Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, a Republican, mentioned on Wednesday that he wouldn’t run for re-election in 2024, opening up a seat in a battleground state that Democrats shall be wanting to take.
Mr. Sununu made the announcement in an electronic mail to supporters.
“This was no easy decision as I truly love serving as governor,” he wrote. “Public service should never be a career, and the time is right for another Republican to lead our great state.”
Almost instantly, Chuck Morse, a Republican who served as president of the New Hampshire Senate and misplaced a main for U.S. Senate final 12 months, introduced that he would run for the Republican nomination to fill the seat — praising Mr. Sununu’s financial insurance policies and saying he was operating “to build on those successes.” Another Republican, former Senator Kelly Ayotte, additionally hinted that she would possibly leap into the race.
Two Democrats — Cinde Warmington, a member of the New Hampshire Executive Council, and Joyce Craig, the mayor of Manchester — had already begun campaigns earlier than Mr. Sununu bowed out.
The emptiness shall be a giant alternative for the Democratic Party, which has gained the final 5 presidential elections in New Hampshire and holds each of the state’s Senate seats.
Like another Northeastern states, New Hampshire has usually voted for Republicans for state places of work regardless of leaning blue in nationwide elections. But Democrats flipped two such governorships final 12 months — in Maryland and Massachusetts — after standard, average Republicans in the identical mildew as Mr. Sununu retired.
“No matter which MAGA candidate becomes the nominee, the D.G.A. 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,” the Democratic Governors Association mentioned in a press release.
Mr. Sununu, 48, is serving his fourth two-year time period as governor, having been re-elected final 12 months by greater than 15 share factors. He lately determined towards two alternatives to run for increased workplace: He declined to run in final 12 months’s Senate race, and for president in 2024. His subsequent steps are unclear.
Source: www.nytimes.com