John Sununu launches comeback run in New Hampshire’s U.S. Senate race

Former Sen. John E. Sununu has come off the sidelines to enter the race for an open U.S. Senate seat in New Hampshire.

Mr. Sununu, a Republican, held the seat from 2003 to 2009 before losing to Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who is retiring. Now, he says he is making a comeback to restore some sanity to a dysfunctional Congress.

“Washington’s never been perfect. It’s not meant to be. But when I was there, people with different opinions could get together, work things out, and come to solutions that make a real difference,” Mr. Sununu said in the video announcing his candidacy.

“And now Congress just seems loud, dysfunctional, even angry,” he added. “But Granite Staters still talk. We don’t always agree, but we respect one another and work together for the common good. That’s the New Hampshire way.”

Mr. Sununu’s brother, former Gov. Chris Sununu, has signaled that he won’t run for the Senate seat, as did several other top GOP prospects.

Still, the GOP race pits Mr. Sununu’s run against another comeback contender, former Sen. Scott Brown, who previously represented Massachusetts.

Mr. Brown lost his seat to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, in the 2012 election.

Although Mr. Brown’s special election win in 2010 offered a rebuke for the Obama administration, his conservative stances failed to resonate with Massachusetts voters.

His run against Mr. Sununu in New Hampshire, however, will now serve as a gauge of GOP approval of President Trump.

Although Mr. Brown, who served as an ambassador in the first Trump administration, has yet to receive a Trump endorsement, he has been steadfast in his support of the president.

By contrast, Mr. Sununu, who backed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in last year’s GOP presidential primary, is seen as anti-Trump.

Mr. Brown already hammered Mr. Sununu over his past criticism of Mr. Trump, including a 2024 op-ed in which he called the president a “loser” ahead of the New Hampshire primary.

“@JohnSununu was the original ’Never Trumper,” Mr. Brown said last month in a social media post. “He’s going to have to explain that.”

Although Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris narrowly won New Hampshire by roughly 3 percentage points in 2024, the state is a 2026 Senate battleground.

Mr. Sununu faces other early challenges in the race, despite his family’s political dynasty making him a formidable challenger. (His father, John H. Sununu, also served as New Hampshire governor and chief of staff to former President George H. W. Bush.)

Mr. Brown’s early entry into the race allowed him to amass a war chest of around $1.2 million in his first full quarter.

Mr. Sununu, 61, is also likely to see his own past campaign return to haunt him. He won his 2002 race by framing himself as a younger and more dynamic alternative to Ms. Shaheen, now 78.

Although Mr. Brown’s age, 66, puts him in roughly the same range, the GOP victor is likely to face Rep. Chris Pappas, 45, in the general election.