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Former U.S. Senator John Sununu is making another run for Congress after being out of Washington politics for more than a decade. “Maybe you’re surprised to hear that I’m running for the Senate again," Sununu said in a video shared on X on Wednesday. "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.” Sununu, 61, served as a U.S. senator from New Hampshire from 2003 to 2009. He lost his reelection (D-NH). At 78 years-old, Shaheen announced in March that she will not be seeking reelection. In September, Sununu began exploring launching a comeback campaign for U.S. Senate following conversations between Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and former U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, who at the time was the chair of GOP aligned PAC Senate Leadership Fund. His brother, Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, rejected Republican operatives' efforts to get him to run for the open senate seat. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump expressed his hopes for Chris Sununu to run for the open senate seat in 2026. However, it's uncertain where with John Sununu, who has a long history of opposing the president. During the 2016 election, John served as a national co-chair of former Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s 2016 presidential campaign. He endorsed former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley for president in 2024, and he even wrote an op-ed calling Trump a "loser" which was published right before New Hampshire's presidential primary last year. Nonetheless, John is expected to soon be meeting with Trump in an effort to secure an endorsement, Politico reported. But, John faces competition for Trump's endorsement from Scott Brown, who previously served as a U.S. Senator representing Massachusetts. Brown served as Trump's ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during the president's first term. Like John Sununu, Brown is seeking to make a comeback to Washington, and he's aligning himself to be completely in-step with Trump. 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,” Brown said of John Sununu in a statement. But polling from late September shows John Sununu leading Brown 42% to 19%. Meanwhile, Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) is the current Democratic frontrunner seeking to succeed Shaheen.
