Christopher Thomas Sununu ( ; born November 5, 1974) is an American politician and engineer who served as the 82nd governor of New Hampshire from 2017 to 2025.
A Republican, Sununu is the son of former New Hampshire governor and White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu and the younger brother of former U.S. representative and senator John E. Sununu. He earned a bachelor's degree in civil and environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sununu was chief executive officer of the Waterville Valley Resort in New Hampshire, and he served on the New Hampshire Executive Council from 2011 to 2017.
Sununu was first elected governor of New Hampshire in 2016. He was reelected in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Sununu is the second governor in New Hampshire history (after John Lynch) to be elected to a fourth term. His tenure focused on fiscal conservatism, tax cuts, business-friendly policies, and efforts to combat the opioid crisis. A moderate Republican, Sununu took mixed stances on social issues, supporting some LGBTQ rights while restricting certain transgender rights. On July 19, 2023, he announced that he would not run for a fifth term. Sununu endorsed Kelly Ayotte, who won the election to succeed him.
Early life and education
Sununu was born on November 5, 1974. His hometown is Salem, New Hampshire. Sununu is the son of former New Hampshire Governor John H. Sununu and Nancy Sununu, the former chair of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee and First Lady of New Hampshire. He is one of eight siblings. His older brother, John E. Sununu, is a former U.S. senator and U.S. representative.
Sununu's family originates from Lebanon, though his paternal grandfather, John, was born in the United States. His father, also named John, was born in Havana, Cuba. Sununu's father's paternal ancestors came to the United States from Lebanon. His paternal grandmother was an immigrant from El Salvador, born to a prominent Salvadoran family of Lebanese descent who were Greek Orthodox Christians. His father's paternal ancestry is Lebanese and Greek, both from the Greek Orthodox communities in Jerusalem. Despite the family's emigration from Jerusalem, some members of the family were from Beirut. His father's maternal ancestry was Greek and Hispanic. When he took office as governor, Sununu was sworn in with a Greek Orthodox New Testament Bible belonging to his family.
Sununu graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia, in 1993. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a B.S. in civil and environmental engineering in 1998. After graduating from MIT, Sununu attended New York University Tisch School of the Arts as a film student for two months.
Early career Sununu worked as an environmental engineer designing systems and solutions for cleaning up waste sites under the supervision of licensed engineers. He specialized in soil and groundwater remediation, wastewater treatment plants, and landfill designs. In 2002, he became an "engineer in training" in California.
In 2010, Sununu led a group of investors in the buyout of Waterville Valley Resort. He worked as the resort's chief executive officer, employing over 700 people in the White Mountains region.
New Hampshire Executive Council Sununu was an elected member of the five-member Executive Council of New Hampshire from 2011 to 2017.
10-Year Highway Plan On December 16, 2015, the Governor's Advisory Commission on the Intermodal Transportation (GACIT) presented the 10-Year Plan for 2017–2026 to the governor of New Hampshire. As a voting member of GACIT, Sununu helped develop the blueprint, which "aggressively addressed financial constraint, assuming federal funding of about $160 million per year."
Ward Bird In 2010, Sununu joined the other four Executive Council members in voting unanimously to release Ward Bird from his mandatory three- to six-year prison sentence for threatening another person with a gun. The council voted to grant Bird a full pardon. Bird was convicted of brandishing a gun at a woman who trespassed on his posted property in 2008. But Governor John Lynch, who had never granted a pardon during his tenure, vetoed the measure, saying the judicial system had given Bird's case a thorough review and he would not undermine it. The council then immediately voted to commute Bird's sentence, and Lynch let that vote stand.
Managed Medicaid In 2014, a 300-page, $292 million amendment to the state's Medicaid program came before the Executive Council only two hours before the scheduled vote. Sununu and fellow Republican Joseph Kenney urged Governor Lynch and other Democrats present not to vote for the contract, but lost the vote 3–2, along party lines.
Governor of New Hampshire
Elections
2016
In the general election, Sununu defeated Democratic nominee Colin Van Ostern, 48.8% to 46.6%.
2018
Sununu was reelected, defeating Democratic nominee Molly Kelly, 52.8% to 45.7%.
2020
On May 14, 2019, Sununu announced that he would seek a third term as governor, rather than challenging Senator Jeanne Shaheen in the 2020 election.
After securing the Republican nomination, Sununu received 516,609 votes (65.1%) against Democratic nominee Dan Feltes, the highest number ever received by a New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate. He outpaced President Donald Trump (365,654; 45.4%) by about 151,000 votes of approximately 793,000 cast, as Trump lost New Hampshire's electoral votes.
2022
On November 9, 2021, Sununu announced his intention to run for a fourth term as governor instead of challenging incumbent U.S. senator Maggie Hassan. He received 78.66% in the Republican primary, defeating Karen Testerman, Thaddeus Riley, and others. He won 57.0% of the vote in the general election, defeating Democrat Thomas Sherman and Libertarians Karlyn Borysenko and Kelly Halldorson. This became the fourth straight split-ticket election in the state when all members elected to Congress were members of the Democratic Party while the elected governor was a member of the Republican Party.
Tenure Sununu was sworn in as governor on January 5, 2017. He was sworn in for his second term on January 3, 2019, and his third term on January 7, 2021.
In October 2018, Sununu introduced the state's new "hub and spoke model" for addiction recovery. The model includes nine regional hubs (in Berlin, Concord, Dover, Hanover, Keene, Laconia, Littleton, Manchester, and Nashua), which coordinate with local "spokes" to provide addiction recovery services. Hubs receive $9 million a year, stemming from $45.8 million in federal aid to combat the state's opioid epidemic. In March 2019, Sununu announced that an additional $12 million had been allocated to New Hampshire to fight the opioid epidemic.
On May 3, 2019, Sununu vetoed a bill to repeal capital punishment in New Hampshire. As drafted, the bill was not retroactive, and so did not apply to Michael K. Addison, convicted of the 2006 murder of Michael Briggs, an on-duty police officer. Sununu signed the veto at a community center named after Briggs. The veto was overridden.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sununu has criticized members of Congress and members of the Biden administration for the lack of relief packages. He has also criticized members of Congress for getting early access to COVID-19 vaccines. In November 2020, Sununu instituted a statewide mask mandate, which sparked protests outside his house. He opposed what he characterized as federal overreach on mandates, saying, "I am as pro-vaccine as it gets, but I do not support this mandate from Washington, as it is not the answer."
In 2023, Sununu issued an executive order forbidding the state from working with entities involved in anti-Israel boycotts.
On September 12, 2024, Sununu signed controversial voter ID legislation into law. The new law requires documentary proof of US citizenship to register to vote, and a photo ID to vote in person.
Presidential aspirations
In January 2023, Sununu said he was considering a White House bid in 2024, but noted, "I really don't have a timeline."New Hampshire GOP governor says he's considering 2024 White House bid Paul LeBlanc and Kit Maher, CNN, January 29, 2023 In March 2023, he predicted that Donald Trump was "not going to be the nominee; that's just not going to happen." In June 2023, he announced that he would not seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
Political positions
WMUR considers Sununu a moderate Republican. According to National Review, he is a "fiscally conservative" and "socially moderate" politician in a similar vein to Rockefeller Republicans. He has also been described as a "hardcore libertarian". In a discussion with ABC, Sununu said: "Liberal elites in Washington want to stand on the shoulders of hardworking American families that built this country, defended this country and tell them how to live their lives. They're angry. They're upset. That's the culture change that people want to see... it's about prioritiz[ing] states' rights, individual rights and parents' rights." He has said that "cancel culture ... has really infiltrated all across America."
Sununu vetoed 57 bills as governor in 2019.
Economic and fiscal
Sununu opposes New Hampshire's 5% tax on dividends and interest income.Ethan DeWitt. "Sununu calls for tax cuts, student debt assistance in budget proposal". Concord Monitor, February 11, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2021. After his 2020 reelection, he called for newly elected Republican majorities in the New Hampshire House and Senate to pass a law phasing out this tax by 2026, saying that it unfairly targets senior citizens living off of these types of income and their retirement accounts. He also sought to slightly reduce other taxes, and to institute student loan relief for those going into health care and social work.
Sununu has supported tax cuts for businesses and a reduction in property taxes. After the 2018 midterm elections, which gave Democrats control of the New Hampshire legislature, Sununu vowed to veto their proposal to create a broader state income tax, as well as several other new taxes and fees. Sununu signed a bill making it easier for medical facilities to be licensed to treat veterans. He also opposed the Senate's Republican health care plan in 2017, citing that the proposal would negatively affect Medicaid and addiction recovery services in the state.
Sununu supports legislation to provide state-funded "school choice vouchers to disadvantaged and low-income students"; such vouchers could be used at religious and private schools. After the 2018 midterm elections, in which Democrats regained control of the New Hampshire legislature, Sununu vetoed a bill to establish a paid family leave policy that would have instituted a statewide payroll tax.
Sununu nominated 27 New Hampshire "opportunity zones" to receive federal tax breaks for low-income areas. These included Waterville Valley, a low-income town that is the locale of the Sununu family's Waterville Valley Resorts. The family and resort did not take advantage of the tax breaks but later expanded their investment in the resort, allowing them to, if they later pursued the tax advantages, "defer paying taxes on those gains for seven years and get a 15% discount on the tax liability. In addition, they could avoid paying taxes on any future capital gains from the resort if they hold on to it for a decade".
In April 2025, Sununu said that unlike Congress, Americans would "absolutely" accept "ending Medicaid and Medicare and social security," along with increasing the retirement age beyond 67, in order to slash the national debt. He also said that "No young person thinks retirement should be in the mid-60s or 67."
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