Republican Chris Sununu has landed a fourth term as New Hampshire’s governor, defeating Democrat challenger Tom Sherman, though not in a landslide victory as had been projected.
According to Decision Desk HQ, Sununu has secured 52.7 percent of the vote to Sherman’s 46 percent, with 24 percent of the votes counted as at 10.43 p.m. ET.
In the days before the elections, Sununu talked about leading residents of the “Live Free or Die” state through what both Republicans and Democrats are predicting will be one of the most economically challenging winters that cold weather states like New Hampshire will have to face.
Routinely called a RINO (a Republican in name only) by fellow state GOPers, Sununu, the married father of three, is pro-choice.
Sherman’s campaign platforms included protecting the rights to an abortion, lowering housing costs, and expanding renewable energy programs like solar and wind.
A gastroenterologist from the affluent seaside town of Rye, Sherman was staunchly pro-mandate when it came to COVID-19, an issue for which Sununu drew his own share of criticism when he didn’t support a Republican-led bill that would have outlawed mask mandates in the schools.
Sununu also vetoed a party bill to make human-grade Ivermectin available in New Hampshire without a prescription. Many also thought he ordered the arrest of eight New Hampshire residents who had previously protested his push to take federal COVID-19 monies intended to promote the vaccine.
Just prior to the election, a University of New Hampshire poll put Sherman at 37 percentage points behind Sununu. A former state Senator who served on the state’s executive council to the governor from 2011 to 2017, Sununu is the son of former NH Gov. John Sununu, who served as chief of staff to Ronald Reagan. His younger brother John is a former U.S. Congressman. The Sununus are co-owners of the Waterville Valley Ski Resort in the White Mountains area of New Hampshire.
Before declaring his bid for a fourth term, Sununu announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate to take on Democrat incumbent Maggie Hassan. He later dropped out of the race with relatively little explanation, setting off speculation that he knew he couldn’t beat Hassan.
For now, he will remain as New Hampshire governor, something that even Republicans who said they wished for a better option, can live with.
State Rep. Melissa Blasek, who was the target of an extremely pro-Sununu Granite PAC during her campaign to keep her seat, said she'd rather have a Republican governor who will sign some of the party’s legislation than someone like Sherman who would likely sign none of them.
“It’s a matter of the lesser of two evils,” said Blasek.
