NHDP MEMO: John Sununu Can’t Run From Donald Trump In His Final U.S. Senate Debate

NHDP MEMO: John Sununu Can’t Run From Donald Trump In His Final U.S. Senate Debate

TOPLINE: Tonight is the final debate in New Hampshire’s U.S. Senate race. For the last year, Donald Trump’s handpicked candidate John Sununu has been going to bat for Trump and corporate special interests, even as prices have shot through the roof and Trump’s approval has sunk to a record low. With less than a week until Election Day, Sununu will desperately try to pretend he’s not running in lockstep with Donald Trump, but nothing Sununu says can wipe away his willingness to back Trump’s war with Iran, tariffs, and health care cuts or his record of throwing Granite Staters under the bus to boost corporate profits. Here’s what to expect. 

After Donald Trump Told Voters To “Pretend I’m On The Ballot,” John Sununu Will Attempt To Dodge Questions On His Support For Trump’s Agenda. After ducking out of multiple televised debates this cycle, expect John Sununu to try and dodge questions he doesn’t want to answer — particularly any that involve his top endorser Donald Trump. But these last ditch attempts to change his tune on Trump can’t erase a year’s worth of Sununu standing with Trump and his agenda. 

• Sununu believes this race is “important to President Trump’s agenda and to the successes that have been made in Washington,” and he has repeatedly praised Trump, saying, “President Trump won and he’s kept winning” and “President Trump has been very successful.” 
   
• Sununu backed Trump’s war of choice with Iran that’s driven gas and heating oil prices up dramatically while he lines his pockets with profits through his Big Oil stock portfolio. 
   
• Sununu said he would’ve voted for Trump’s Big Ugly Bill that cut billions from New Hampshire’s health care funding, closed a rural health care center, and is kicking thousands of Granite Staters off Medicaid. He even praised Republicans for making these cuts without any Democratic support, saying, “they had to go alone and they did the right thing.” 
   
• Sununu backed Trump’s tariffs and downplayed their impact on New Hampshire’s economy, while owning stock in major food and retail companies like Walmart. 
   
• Donald Trump gave John Sununu his “Complete and Total Endorsement” and doubled down on that endorsement just last week.
   
• Sununu’s campaign is being propped up by tens of millions of dollars in outside spending from Super PACs aligned with Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Koch Network. 
   
• Sununu sought and then welcomed Trump’s endorsement and said he would “absolutely” campaign with him in New Hampshire. 

John Sununu Will Keep Putting Corporate Special Interests Ahead of Granite Staters’ Interests. Over his 12 years in Congress, Sununu sold Granite Staters out to Big Pharma, Big Oil, Wall Street, and other corporate special interests. After cashing in and growing his net worth by as much as $35 million, Sununu wants to return to Washington so he can line his pockets again. 

• Sununu opposes trying to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling that lets corporations and the ultrawealthy spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our elections.
   
• Sununu “helped lead the charge” and was “a leading figure in the effort” to privatize Social Security, selling New Hampshire seniors out to Wall Street while exposing their retirement savings to the risky stock market and its crashes.
   
• Sununu cast a tie-breaking vote against letting Medicare negotiate for lower prescription drug prices, then spent nearly a decade at a lobbying firm that made over $10 million from its Big Pharma clients, like Pfizer, Merck, and Bayer.
   
• Sununu took money from the former CEO of New Hampshire’s largest opioid distributor that shipped nearly 150 million opioid pills to the state from 2006 to 2019. Over his first five campaigns, Sununu received over $110,000 from corporate PACs of opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. 
   
• Sununu said he would’ve voted for Trump’s Big Ugly Bill that gave billions to Big Oil and Big Pharma, and is expected to add trillions to the national deficit over the next decade — just to give more tax breaks to the ultrawealthy.  
   
• Sununu “voted for the USA Patriot Act, then later made millions off of telecom companies who used provisions in the Patriot Act to spy on Americans.” 
   
• Sununu voted in favor of corporations using tax shelters, then sat on corporate boards of companies incorporated in tax shelters like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. 

John Sununu’s Epstein Ties Will Come Under Scrutiny Again. Granite Staters are still waiting for John Sununu to answer why his name is in an Epstein email, why his campaign is funded by members of the Epstein class, and why he’s campaigned with questionable individuals like Jon Stone and Jess Edwards. 

• Jeffrey Epstein wrote, “john sununu, has good stories” in an email suggesting whom his associate should meet at a World Economic Forum event in Doha, Qatar. When asked if he’d ever been to Qatar, Sununu lied and said, “No,” even though he was photographed at the exact event Epstein referenced. 
   
• Republicans and Democrats alike — including Scott Brown, Annie Kuster, Ro Khanna, and Pete Buttigieg — have called on John Sununu to be more transparent about why his name is in the Epstein Files and any ties he might have to Epstein. 
   
• Sununu has campaigned alongside multiple men tied to sexual misconduct and accepted the endorsement of a legislator who called teenagers “ripe” and “fertile” while opposing banning child marriage. 
   
• Billionaires with ties to Jeffrey Epstein have contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Sununu’s current campaign. 

CONCLUSION: Voters will tune in to tonight’s debate as New Hampshire families and small businesses are getting pummeled by skyhigh prices for gas, groceries, heating oil, and other necessities. With no end in sight for Donald Trump’s war with Iran or tariffs — which John Sununu backs, and while Granite Staters reel from Trump’s health care cuts — which Sununu would’ve voted for, voters are ready for change. Tonight, in contrast to the Sununu-Trump agenda that will make life even more expensive, Chris Pappas will demonstrate how he’s fighting for a freer, fairer, and more affordable future for New Hampshire.