MANCHESTER, N.H. – Three prominent Manchester Democrats gathered at Arms Park on the morning of Oct. 28 for a press conference intended to remind voters about the policies and beliefs of recently announced Republican U.S. Senate candidate, John E. Sununu.
Sununu, son of former New Hampshire Governor and White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu and brother of former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, John E. Sununu represented New Hampshire in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 to 2003 and in the U.S. Senate from 2003 to 2009.
New Hampshire State Representative Matt Wilhelm, former State Senator Donna Soucy and former State Representative and Alderman Mary Heath, all from Manchester, each emphasized various aspects of why they believed Sununu’s return to the U.S. Senate would harm Granite Staters such as impacts to healthcare costs, the economy or turning a deaf ear to local concerns as well as other issues.
“We need to be clear, John Sununu wants to go to Washington to join the same group of people who are throwing our economy into chaos and selling our hungry kids all to fund tax breaks for the richest people in America,” said Wilhelm. “These are not the values we hold here in Manchester. Granite Staters rejected Sununu once and they need to do it again because he is wrong.”
“Do we really want to send John Sununu back to Washington to join the ranks of politicians and corporate special interests who couldn’t care less about working people? Look, John Sununu had his chance and he picked Wall Street over Main Street,” said Soucy. “We’ll stand up for our values, our freedoms and our neighbors and we’ll send leaders to Washington who will deliver not for Trump and his special interests, but for the people of New Hampshire.”
“John Sununu sold us out and then he cashed in, but we’re not buying it again,” said Heath. “And next year, we’re going to defeat John Sununu just like we did 17 years ago.”
While the three Democrats cast Sununu as being in lockstep with the Trump Administration, they wondered if he may be out of touch with Republican primary voters given a different perspective from the grassroots following the rise of Trump as well as the general turnover in the electorate since 2009.
Still, the trio felt that the other major candidate on the Republican side right now, former U.S. Senator and U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand Scott Brown, would be no better.
Although the event was organized by the New Hampshire Democratic Party, which is required to remain neutral during Democratic primaries under its bylaws, Soucy stated on a personal level that she believes New Hampshire First District U.S. Representative Chris Pappas would become the Democratic nominee and eventually defeat whoever wins the Republican nomination given concerns from New Hampshire voters over the current state of the country.
“I think that voters will come out and lead a revolt against a lot of people holding office because they’re being squeezed,” said Soucy. “They’re being squeezed on healthcare, they’re being squeezed on housing costs, they’re being squeezed on medication costs. It’s (happening to) Democrats, Republicans and Independents. It’s happening across the board, so a lot of people will be looking for change.”