EXCLUSIVE - NEWFIELDS, N.H. - Gov. Chris Sununu for a couple of years has been one of former President Trump's most vocal GOP critics.
But New Hampshire's popular Republican governor says that his state "is very much in play for the former president," who next week officially becomes the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee.
It's been nearly a quarter-century since a Republican carried swing state New Hampshire in a presidential election. You have to go back to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in 2000.
But in the wake of two recent polls that indicated a margin-of-error race in New Hampshire and following President Biden's extremely rough debate performance two weeks ago, Republicans are increasingly hopeful they can bring an end to the losing streak.
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"It’s going to be a coin toss. It’s really at the end of the day going to be a 50-50 state," Sununu said in a national exclusive interview with Fox News Digital in his hometown in New Hampshire's Seacoast region.
Sununu predicted that Trump "is going to do very, very well in a swing state like New Hampshire."
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The governor, pointing to a rising chorus of calls by elected Democrats for Biden to end his presidential re-election campaign amid deep concerns over his physical and cognitive ability to steer the country for another four years, argued that "there’s going to be a voter turnout problem on the Democrat side."
He said that also working against the Democrats in New Hampshire are "the pains of inflation," which he said "are very, very, real for average families out there. They need to see a change."
Sununu is far from the only Republican in New Hampshire who's optimistic.
"I firmly believe that New Hampshire is very much in play," Steve Stepanek, the senior Trump adviser in the state, told Fox News days after the debate.
Democrats obviously disagree.
Former longtime Democratic state party chair and former Democratic National Committee member Kathy Sullivan spotlighted that "New Hampshire is not Trump-friendly territory" and that "there’s nothing changing the dynamic now in terms of Biden versus Trump in New Hampshire."
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Democrats also currently hold a very large organizational advantage over the GOP when it comes to ground-game operations in New Hampshire.
The Biden re-election team and the state Democratic coordinated campaign have 14 field offices across New Hampshire, with boots on the ground since January. Meanwhile, the Trump team and the GOP currently have one field office in addition to the campaign's state headquarters.
"New Hampshire Democrats will continue to use our robust, grassroots campaign infrastructure to reach Granite Staters in every corner of New Hampshire to ensure we come together and re-elect President Biden and Vice President Harris in November — the stakes could not be higher," longtime state Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley emphasized in a statement.
Sununu won’t be heading to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for next week’s Republican National Convention.
"I’ve got a job to do here," he emphasized.
But the governor, who in recent years has been a frequent guest on the national broadcast and cable news networks, said he would "doing a lot of media" remotely.
The big announcement coming out of the convention will be Trump’s naming of a running mate.
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"I don’t think it will make a huge difference in terms of whether Trump will be successful in terms of the campaign, but it will surely make a difference in terms of the former president’s ability to be productive once he gets back into office," Sununu said.
Sununu made a pitch for Trump to name a governor, noting that "obviously I’m pretty biased in that direction that you need a CEO, a partner, a manager that can help take care of a lot of the other things that the president – being a 24-7 type job – may not be able to handle."
Asked about North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who is considered to be on the short list for running mate, the governor had plenty of praise.
Sununu, who joined Burgum on the campaign trail in New Hampshire last year as Burgum unsuccessfully ran for the White House, said "Doug Burgum is incredible. He’s a great friend. He was a great governor. He’d be a great asset towards the Trump administration."
Sununu announced last summer that he wouldn't seek an unprecedented fifth two-year term steering New Hampshire.
Asked about his political future after he leaves office early next year, the governor said "never say never about politics, but nothing I’m thinking about right now. I’m excited to get back to the private sector and make some money and get back into business and maybe help businesses with the politics of how they handle certain things."
"Consulting, media work, whatever it might be. Everything’s on the table. I’m pretty excited to see what the next chapter holds," he added.
But asked about the 2026 Senate election in New Hampshire, Sununu emphasized "I would rule myself completely out of a U.S. Senate race, to be sure. Politically, we’ll see what happens down the road. But in terms of Senate or Congress, nothing I have anything I have any interest in whatsoever."
The governor last year seriously mulled making a run for this year’s GOP presidential nomination before deciding against launching a campaign.
He seemed to rule out a run in the near future but added "I’m 49. Who knows what happens 10-20 years down the road. I’m a big believer that I probably have three or four different lifetimes to live and who knows what those chapters will bring."
