AIR FORCE ONE—President Donald Trump issued a forceful endorsement of former New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu, who has been mulling a run for Senate in the Granite State in 2026.
Incumbent Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen is retiring at the end of her term, setting up an open seat contest. Trump said he thinks Sununu will win it.
“He came to my office, came to the Oval Office, and [I] met with Chris Sununu, and I support him fully. I hope he runs,” Trump told the Washington Free Beacon, which spoke to the president during a gaggle on Air Force One on the way back from Mar-a-Lago Sunday evening.
“He’s been very nice to me over the last year or so, but no, I hope he runs. I think he’ll win that seat.”
Trump’s full-throated endorsement could clear the GOP primary field for the popular former governor. It’s unclear exactly when the Trump-Sununu summit took place, but it likely explains Sununu’s rosy assessment of his chances when asked about the matter by Fox News last month.
“I have no doubt I’d have the president’s support,” he told the network, saying he hadn’t made up his mind one way or another but that “the door was open.” Sununu served as governor of the Granite State from 2017 to 2025. He enjoyed a nearly two-to-one approval rating—63 to 32—toward the end of his term and left office as one of the nation’s most popular governors.
Trump also spoke about his upcoming meeting with Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele, which is scheduled to take place on April 14, according to a letter of invitation from Trump that Bukele posted to X last week.
The Trump administration has been sending MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members to prisons in the country—and Trump himself said he was keen to discuss the possibility of sending “horrible criminals” currently incarcerated in prisons in the United States.
“I love that,” Trump said of the proposal. “If he would take them, I’d be honored to give … if they can house these horrible criminals for a lot less money than it costs us. I’m all for it, but I only do according to the law.”