Former Republican Sen. John E. Sununu of New Hampshire is interviewed by Fox News Digital, on Sept.15, 2025 in Rye, N.H. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News Digital)
Shaheen announced earlier this year that she wouldn't seek re-election in next year's midterms and Republicans are working to flip the seat as they aim to not only defend but expand their Senate majority.
Now, after nearly two decades in the private sector, Sununu is ready to return to the Senate campaign trail in New England's only swing state.
"Maybe you’re surprised that I’m running for the Senate again," Sununu says to the camera in his video. "I’m a bit surprised myself. Why would anyone subject themselves to everything going on there right now. Well, somebody has to step up and lower the temperature. Somebody has to get things done."
THUNE SPEAKS WITH SUNUNU ABOUT SENATE BID TO FLIP BLUE SEAT RED
Sununu is a brand name in New Hampshire politics. The former senator's father, John H. Sununu, is a former governor who later served as chief of staff in then-President George H.W. Bush's White House. And one of his younger brothers is former Gov. Chris Sununu, who won election and re-election to four two-year terms steering the Granite State.
But Sununu won't have a glide path to the GOP nomination.
Former ambassador and former Sen. Scott Brown, who was elected and served three years in the Senate in neighboring Massachusetts, and who, as the 2014 GOP Senate nominee in New Hampshire, narrowly lost to Shaheen during her first re-election, jumped into the race in late June.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., seen speaking at a policy event in Concord, New Hampshire on Oct. 22, 2024, is not seeking re-election next year. (Steven Senne/AP Photo)
"Anyone who thinks that a never Trump, corporate lobbyist who hasn’t won an election in a quarter century will resonate with today’s GOP primary voters is living in a different universe. While John was supporting John Kasich in 2016, I was campaigning with Donald Trump," Brown charged in a statement to Fox News.
And pointing to Sununu's past decade and a half in the private sector, Brown argued that "while John was fighting for special interests, I was serving in the first Trump administration. While John was wooing the DC establishment this summer, I have been working with grassroots activists across the Granite State. Senate seats are earned, not handed down."
TRUMP NOT ON BALLOT BUT FRONT-AND-CENTER IN 2025 ELECTIONS
Trump, whose endorsement in Republican primaries is extremely influential, has remained neutral to date.
But the president may be willing to overlook Sununu's past jabs.
Earlier this year, when Chris Sununu flirted with a Senate bid after leaving office, Trump urged him to run.
The younger Sununu, who was Haley's top supporter and surrogate in New Hampshire, repeatedly criticized Trump during the 2024 Republican presidential primaries.
New Hampshire Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Chris Pappas is interviewed by Fox News Digital, on July 4, 2025, in Portsmouth, N.H. (Paul Steinhauser - Fox News)
Four-term Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, who launched his Senate campaign in early April, is the clear frontrunner for his party's nomination.
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While New Hampshire has for over a century held the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, its state primary, which will be held next September, is one of the last-in-the-nation.
While Republicans have had success in state elections — they control the governor's office and both chambers of the state legislature — the GOP hasn't won a Senate election in New Hampshire since 2010.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/former-gop-senator-emerges-from-private-sector-new-mission-somebody-has-to-step-up