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John E. Sununu

Republican candidate for United States Senator, New Hampshire · Open seat

Former U.S. Senator; private-sector businessman

John E. Sununu is a Republican from Hampton, New Hampshire. He represented the state in the U.S. House from 1997 to 2003 and in the U.S. Senate from 2003 to 2009, then spent close to two decades in the private sector. He won the Republican Senate primary on September 8, 2026, beating a field that included former Sen. Scott Brown, and faces Democrat Chris Pappas and Constitution Party candidate Edmond J. Laplante, Jr. in the general election.

Where Sununu stands

Immigration enforcement / ICE: Opposes abolishing ICE. Says ICE agents need better training, should not wear masks, and should all wear body cameras.
Term limits: Supports congressional term limits as part of what he calls real reform in Congress.
Birthright citizenship: Opposes granting citizenship to children born to people who travel to the U.S. to give birth. Says Congress should restrict this if the Supreme Court does not.
Tariffs and trade: Supports tariffs aimed at China's trade practices but says tariffs should be set at reasonable rates with clarity and certainty, and that Congress has a big role to play.
Taxes: Supports the 2025 tax and spending law (the One Big Beautiful Bill), citing its tax cuts on overtime, tips and Social Security, and its Medicaid work requirements.
Health care: Proposes letting insurers compete across state lines, requiring providers to post their prices, making health savings accounts available to anyone, and cutting federal regulation. Opposes Medicare for All.
Social Security: Says the Social Security privatization plan he backed 20 years ago would have made the system solvent, and that today it should be fixed on a bipartisan basis.
Energy: Supports more domestic oil and gas production, permitting reform, and new pipelines and electric transmission lines to bring down energy costs in New Hampshire.
Voter ID / SAVE Act: Supports requiring photo ID to vote and wants a straight up-or-down Senate vote on the voter ID provision.
China and Taiwan: Calls China the biggest national security threat. Supports continued military support for Taiwan and moving supply chains away from China.

Background

U.S. Representative, New Hampshire 1st District (1997–2003)
U.S. Senator, New Hampshire (2003–2009)
Private sector, about 2009–2025
Won the 2026 Republican U.S. Senate primary (September 8, 2026)
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MBA, Harvard University
Lives in Hampton, NH; married, three children

In the news

Conversations with the candidates: Sununu on energy, immigration, Russia and more NHPR, October 16, 2026

Also running for United States Senator

Chris Pappas Democratic
Edmond J. Laplante, Jr. Constitution

Sources

Last researched October 23, 2026. Written in neutral language from the sources above. Spot an error? See how to report it.