New Hampshire's Sununu decides against running for Republican presidential nomination

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Gov. Sununu: Will decide on 2024 run ‘pretty soon’

N.H. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu criticizes former President Donald Trump on ‘America’s Newsroom’ and stresses his state’s importance in campaigns.  

GOP Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire is passing on a run for the White House.

"I've taken the last six months to look at things, where everything is, and I've made the decision not to run for president on the Republican ticket in 2024," Sununu said Monday in an interview on CNN and in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.

Sununu, who is in his fourth two-year term steering the key general election battleground state that also holds the second contest in the GOP presidential nominating calendar, had been seriously mulling a White House bid for over a year.

"Obviously a lot goes into that decision but it’s been quite an adventure, but not the end of the adventure by any means," Sununu told CNN.

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Republican Gov. Chris Sununu speaks with Fox News at the New Hampshire Statehouse, on May 17, 2023 in Concord, N.H.  (Fox News )

Sununu didn't say if he'd seek re-election next year for what would be an unprecedented fifth term as New Hampshire governor.

"You obviously have a very large field. I think the former President Donald Trump is doing much better in the polls than folks thought," Sununu said. 

Trump, who launched his third straight White House run in November, is currently the commanding front-runner in the latest GOP presidential nomination polls, both nationally and in the key presidential nominating states.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on April 27, 2023, in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Sununu explained that he believes he can have a bigger impact by not running for president when it comes to "how we can make the Republican Party bigger."

"I want more independents on the Republican Party team. I want more young voters on the Republican Party team. I am tired of losing U.S. Senate races," Sununu emphasized. "I think more folks within the Republican Party have to have that kind of voice, that kind of emphasis of message, in making sure that this is about the Republican Party, not just about the former president."

Besides Trump, the Republican presidential nomination field includes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who launched two weeks ago, former Vice President Mike Pence, who filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Monday, former South Carolina governor and former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former two-term Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, multimillionaire entrepreneur and conservative commentator Vivek Ramaswamy, and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who ran for the 2016 presidential nomination, is expected to launch a campaign at a town hall in New Hampshire on Tuesday, and two-term North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is expected to declare his candidacy at an event in Fargo, N.D. on Wednesday. 

Additionally, former Reps. Will Hurd of Texas and Mike Rogers of Michigan, and Mayor Francis Suarez of Miami, Florida are also seriously mulling 2024 bids.

The conventional wisdom is that the expanding field only helps Trump as he seeks a third straight GOP presidential nomination.

Sununu, reiterating what he told Fox News Digital in a recent interview, said on Monday that "given where the polls are right now, every candidate needs to understand the responsibility of getting out, and getting out quickly if it's not working. And I can be more candid about that as the governor of the first-in-the-nation primary calling candidates out, saying ‘look you gave it a try. You’re still in low single digits. You gotta get out of the race."

Sununu for over two years has been a vocal GOP critic of Trump. That criticism increased over the past eight months, as he expanded his national imprint with numerous television appearances and plenty of out-of-state travel.

Sununu has called the former president's White House run "the orange-haired elephant in the room."  He has argued that when it comes to the 2024 general election, "there’s no avenue for him [Trump] to win."

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks during his "Our Great American Comeback" Tour stop on June 1, 2023 in Laconia, New Hampshire. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images) (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

Sununu has also been critical of DeSantis' emphasis on the culture wars issues.

While Sununu has said, "I hate this woke cancel culture stuff," the governor describes himself as a "free market-principled conservative" and says he disagrees with DeSantis' culture wars strategy of targeting corporations over woke policy.

"I think the best foundation of the Republican Party is limited government, local control. Appreciating that private businesses and the free market are what made this country great," Sununu told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.

Sununu argued that "[going] after someone because they politically disagree with you, that ain’t what were about. That’s not what Republicans are about. That’s not what America’s about." Referring to DeSantis, he said, "He’s got a lot of headlines off of it, and I understand that. We’ve got two very different styles," Sununu added

"[T]o win, Republicans need our message to appeal to new voters, and we can do this without sacrificing classic conservative principles of individual liberty, low taxes and local control," Sununu wrote in his Washington Post opinion piece on Monday. "But we must abandon the issues that are solely made for social media headlines, such as banning books or issuing curriculum fiats to local school districts hundreds of miles away from state capitals. Republicans should re-embrace local control and let parents within their own communities decide what’s right."

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While Sununu is very well known and popular in New Hampshire, his support for abortion rights may not have resonated with social conservative voters, a key constituency in the Republican Party's base.

And while Sununu's approval ratings in his home state are the envy of other politicians, he's not known for his fundraising prowess, which is essential in a presidential campaign.