Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and former Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu appearing together for a press conference may have once been unthinkable for the longtime political foes.
However, the pair did just that on Monday to warn consumers about winter travel scams, fostering bipartisan unity.
An added layer to the unlikely reunion is the fact that Sununu’s older brother, John E. Sununu, is running to flip the seat of Hassan’s close colleague, retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), in next year’s midterm elections.
“Thank you to Senator Hassan, to have someone in Washington, D.C., that really takes the lead on this,” Sununu, now the president and CEO of airlines lobbying group Airlines for America, said during a virtual press conference.
Hassan, seated next to Sununu in the same frame, said it was incumbent upon a “holistic government approach, with both the private sector and government working together,” to combat what are mostly transnational crime rings targeting unsuspecting Americans during the busy holiday travel season. She is the top Democrat on Congress’s Joint Economic Committee, which has sought to tackle the matter.
However, the two were not always so cordial with each other.
Hassan, a former New Hampshire governor, was succeeded by Sununu after eking out a win for Senate in 2016 to unseat the GOP incumbent, current Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH). And although Sununu rejected national Senate Republicans’ efforts to recruit him against Hassan’s 2022 reelection and opted instead for a fourth term as governor, the two have traded plenty of campaign barbs.
That includes the accusation in 2021 from Sununu, prior to ruling out a Senate run, that Hassan “has not been here for four or five years, shows up at election time and tries to smile and wave at the camera.” Hassan rejected the criticism at the time as “outright false.” In the months before the 2022 elections, Sununu characterized a crowded GOP primary as evidence Hassan was “just that bad, that everybody wants to fire her.” Sununu supported the more centrist Chuck Morris in the primary, who aligned more with his political views. Hassan went on to beat GOP nominee Dan Boldoc by nine points.
“She didn’t show up for five years. Folks want her gone,” Sununu told Fox News of Hassan at the time.
However, even with the younger Sununu brother out of politics, another member of the political dynasty is presenting Democrats with their latest headache as they seek to sweep the Senate midterm map in a long-shot bid to recapture control of the upper chamber, which Republicans control 53-47. The Sununu brothers’ father, John H. Sununu, served as New Hampshire governor from 1983 to 1989 and as White House chief of staff under former President George H. W. Bush.
THUNE BANKS ON TRUMP ENDORSEMENT POWER TO PROTECT SENATE MAJORITY
The open New Hampshire seat leans in Democrats’ favor but is competitive nonetheless, with presumptive Democratic nominee Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) set to face the victor of the GOP primary between Sununu’s brother and former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown.
“Thanks again to Senator Hassan,” Sununu said as he closed out remarks on travel scams. “We just want everyone in D.C., everyone in their local communities, taking a lead voice on this and understanding it can happen to anyone.”