WASHINGTON — New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu became the latest Republican politician to pass on joining a crowded GOP 2024 presidential field on Monday.
The race already includes former President Donald Trump; Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis; former governors Nikki Haley of South Carolina and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas; U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina; and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Sununu had hoped to campaign as a pro-business Republican who favors a hands-off approach to state and local government. He evaluated a chance to win the party’s nomination with the help of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents who have lost faith in Trump and are unenthusiastic about other options.
But he said in a CNN interview on Monday that he would not run. His announcement comes days before former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and ex-Vice President Mike Pence are expected to join the GOP field.
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Sununu is popular in his state, which has a vaunted role as an early state in the presidential nominating process. But he is relatively little known nationally. Polls had shown him struggling to make headway in the competition, and Sununu had said that low-performing candidates should drop out early in the process.
“There’s just a general appreciation that you don’t necessarily want a giant field for too long, because it keeps the party kind of committed to their candidates as opposed to coalescing around who is clearly going to be the eventual winner, “Sununu said in an interview with USA TODAY earlier this year.
He has said he wants the 2024 campaign to center on retail politicking, an approach that often pays off in early contests in states such as Iowa and New Hampshire.
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