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This week, Granite Staters continued to speak out about the risk Mitch McConnell and Chris Sununu’s anti-choice, anti-middle class agenda poses to New Hampshire — even as McConnell’s allies continued to woo Sununu into the race for U.S. Senate. Granite Staters Slam McConnell-Sununu Agenda Across New Hampshire. This week, the NHDP launched MitchWantsSununu.com, a new website that will serve as a hub for Granite Staters to track in real time the aggressive, secretive, behind-the-scenes effort by Mitch McConnell to entice Chris Sununu to run for the U.S. Senate. New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair, Ray Buckley, joined NH Today with Chris Ryan to discuss the effort, saying “when it comes down to the bottom line, [Sununu] is going to owe Mitch McConnell if he is ever to go to the US Senate — and Mitch McConnell will control that vote.” And the McConnell-Sununu Exposed tour stopped on the Seacoast, where leaders and activists in Dover, including Sen. David Watters, Stafford County Democrats Chair Walter King, and local activist Luz Bay, slammed Sununu for his support of McConnell’s anti-choice and anti-middle class agenda. Read more from Seacoast Current and WMUR.
“In June, Sununu pushed through a budget that would ban abortion without exceptions for rape, incest, or fatal fetal anomaly and will threaten basic health care — including cancer screenings and STD testing — for Granite Staters,” [local activist Luz Bay said]. “As a three-time breast cancer survivor, this one is particularly personal to me.” [Seacoast Current, 7/22/21]
McConnell and Republican Allies Continue to Aggressively Court Sununu for Senate Run. What has been true for a long time has become even more clear this week: McConnell is aggressively trying to entice Sununu to run so he can have another rubber stamp in the Senate, and Sununu is willing to sell out Granite Staters in order to help McConnell’s extreme agenda.
As the Concord Monitor wrote this week, “[Sununu] has been heavily courted by national Republicans – all the way up to longtime Senate GOP Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.” The Hill echoed that reporting, saying this week that “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has talked him [Sununu] up.” After telling Republican activists at a CPAC event in Dallas to call Sununu and tell him to run for Senate, McConnell’s top ally and campaign chief, Florida Senator Rick Scott, appeared on the podcast ‘Ruthless’ and fawned over Sununu, repeatedly telling host Jeff Holmes that Chris Sununu is a “good guy” and a “really good guy,” — while saying nothing about Granite Staters’ priorities. And on Wednesday, former Marco Rubio Communications Director Alex Conant said that Rick Scott is “trying very hard to make sure Sununu runs for senate.”
Awkward Alert: Sununu Once Again Caught Trying to Hide His Association with McConnell. Chris Sununu and his team keep getting caught trying to hide their association with Mitch McConnell. A few months ago, radio host Chris Ryan asked Sununu whether he had spoken to Mitch McConnell about a possible Senate run. Sununu initially denied — and then quickly admitted he had. This week, it happened again. Hours after the NHDP exposed Chris Sununu’s plan to attend a campaign event in Manchester next month with Mitch McConnell’s top ally and campaign chief, Senator Rick Scott, Sununu’s team scrambled to hide his association with McConnell by claiming that Sununu is not yet confirmed to attend the event with Scott. Talk about awkward.
Sununu Opposed the Child Tax Cut and the American Rescue Plan--and Now He’s Taking Credit For It. A new report from HuffPo shows how even though Chris Sununu said he would have been a “no” vote against the American Rescue Plan, he is now taking credit for funds from the plan being used to fund child care services in New Hampshire. Read more from HuffPo.
“In February, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said he would have voted against the rescue package if he had been in the Senate. [...] “Yes. I’d be a ‘no’ vote, because you have to make it better,” he said during a press conference. “You can’t just accept a bill and say, ‘Well, something’s better than nothing.’” But last month, Sununu called it a “win” when his administration announced that it was using some of the money from the ARP to fund child care services in New Hampshire.” [HuffPo, 7/20/21]
Read what Granite Staters are saying about Chris Sununu:
Portsmouth Herald: Cynthia Muse: Sununu is Neither Bipartisan or Moderate
“We need leaders with moral character and strong personal convictions who can withstand political pressure to conform to party politics. Governor Sununu is not one of them.”
Seacoast Online: Rep. Peter Somssich: Governor Sununu’s Budget: Cruel and Dangerous
“Because many of the social issue items included in the budget could not have passed on their own merits, a group of extreme Republicans insisted on including them in the budget. And, Governor Sununu agreed.”
NH Gazette: Rick Littlefield: Tossing N.H. Under the Bus?
“Some still question if Chris will run for Senate, but his willingness to sign New Hampshire’s Free-State inspired budget and its draconian trailer suggests he will. After all, who in their right mind would approve such a travesty and then hang around to preside over the consequences?”