Governor Sununu to run….for Governor

On Wednesday Governor Sununu (R-Newfields) finally dropped the major political bombshell that many have been waiting for. He will NOT run for US Senate against Senator Maggie Hassan and will in fact run again for a fourth term as Governor. Only one other Governor in NH history has been reelected four times, that was Governor John Lynch (D-Hopkinton) from 2005-2013. The governor cited his commitment to his family here in NH amongst other reasons as well as why he will not seek the Senate seat.

Per WMUR, two people who were thought to potentially be candidates for the seat, former Senator Kelly Ayotte & former MA Senator and US Ambassador Scott  Brown indicated they are not interested in this race. While many names are rumored to be potential candidates in this race so far retired General Don Bolduc who ran for Senate against Senator Jeanne Shaheen in 2020 but was unsuccessful in the Republican primary along with Tejasinha Sivalingam, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the state Legislature in 2018 have filed to take on Senator Hassan.

New Maps for NH:

Every 10 years NH redraws its political map, the party in the majority at the time is in control of this very important process known as redistricting. This is a true reflection of every election having real consequences!

Last week the House of Representatives released its proposed version for what our congressional maps could look like. As expected the map has proposed many changes to CD1 currently held by Representative Chris Pappas (D-Manchester) and CD2 held by Representative Ann McKlane Kuster (D-Hopkinton). The proposal shifts around over 75 towns and over 365,000 people. The major result of the map is to make CD1, one that traditionally has been a swing district safely Republican while making CD2 which has been a safe Democratic district even safer. While this proposal is not final Democrats in the minority, and other critics, are being very vocal about its believed unfairness. Governor Sununu has said all along when it came to redistricting he would not pass anything that would not “pass the smell test.” As far as this specific proposal goes he has said that there is still “a way to go and he is awaiting the revisions”. The Senate has a committee redrawing the district lines for the State Senate and Executive Council. Early next year, the Legislature will all vote on all of the redistricting bills and if/when approved, pass them on to Gov. Chris Sununu for his up or down vote.

Congressional Races:

The maps aren’t even finalized yet and there has already been much discussion on who is/isn’t running. It is clear the race against Rep. Pappas is the most crowded, while not many have publicly challenged Rep. Kuster.

In the race against Rep. Pappas there are at least: NH State Rep. Tim Baxter (R-Seabrook), former congressional Candidate Matt Mowers, former white house staffer Karoline Leavitt who has NH auto industry experience, Gail Huff Brown, known for her career as a broadcast journalist and as the wife of former Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, as well as Julian Acciard of Derry and Gilead Towne of Salem all challenging him. Primary season in the CD1 race is already guaranteed to be exciting.   

NHADA will keep you posted as all of this exciting political news unfolds. For questions contact me at dbennett@nhada.com.