New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu Declines to Enter 2024 Presidential Race, Citing Crowded Field and High Stakes

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu announced on Monday that he will not be seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Sununu made the announcement in an exclusive interview with CNN and an op-ed in the Washington Post.

In the op-ed, Sununu wrote that the “stakes are too high for a crowded field to hand the nomination to a candidate who earns just 35 percent of the vote,” a reference to former President Donald Trump’s margin in the 2016 New Hampshire primary. Sununu told CNN’s Dana Bash that Trump’s strong standing in the polls and the already-crowded nature of the field of contenders seeking to take on Trump convinced him that he could be more effective as someone on the sidelines with a “little more unleashed voice.”

Sununu’s decision comes as a surprise following months of interviews in the national press teasing a potential run. Sununu has been a vocal critic of Trump and the Republican Party, and his decision to not run for president could be seen as a sign that he is attempting to influence the future of the Republican Party from the sidelines.

Sununu has been the Governor of New Hampshire since 2017 and is the son of former New Hampshire Governor and White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu. He has been a popular governor in the state, and his decision not to run for president could be seen as a sign that he is attempting to remain in the state and continue his work as governor.

The field of Republican presidential hopefuls is already crowded, and Sununu’s decision not to run could be seen as a sign that the race is already heating up. With Sununu out of the running, the focus now shifts to the other contenders and who will be the eventual nominee.