By Jeff Zeleny, Alison Main, Ebony Davis and Steve Contorno | CNN
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu endorsed Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley at a town hall Tuesday night in Manchester, the latest step in his long-running effort to slow Donald Trump’s march to the 2024 GOP nomination.
“Let’s get this thing done. We’re all in on Nikki Haley, undoubtedly. You can feel the energy. You can feel it,” the fourth-term governor said.
Sununu, who once considered a presidential bid of his own, joined the former South Carolina governor on the first night of her three-day campaign swing in New Hampshire. He has appeared with nearly all of the Republican candidates in recent months, sizing up their chances, but decided in recent days to back Haley and aggressively campaign on her behalf until the New Hampshire primary on January 23.
“This is not a campaign,” Sununu said, imploring voters to move beyond Trump. “This is a movement.”
Haley and Sununu appeared together at center stage, standing against the backdrop of an American flag and basking in the enthusiastic applause from supporters. Haley thanked the governor for believing in her candidacy, saying: “It doesn’t get any better than this, to go and get endorsed by a live-free-or-die governor.”
“I don’t think New Hampshire can keep it to themselves,” Haley said, invoking the state’s famous motto. “I think we need to be a live-free-or-die country, right?”
Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are locked in a bitter battle to emerge as the leading Republican alternative to Trump. The rivals now have dueling endorsements from the respective governors of Iowa and New Hampshire, which kick off the Republican nominating contest in January.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds endorsed DeSantis in November and has campaigned extensively with him. She was reelected in 2022 and is among the most popular Republican officials in the state, but it remains an open question whether her support will move the needle for the Florida governor.
Long before their respective endorsements, Reynolds and Sununu were at odds with Trump. The former president is scheduled to campaign Wednesday in Iowa and on Saturday in New Hampshire, both states in which he is the dominating front-runner.
Sununu made clear in recent weeks that he had narrowed his choice for an anti-Trump challenger to between Haley, DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Haley had previously been vocal about wanting the support of the New Hampshire governor, saying that his endorsement would largely affect her campaign.
“It would be big. There’s no mistaking that Chris is a popular governor, not just in the state. He’s popular around the country,” Haley said during a November interview with radio host Jack Heath.
“The idea that if we could get his endorsement, it would mean a lot. But, you know, we’ll wait and see. He’s taking his time on this one and we’re going to hold out,” she added.
Sununu campaigned with Haley last month, accompanying her during town halls in Londonderry and Nashua. Haley didn’t shy away from asking for his support in her race for the White House.
“Are you ready to endorse me yet?” Haley asked Sununu.
“Getting closer every day,” Sununu replied with a smile.
Setback for DeSantis
The endorsement is the latest setback for DeSantis in New Hampshire, where his support has fallen from its spring highs, and it creates new headwinds for the Florida governor’s hopes of a turnaround there. He had aggressively courted Sununu’s support in hopes he could go 2-for-2 in earning the endorsement of early nominating state leaders.
“What happens in New Hampshire will be significantly impacted by the outcome in Iowa, where the true Trump alternative will emerge,” DeSantis campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo said in a statement. “And when Ron DeSantis comes out in that position he will be joined by over 60 New Hampshire state legislators who stand ready to take the fight to the establishment and their candidates of yesteryear to return power to grassroots conservatives.”
DeSantis and Sununu have not always seen eye to eye on leadership style and approach to governing. When Republican governors huddled in Central Florida to lick their wounds after the disappointing 2022 midterms, Sununu warned his party against what he called “big government Republicans” who force conservatism on businesses – a clear swipe at DeSantis on his home turf.
Sununu appeared equally bothered by the pugnacious streak among Republican leaders and embodied by DeSantis, telling the room, “You don’t inspire anyone by wagging your finger and telling them how wrong they are.”
In February, the two also sparred over DeSantis’ heavy-handed approach to punishing Disney for siding against his crackdown on LGBTQ topics in the classroom. Sununu said DeSantis’ actions defied free-market conservatism and set “the worst precedent in the world,” an opinion that DeSantis called “insane.”
But by the time DeSantis launched his White House bid, he had adopted a more conciliatory tone toward the popular Granite State governor, lauding Sununu’s leadership during his visits there and when speaking to local media. The two had campaigned together a handful of times in recent months and set out to demonstrate a genuine camaraderie.
Sununu, though, never bought into DeSantis’ pitch that the GOP race was a two-man battle between the Florida governor and Trump.
“I think the race is actually wide open,” Sununu said in late October with DeSantis standing nearby.
Christie courted Sununu
Though Christie has often questioned the power of endorsements throughout his presidential campaign, he had been courting Sununu, his friend of more than a decade and a Republican he believes aligns with him in his dedication to take on Trump.
The pair last appeared on the campaign trail together on November 20 at a town hall in Nashua, where Sununu noted Christie’s dedicated efforts to campaign in the Granite State and praised him for “pounding more pavement and wearing through more soles of shoes in the 603 than anybody else.”
Christie’s campaign on Tuesday downplayed Sununu’s latest move and vowed to push ahead in the Granite State.
“We have seen the reports of Governor Sununu’s decision to endorse Nikki Haley. This puts us down one vote in New Hampshire and when Governor Christie is back in Londonderry tomorrow, he’ll continue to tell the unvarnished truth about Donald Trump and earn that one missing vote and thousands more,” Christie campaign spokesperson Karl Rickett said in a statement.
Christie said later Tuesday on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Politically Georgia” podcast, “I consider Chris a friend. We agree on a lot of things. We just won’t agree on who to vote for in New Hampshire on January 23. And one less vote isn’t all that disconcerting.”
Reflecting last week on his endorsements of Mitt Romney in 2012 and Trump in 2016, Christie told CNN’s David Chalian that he was “dubious about what the real impact of an endorsement is.”
“So I would like to have it more because of my philosophical and personal agreements that I have with Gov. Sununu than for what I think it would practically bring to the race,” he said.
Christie has rejected pressure to exit the race and consolidate support behind Haley, telling CNN’s Omar Jimenez last week, “I’m not going anywhere.”
He has made clear there is no alliance forming between the pair.