Former Republican governor of key swing state mulls bid to flip Senate seat

EXCLUSIVE: NEWFIELDS, N.H. — Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu says he's holding a dialogue with national Republican leaders about potentially running next year in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

Sununu, who enjoys a large national profile thanks to his regular appearances the past few years on the cable news networks and Sunday talk shows, said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital that he aims to make a decision regarding a 2026 campaign in the "next few weeks."

The former governor, who for a couple of years was a vocal Republican critic of President Donald Trump, said, "I have no doubt I'd have the president's support," if he decides to make a bid for the Senate.

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And Sununu, who was elected and re-elected to four straight two-year terms as governor of the key New England swing state, touted that "I have no doubt I can win."

The 78-year-old Shaheen, the first woman in the nation's history to win election as governor and as a U.S. senator, announced this week that she would retire at the end of next year rather than seek a fourth six-year term in the Senate.

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Even before Shaheen's announcement, her seat in swing state New Hampshire was considered one of the GOP's top pickup opportunities in the 2026 midterms – along with Michigan, where Sen. Gary Peters is also retiring, and Georgia, where Republicans consider first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff vulnerable – as Republicans hope to expand their current 53-47 majority.

Sununu's comments in recent interviews are a switch from last year, when he repeatedly said he wouldn't seek to run for the Senate in 2026.

In a November interview with Fox News Digital, the then-governor reiterated what he had first said in a July interview.

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"Definitely ruling out running for the Senate in 2026. Yeah, definitely not on my dance card," Sununu said in an interview along the sidelines of the Republican Governors Association winter meeting in Florida.

The 50-year-old Sununu, who when he was first elected in 2016 was the nation's youngest governor, was asked again about a 2026 Senate run in a Fox News Digital interview in early January, in his last full day in office.

"I'm not planning on running for anything right now. I'm really not, at least for the next two, four, six years," he said. "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."

But Sununu, in his interview on Tuesday, shared that "some folks in New Hampshire, some folks in Washington, have asked me to really take a few weeks and think about it at this point."

"The door’s open," he said, before adding, "It's not open a lot, to be honest. 

Among those he's talking with is Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who's the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is the Senate GOP's campaign arm.

"Tim is a great friend. We've talked a lot, not just about me running, but other opportunities."

And he described his talks as "an ongoing discussion."

Sources tell Fox News that Sununu's headed to the nation's capital in the coming days for a dinner with Scott and other Senate Republicans.

Sununu four years ago expressed interest in running for the Senate against his predecessor as governor, Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan, who was up for re-election in 2022. And the popular governor was heavily courted by national Republicans to take on Hassan.

But on Nov. 9, 2021, Sununu announced that he would instead run for a fourth term as governor, upsetting many Republicans in the nation's capital.

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And he heavily criticized the Senate.

"When you look at what their (senators') job is and what a governor’s job is … it’s not even close. I can't tell you how many senators told me, ‘You're just going to have to wait around a couple of years to get anything done.’ Can you imagine me sitting around a couple of years?" Sununu said at the time. "They debate and talk and nothing gets done. … That’s not the world I live in."

Asked if he has changed his mind, Sununu on Tuesday responded, "Not really, no….I think Washington has been really stagnated. Hasn't done a whole lot, doesn't deliver."

But with Trump back in the White House, Sununu pointed to a "fundamental change in the past two months," and that now Congress is "talking about things that I care very passionately about."

Those things include a balanced budget and government efficiency.

"Whether you like them or not, you got to give credit to Trump, to DOGE, to folks driving this conversation, this narrative. We have $36 trillion in debt. It's a very real number. You owe it. I owe it. Your viewers owe that money, not the government. We're going to have a car crash in the next couple of years with Social Security going bankrupt, Medicare going bankrupt, more debt on the books. So, there has to be a plan and a strategy out of this, and the administration is really leading that effort," Sununu argued.

He said "that gives me hope that…maybe there is an opportunity to have a leadership role in something that is very critical and vital to the country, something I believe very passionately in, and something we've been very successful with here in New Hampshire."

Following Trump's first term in the White House and in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters aiming to upend congressional certification of former President Biden's 2020 election victory, Sununu became a leading vocal GOP of the then-former president.

Sununu was a top surrogate and supporter of former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Trump's final challenger in the 2024 GOP presidential primaries. 

But he did back the Republican nominee in the general election.

Asked about where he stands with Trump, Sununu said he has "a very good relationship at this point."

Sununu isn't the only Republican mulling a Senate bid in New Hampshire.

Former Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who later narrowly lost to Shaheen in New Hampshire in the 2014 election, is seriously considering a 2026 run.

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Brown, who served four years as U.S. ambassador to New Zealand during President Donald Trump’s first administration, has been holding meetings with Republicans across New Hampshire for a couple of months and has met multiple times with GOP officials in the nation’s capital.

Brown recently met with top Trump administration political officials at the White House, sources tell Fox News Digital.

Brown, who told Fox News Digital late last year that he was seriously considering a Senate run, took aim at Granite State Democrats, arguing that "they're just completely out of touch with what we want here in New Hampshire. And the more I think about it, I think we can do better."

Sununu sees an opportunity - with Shaheen not seeking re-election - for the Republicans to flip the seat.

"It's an open seat. It's up for play. Republicans have been successful in some statewide races here recently," he said.

And Sununu added that "there is an opportunity" for himself, for Scott Brown, or for another Republican candidate, to "win the seat."

And Sununu said that whether it's for himself, Brown, or another candidate, he's been "trying to talk to the folks in Washington, help them understand what New Hampshire is about, how to win here, how to be successful, how to find and kind of cultivate the right candidates."