A former supporter of Nikki Haley has announced he will back former President Donald Trump.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu endorsed the former United Nations ambassador in December and repeatedly criticized Trump. Following the results of 15 state primaries on March 5 and Haley’s decision to suspend her presidential campaign, Sununu has changed his stance.
"I'm going to support the ticket. I'm going to support Donald Trump," the Republican governor said on March 7, per WMUR. "But my focus is definitely going to be here in the state."
Haley was only able to win Vermont’s primary this week. She trailed Trump, who has secured over 1,000 delegates as of March 8. To win the Republican nomination, a candidate needs 1,215 delegates in total.
Sununu has repeatedly referred to Trump as “yesterday’s news” in the lead-up to 2024.
“This is New Hampshire and we go forward,” he added while speaking at a Haley rally at the end of 2023. “So, let’s not miss this opportunity.”
The governor told NewsNation in June that the now-presumptive Republican presidential nominee was “yesterday’s news” and that there was ”no way he can mathematically win.”
“I have no intention of endorsing Donald Trump. Yesterday’s news. Nothing personal,” said Sununu. “I think there are just too many other good opportunities to settle for yesterday’s news.”
Sununu told his supporters in July that he does not plan to seek reelection at the end of his current term. He was first elected in 2017 at the age of 42. At the time, he was the youngest governor in the nation.
“Public service should never be a career, and the time is right for another Republican to lead our great state,” he said during his announcement.
He also ruled out plans to seek the presidency himself in an onion piece for The Washington Post.
“The path to winning was clear, but I believe I can have more influence on the future of the Republican Party and the 2024 nominating process not as a candidate but as the governor of the first-in-the-nation primary state — a governor who is unafraid to speak candidly about issues, candidates and the direction of our party, untethered from the limitations of a presidential campaign and unleashed from conventional boundaries.”
In the same piece, Sununu said Trump had failed to “deliver on his promises to drain the swamp, secure the border and instill fiscal responsibility while in office — and added $8 trillion to our national debt.”
Sununu told Anderson Cooper in May after Trump’s town hall on CNN that while he had supported the former president in 2016, his opinion had changed.
“He is a loser… And as a four-time winning Republican, I’m tired of losing,” the New Hampshire governor said. “We should have won in 2020 but we got our clock cleaned because of his leadership and his message isn’t getting it done.”
“He is a three-time loser going on to be a four-time loser,” said Sununu.
