New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said he’ll decide whether throw his name in the ring for the 2024 GOP nomination “in the next week or two.”
“I think very soon,” Sununu told CNN’s “State of the Union” program on May 28. “When I start doing something, I’m 120 percent in. So I think, you know, pretty soon we’ll make a decision. Probably in the next week or two, and we’ll either be go or no-go.”
His comments came after Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially joined the 2024 Republican presidential field last week. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and others have also entered the race.
While the GOP field has expanded quickly, Sununu said he believes there is still a pathway for him to win the 2024 GOP candidacy.
“The money’s been lined up, the support’s been lined up, there’s a pathway to win. All those boxes are checked. The family is on board, which is always a big one. I just gotta make sure it’s right to the party and right for me,” Sununu said.
But the New Hampshire governor is still wavering on seeking the top post.
“The one thing I’m looking at is where can I be most effective,” Sununu said.
Sununu passed on a Senate run last year, deciding to seek another two-year term as governor instead. In a nod to the slow speed of politics in Washington, he said at the time that he didn’t want to spend the next six years “sitting around having meeting after meeting, waiting for votes to maybe happen.”
“My responsibility is not to the gridlock and politics of Washington—it’s to the citizens of New Hampshire. 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,” Sununu said at a November 2021 press conference.
Last November, Sununu won reelection against Democratic challenger Tom Sherman by more than 15 percent, becoming only the second governor in New Hampshire history to serve a fourth term.
Sununu’s name has often been floated as a possible 2024 presidential candidate. The governor hinted in April that he would decide on a presidential run “by late June at the latest.” But earlier this month, Sununu said there is only a “61 percent” chance that he would make a bid for the White House.
On Sunday, the moderate Republican explained that he was thinking about what would be the best for his party.
“I want more candidates to be empowered. Can I do that more effectively as a candidate? Can I do that more effectively as someone who’s kind of traveling the country, maybe speaking a little more freely?” Sununu said.
“I just want what’s best for the party,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be the Chris Sununu show all the time.”
Currently, former President Donald Trump remains the front-runner. A RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls shows that as of May 28, Trump leads the GOP primary field with 53.2 percent of support, followed by DeSantis at 22.4 percent, Haley at 4.4 percent, Ramaswamy at 2.6 percent, and Scott at 1.6 percent.
Experts who spoke with The Epoch Times last week also predicted a crowded GOP field will likely benefit Trump.
Sununu, however, doubted Trump’s bid to retake the White House would succeed.
“He’s not going to be the nominee. That’s just not going to happen,” Sununu spoke of Trump’s reelection bid in a March interview.
He nonetheless assured he’d be supportive should Trump emerge from the primaries victorious.
“I’m a lifelong Republican. I’m going to support the Republican nominee,” he said on March 5. “When you look at what’s coming out of the White House, it isn’t Democrat policies; it’s real left-wing extreme agenda type stuff that is not in the best interest of this country. And I have no doubt that any solid Republican would be better than what comes out.”
The Associated Press and Autumn Spredemann contributed to this report.
