Who knows what’s going to happen on the road? But it’s on the road, nothing, nothing planned.
However, Sununu said in an interview Tuesday that “some people in New Hampshire, Washington, really took a few weeks at this point and asked me to think about it.”
“The door is open,” he said, “it’s not too open, to be honest.
He’s talking about Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. He is the chairman of the National Republican Senate Committee, the campaign division of the Senate GOP.
“Tim is a great friend. We’ve talked a lot about other opportunities as well as other things.”
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, chair of the National Republican Senators Committee, was interviewed by Capitol Hill’s Fox News on February 19, 2025 (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
He then described his speech as “ongoing discussion.”
Sources told Fox News that Sununu headed to the country’s capital in the coming days for dinner with Scott and other Senate Republicans.
Four years ago, Sununu expressed his interest in running for the Senate against his predecessor as governor of Maggie Hadge, who was re-electioned in 2022.
However, on November 9, 2021, Sununu announced he would run for the fourth term as governor instead, upsetting many Republicans in the country’s capital.
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And he criticized the Senate very much.
“If you look at what their (senator’s) work is and what the governor’s work is, it’s not even close. I can’t say what the senators said to me. Can you imagine I’d been sitting around for a few years?” Sununu said at the time. “They argue, they talk, they don’t do anything… that’s not the world I live in.”
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu announced on Tuesday, November 9, 2021 that he will not seek a seat in the US Senate in Concord. (Fox News – Paulsteinhauser)
Asked if he had changed his mind, Sununu replied on Tuesday, “Really, no, no… I think Washington is really stagnant. He hasn’t done a lot and hasn’t reached it.”
But with Trump returning to the White House, Sununu pointed out “a fundamental change over the past two months,” and now Congress is “talking about something I care so passionately.”
These include a balanced budget and government efficiency.
“Whether you like them or not, you had to give credit to Trump, Doge, people driving this conversation. This story. We have a debt of $36 trillion. That’s a very realistic number. You owe it. Your viewers are borrowing that money, not the government. This, and the administration is really leading the effort,” Sununu argued.
He said, “It gives me the desire to do that… Maybe there’s an opportunity to have a leadership role in something very important and essential to the country, something I believe in very passionately, and something very successful here in New Hampshire.”
Following Trump’s first term in the White House, Sununu became the main voice GOP of then-President Former, on January 6, 2021, following an attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters aimed at overturning Congressional certification for former President Biden’s 2020 election victory, Sununu became the main voice of then-President Former.
Sununu was a former UN ambassador and ultimate agent for former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and Trump’s final challenger in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.
New Hampshire Republican Governor Chris Sununu supports former ambassador and former South Carolina Governor Nicky Haley at a campaign event held in Manchester NH on December 12, 2023.
However, he supported Republican candidates in the general election.
When asked about where he was standing with Trump, Sununu said he “has a very good relationship at this point.”
It’s not just Republicans pondering Senate bids in New Hampshire.
Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who narrowly lost to New Hampshire’s Shaheen in the 2014 election, is seriously considering his 2026 run.
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After four years as New Zealand’s US ambassador in President Donald Trump’s first administration, Brown has met Republicans in New Hampshire for several months and has met multiple times with GOP officials in the country’s capital.
Brown recently met with political officials from the White House’s top Trump administration, sources tell Fox News Digital.
Brown, who told Fox News Digital at the end of last year that he was seriously considering the Senate’s run, targeted the Granite National Democrats.
Former Senator Scott Brown was interviewed by Fox News Digital on December 24, 2024 in Rye, New Hampshire (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Sununu sees the opportunity for Republicans to flip their seats.
“It’s open seats, it’s for play. Republicans have been successful in statewide races here recently,” he said.
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Sununu added that for Scott Brown, or another Republican candidate, there is a “opportunity” to “get a seat.”
And Sununu said, whether it’s Brown or any other candidate, “we’re trying to talk to people in Washington and understand what New Hampshire is, how to win here, how to succeed, how to find the right candidate and how to grow it.”
Paul Steinhauser is a political reporter based in New Hampshire.
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