New Hampshire – -(AmmoLand.com)- While New Hampshire currently has two Senators who are disappointing in terms of defending our Second Amendment rights, this is not the case when it comes to that state’s governor. Only this governor could very well make the jump to the Senate.
Governors of New Hampshire serve two-year terms. In essence, that is a constant state-wide run, and whoever holds that office can easily switch to a Senate campaign. Chris Sununu won the 2016 election for governor, when Maggie Hassan, a two-term governor, chose to run for Senate. Sununu, the son of the former White House Chief of Staff and brother to a former Senator, won his first race by two points. In 2018, he won by an even bigger margin, about seven percentage points.
During his time as governor, Sununu has defended our rights, notably by vetoing a firearms confiscation bill. Sununu also kept gun stores open during the lockdowns to fight the Wuhan coronavirus. That was just in 2020. In 2019, he vetoed a number of other attacks on our rights. While it would be preferable to see pro-Second Amendment legislation passed, Sununu has, at least been far better than Larry Hogan, who didn’t veto bills that had attacks on our rights.
Sununu declined the opportunity to run against Jeanne Shaheen this year, instead going for his third term as governor. While in one sense, it is disappointing, given Shaheen’s awful track record, Sununu may instead be biding his time to hit a weaker opponent.
His predecessor as governor, Hassan, who has a poor record when it comes to defending our rights, defeated Kelly Ayotte (who was generally supportive, but did show a willingness to compromise) by about 1,000 votes the same year Sununu won the governorship – a very small margin that points to weakness, given that Obama carried the state twice, and Hillary Clinton carried it in 2016.
Much of this, though, depends on Sununu holding onto the governorship this year. New Hampshire had been a bastion of respect for the Second Amendment, but these days, things are a much closer call than they have been before, and it is not unheard of for anti-Second Amendment candidates to get elected to statewide office in the Free State.
Second Amendment supporters can check out Governor Sununu’s campaign site here. Second Amendment supporters should also go to the website of the National Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund to help support other pro-Second Amendment candidates at all levels of government in 2020.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
Sununu’s opponent, Feltes, is a tax and spend Democrat. Pro sales and income tax, under the guise of lowering property taxes. NH gains an advantage over neighboring states that have a sales tax, which is great for businesses along state borders. Yes, Sununu is a wall against the ex-pat anti-gunners from Massachusetts that escaped their state, only to attempt to change the demographics of NH into a state they wanted to flee in the first place. I have no doubt Sununu will be re-elected to as many terms as he desires.
A couple of years ago, both houses of the New Hampshire state legislature, House and Senate, flipped their majorities from R to D — maybe because of transplants from our southern neighbor, the People’s Republic of Massachusetts. If they don’t flip back in the November election, a pro-gun (Republican) governor’s veto will continue to be the only barrier against anti-gun bills that keep pouring out of our legislature — along with bills for a state income tax (which we don’t have) and other leftist horrors. I like to think that Sununu is well aware of this, and that it’s part… Read more »