Not A Candidate, Still A Target: NH Democrats Launch Site Attacking John E. Sununu

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

In a sign of how his family name and financial support could change the U.S. Senate contest, former Sen. John E. Sununu is under attack from New Hampshire Democrats before even entering the race.

On Monday, the New Hampshire Democratic Party launched the “Stop Sununu” website, attacking Sununu for his work in corporate America since leaving the Senate in 2009. The website and video also mention his support for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bank bailout as a senator.

But Sununu isn’t a declared candidate for the Senate, though it’s widely believed he will enter the GOP primary sometime this fall. Former Ambassador and Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Scott Brown is already campaigning aggressively, while state Sen. Dan Innis dropped out last week and threw his support behind Sununu — assuming he runs.

The messaging in the ad is tough: “John Sununu has made millions selling out to corporations and working for Wall Street, Big Pharma and Big Oil — not the people of New Hampshire,” it claims. But some Republicans took it as good news.

Alicia Preston Xanthopoulos, a GOP strategist, said the fact that Democrats feel the need to start spending money now shows they are worried about a Sununu candidacy. “That’s a lot of effort for a non-candidate. As a Republican, I take comfort in that,” she told NHJournal.

Republican consultant Matthew Bartlett agreed.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before — you have people dropping out and endorsing John E. Sununu while the Democrats are launching a website about him. Oh, and he isn’t even a declared candidate yet. It just shows how momentous his potential candidacy is in New Hampshire,” Bartlett said.

While Sununu is likely to benefit from his family name and his previous experience as a senator, even his supporters concede his corporate work presents an easy target for Democrats. And Brown has been hitting Sununu on the same issue on the campaign trail.

“When I was representing our country overseas for the (Trump) administration, he was representing corporate and business and banking interests,” Brown said of Sununu on the Jack Heath radio show last week. “He’s going to have to unwind that and explain to people how someone who led the TARP bailout ended up working for banks — the very bank that was bailed out — and making millions of dollars.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee says the attack is a sign of Democratic desperation.

“Democrats are desperately trying to distract Granite Staters from Chris Pappas teaming up with Chuck Schumer to hold government funding hostage and give taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens,” said NRSC Regional Press Secretary Samantha Cantrell.

With the Senate primary still nearly a year away, on Sept. 8, 2026, Sununu will have plenty of time — and, it’s expected, money — to tell his side of the story to Granite State voters.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.