Chris Sununu will not seek re-election in 2024 and will leave the governorship after seven years

Chris Sununu will not seek re-election in New Hampshire. After being elected in 2016 and successfully facing the ballot box three times, the governor will leave office in early 2025. He confirmed the news via email, stating that the time is right for “another Republican to lead the state.”

The youngest of the Sununu political dynasty flirted with a presidential bid for more than a year. As a popular Republican governor in a state that nationally has a Democratic lean, he came very close to entering the Republican primary.

For example, he went so far as to launch his own fundraising committee dubbed Live Free or Die. It is a 501(c)(4) organization, which politicians often use to raise unrestricted funds and gauge donor interest in their candidacy.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) had tried to convince him to run for the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections, which he ruled out in order to run again for governor. While he won by a 15-point margin, the Republican senatorial candidate, Don Bolduc, was defeated by a wide margin.

Almost two months after dropping out of the race for the White House, he sent this email confirming his departure from politics.

“After discussions with Valerie and the kids and much consideration, I have decided not to run for another term as governor in 2024. Public service should never be a career, and the time is right for another Republican to lead our great state,” he wrote.

The still governor also tweeted his administration’s accomplishments, highlighting a tax cut, school choice expansion, low unemployment and a defense of the Second Amendment.

The Sununu family has been in New Hampshire politics for decades, always with a national impact. John Henry Sununu (Chris’ father) served as governor and chief of staff to George H.W. Bush, while John Edward Sununu (Chris’ brother) served as a congressman and senator.

Who will be Sununu’s successor?

Republicans hope that New Hampshire will not become a new Massachusetts, where the departure of a moderate and popular governor, Charlie Baker, led to a sweeping Democratic Party victory in 2022. With that in mind, State Senator Chuck Morse quickly threw his name into the upcoming election.

Although Morse lost the 2022 Senate primary precisely against Bolduc, he announced on Twitter that he will compete in the 2024 election. “Now that he’s decided not to run for re-election, I’m announcing that I am running for governor to build on those successes. Year in and year out New Hampshire ranks among the best states to live in. It’s not an accident, and it’s not luck either. It’s because we elect conservatives who get results,” wrote the Republican.

Another potential candidate is former Senator Kelly Ayotte, who served in the Upper House from 2011 to 2017 and as state attorney general from 2004 to 2009. “I expect to announce big news in the coming days,” she indicated after Sununu’s announcement.