The U.S. Senate remains split 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaking vote.
Now, the Republicans are preparing for next year’s Senate elections, and they’re looking for vulnerable Democrats to unseat. Many Republican leaders had openly hoped for a Senate run from Gov. Chris Sununu, R-N.H. Sununu is very popular with independent voters in the swing state.
However, Sununu said Tuesday that he will seek another term as governor. He declined to run for Senate.
“My responsibility is not to the gridlock and politics of Washington — it’s to the citizens of New Hampshire. And I’d rather push myself 120 miles an hour delivering wins for New Hampshire than to slow down and end up on Capitol Hill debating partisan politics without results,” he said at a news conference.
Sen. Ted Crus, R-T.X., had previouslyt met with the Republican Jewish Coalition and said, “Every person here needs to come up to Chris and say, ‘Governor is great, but you need to run for Senate.’ Because this man could singlehandedly retire Chuck Schumer as majority leader in the Senate.”
New Hampshire has broken for the Democrats in every presidential election since 2004, and it sent an all-Democrat delegation to Congress during the last election cycle.
However, the state also boasts a Republican House and a Republican Senate. Last year the state elected Sununu to a third term as a Republican governor.
And it wasn’t even close. Sununu won by a stagger 30 points. Still, Sununu remains averse to Washington despite all his statewide popularity. He took several digs at D.C. disfunction during Tuesday’s news conference.
In a nod to the slow speed of politics in Washington, he said he didn’t want to spend the next six years “sitting around having meeting after meeting, waiting for votes to maybe happen.”
“When you look at what their job is and what a governor’s job is … and the opportunity I get to create here for our citizens, it’s not even close,” he said.
“I like moving. I like getting stuff done. I don’t know if they could handle me down there … I think I’d be like a lion in a cage, waiting to get something done and effect real change.”
At least two other Republicans have already entered the race to challenge Hassan: retired Army Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc, who unsuccessfully sought the nomination to challenge New Hampshire’s other U.S. senator, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, in 2020, and Tejasinha Sivalingam, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the state Legislature in 2018.
“Maggie Hassan is the least popular and most vulnerable incumbent in the U.S. Senate, and for good reason,” said Chris Hartline of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is dedicated to electing Republicans to the Senate. “We have lots of great candidates in New Hampshire and we look forward to one of them beating Hassan next November.”
In 2016, the Republican candidate lost to Hassan by a thousand votes, 0.1 percent of the total.
The Associated Press and The Horn editorial team contributed to this article.