New Hampshire Gov. Sununu will not run for reelection in 2024.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu will not run for reelection in 2024, he announced Wednesday.
“After discussions with Valerie and the kids and much consideration, I have decided not to run for another term as Governor in 2024,” Sununu wrote in an email to supporters.
“Public service should never be a career, and the time is right for another Republican to lead out great state,” he said.
The moderate governor and outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump had previously said he was “not leaning” toward running for a fifth term.
“Could I win again? Of course. But it’s [public] service, and someone else needs to kind of take the mantle,” Sununu said during an interview on “The Greg Hill Show” on WEEI last month.
Sununu had previously toyed with launching a presidential bid in 2024, but ultimately opted out, warning that a crowded field could lead to Trump’s renomination, an outcome he has said would all but ensure President Joe Biden's reelection in 2024.
Democrats who’ve been unable to knock out Sununu are now more bullish on their chances of taking back the corner office in Concord.
"No matter which MAGA candidate becomes the nominee, the DGA is eager to hold them accountable to flip this seat and elect a new Democratic governor who will at long last fix the biggest issues impacting working families," Meghan Meehan-Draper, director of the Democratic Governors Association, said in a statement shortly after the announcement.
The Democratic primary underway between Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington and outgoing Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig is already dividing the party establishment there.
On the Republican side, former GOP state Senate President Chuck Morse, who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate last year, immediately jumped into the race, and former GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte is poised to do the same.
Ayotte said, "I look forward to announcing some big news in the coming days.”