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Former GOP senator running to flip key swing state seat says he wants to ‘work with President Trump’
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EXCLUSIVE: RYE, N.H. — It’s been 15 years since Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in swing state New Hampshire.
But former Sen. John E. Sununu is confident he can break his party’s losing streak.
«This is a race I know I can win,» Sununu told Fox News Digital last month.
Sununu launched his 2026 GOP Senate campaign earlier this week, and on Friday explained why he’s the right person to flip the seat currently held by longtime Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who’s retiring after next year.
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Former Republican Sen. John E. Sununu of New Hampshire, who is running in 2026 to return to the Senate, is interviewed by Fox News Digital in Rye, N.H., on Oct. 24, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
«It’s the right message, the right set of issues, and also the right person,» Sununu told Fox News Digital, in his first national interview after declaring his candidacy.
Sununu is a former three-term representative who defeated then-Gov. Shaheen in New Hampshire’s 2002 Senate election. But the senator lost to Shaheen in their 2008 rematch.
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Shaheen announced earlier this year that she wouldn’t seek re-election in next year’s midterms and Republicans are working to flip the seat as they aim to not only defend but expand their 53-47 Senate majority.
Now, after nearly two decades in the private sector, Sununu is returning to the campaign trail in New England’s only swing state.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., seen speaking at a policy event in Concord, New Hampshire on Oct. 22, 2024, is not seeking re-election next year. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Sununu, in his launch video, said that nowadays «Congress just seems loud, dysfunctional, even angry,» and that he wants to «return to the Senate to help calm the waters.»
Asked if that’s the kind of message that the Republican base wants to hear, the former senator said: «They want to win. I think they want to have someone who advocates for New Hampshire and gets things done. Someone like me, who can walk into the Oval Office and work to keep taxes low for New Hampshire, work with the administration, work with President Trump.»
FORMER REPUBLICAN SENATOR ON POTENTIAL BID TO FLIP SWING STATE SEAT RED: ‘THIS IS A RACE I KNOW I CAN WIN’
Sununu’s said his «priorities are, affordability, keep taxes low, give our state just a strong, clear voice in Washington,» and that he’s «carrying that message across the state, meeting with activists, meeting with businesses, talking to them about their needs.»
«There are three things I’ve spent my life doing: standing up for New Hampshire, solving tough problems and working with people to get things done for New Hampshire. That’s exactly what I’ll do as senator,» he said.
Sununu is a brand name in New Hampshire politics. The former senator’s father, John H. Sununu, is a former governor who later served as chief of staff in then-President George H.W. Bush’s White House. And one of his younger brothers is former Gov. Chris Sununu, who won election and re-election to four two-year terms steering the Granite State.
But Sununu won’t have a glide path to the GOP nomination.
Former Sen. Scott Brown, who launched a Republican Senate campaign in New Hampshire in June, is interviewed by Fox News Digital, on July 4, 2025, in Exeter, N.H. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News )
Former ambassador and former Sen. Scott Brown, who was elected and served three years in the Senate in neighboring Massachusetts, and who, as the 2014 GOP Senate nominee in New Hampshire, narrowly lost to Shaheen during her first re-election, jumped into the race in late June.
«Our campaign will have the necessary resources for the long haul, and allow me to campaign the only way I know how: relentless hard work and a focus on retail politics that Granite State voters expect,» Brown said after Fox News first reported a couple of weeks ago that he hauled in roughly $1.2 million in fundraising the past three months.
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Brown has repeatedly taken aim at Sununu the past month over the former senator’s lack of past support for Trump, who holds immense clout over the GOP.
Sununu served as national co-chair on the 2016 Republican presidential campaign of then-Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who declined to support Trump as the party’s nominee.
And Sununu, along with then-Gov. Chris Sununu, endorsed former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the 2024 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary, as she battled Trump for the nomination.
Former Ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, center, is joined by then-New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, right, as they visit a polling location to greet voters casting ballots in the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary, on Jan. 23, 2024, in Hampton, New Hampshire. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
And on the eve of the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, the former senator wrote an opinion piece titled, «Donald Trump is a loser,» that ran in the New Hampshire Union Leader, the state’s largest daily newspaper.
Brown endorsed Trump ahead of his 2016 New Hampshire primary victory, which launched him toward the GOP presidential nomination and ultimately the White House. Brown later served as U.S. ambassador to New Zealand during Trump’s first term.
«Anyone who thinks that a never Trump, corporate lobbyist who hasn’t won an election in a quarter century, will resonate with today’s GOP primary voters is living in a different universe. While John was supporting John Kasich in 2016, I was campaigning with Donald Trump,» Brown charged in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Asked about the criticism, Sununu said: «This race is about who is going to do the best job for New Hampshire, and I absolutely can work with the Trump administration on issues important to New Hampshire.»
Brown, pointing to Sununu’s past decade and a half in the private sector, argued that «while John was fighting for special interests, I was serving in the first Trump administration.»
And the New Hampshire Democratic Party also blasted the former senator over his private sector tenure.
«John Sununu went to Washington almost 30 years ago, then cashed in, making millions selling out to corporations and working for Big Oil, Big Pharma, and Wall Street while the people of New Hampshire paid the price,» longtime state party chair Ray Buckley argued in a statement. «The only reason Sununu wants to go back to Washington now is to sell out New Hampshire to the same corporations and special interests that have lined his pockets for years. Granite Staters won’t let him sell us out again.»
Sununu, pushing back, said: «I have never lobbied any member of Congress on any issue for any business. My work has been in technology in the private sector.»
«We need that background of business and private sector experience in Washington. We don’t want a bunch of lawyers making all the decisions in Washington,» Sununu added, in a jab at Brown, an attorney who served as dean of New England Law Boston after returning to the U.S. at the end of the Trump administration.
Trump, whose endorsement in Republican primaries is extremely influential, has remained neutral to date.
President Donald Trump, seen celebrating in Nashua, New Hampshire on Jan. 23, 2024 after winning the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary, remains neutral to date in the 2026 Senate primary in the Granite State. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo)
But the president may be willing to overlook Sununu’s past jabs.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, a Trump ally and chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, announced hours after Sununu’s launch that the Senate GOP’s campaign arm would back the former senator’s bid.
And the Senate Leadership Fund, the top super PAC supporting Senate Republicans — which is aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and steered by Trump world veterans — praised Sununu.
Sununu told Fox News Digital he «would certainly like to have his [Trump’s] endorsement, and it would be, I think, helpful in the primary.»
«But the more support and endorsements you can have, the stronger your overall campaign is going to be,» he added as he listed a number of top New Hampshire Republicans who are now backing him, including Steve Stepanek, a longtime top Trump Granite State ally who chaired the president’s 2016 campaign in New Hampshire and served as senior adviser on last year’s campaign.
«They’ve all sort of joined this effort because they know I will be the best and most effective senator for the state of New Hampshire,» he touted.
Democratic Senate candidate in New Hampshire Rep. Chris Pappas is interviewed by Fox News Digital, on July 4, 2025, in Portsmouth, N.H. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)
If he clears next September’s primary, Sununu would likely face off against four-term Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas.
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Pappas, who launched his Senate campaign in early April, is the clear frontrunner for his party’s nomination.
donald trump,elections,midterm elections,republicans elections,new hampshire,campaigning,politics
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Recent U.S. military escalations involving Venezuela have halted flights carrying unlawful migrants from the United States back to the South American country, Venezuela’s foreign ministry said, prompting criticism from anti-intervention voices.
President Donald Trump warned pilots Saturday that the airspace «above and surrounding» Venezuela should be «closed in its entirety» as his administration weighs potential strikes on targets in and around Caracas.
«Through this action, the United States government has unilaterally suspended the Venezuelan migrant flights that were being carried out regularly and weekly as part of the repatriation of Venezuelans through the Plan Vuelta a la Patria (Return to the Homeland Plan),» the ministry said in a statement.
The deportation flights had been one of the only areas of cooperation between Washington and the government of Nicolás Maduro. Venezuelan officials say nearly 14,000 nationals have been returned on twice-weekly charter flights in recent months.
The deportation flights had been one of the only areas of cooperation between Washington and the government of Nicolás Maduro. (Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images)
VENEZUELA AGREES TO RESUME DEPORTATION FLIGHTS IN RESPONSE TO PRESSURE FROM TRUMP
At the same time, the Trump administration has continued moving forward with plans to end temporary protected status for roughly 600,000 Venezuelans living in the United States.
«Genius. Enough with this immigration enforcement nonsense. Let’s get back to True MAGA — neocon wars that exacerbate and cause migration crises. About darn time,» said Curt Mills, executive editor of The American Conservative, criticizing the shift toward military action.
So far, U.S. strikes have targeted alleged narco-traffickers operating in the Caribbean near Venezuela. But officials have signaled that operations could expand to land-based targets as Washington increases pressure on Maduro to relinquish power.
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Dozens of U.S. bombers have deployed to the region alongside the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, underscoring the scale of the buildup. With U.S. bombers and the Ford already positioned in the region, much of the world is waiting to see whether Trump will green-light the next phase of strikes against Venezuelan targets.
Venezuelan migrants repatriated from the U.S. gesture seen upon arrival at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, April 4, 2025. (Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)
Venezuelan migrants flown from Guantanamo Bay via Honduras walk up a ladder after arriving on a deportation flight at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, La Guaira State, Venezuela, February 20, 2025. (Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters)
Trump confirmed he spoke with Maduro by phone recently.
«I wouldn’t say it went well or badly. It was a phone call,» he told reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday.
Trump presented Maduro with an ultimatum — step down or face potential U.S. military action. Maduro, the Miami Herald reported, sought global amnesty for himself, demanded to retain control of the military and resisted an immediate exit from power.
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Restraint-minded foreign policy analysts have sounded the alarm against a regime-change-driven intervention in Venezuela, arguing such a move could make migration patterns worse.
«Escalatory dynamics could trigger regional instability and hostility, with migration flows among the most predictable consequences,» a report by Stimson Center analysts Evan Cooper and Alessandro Perri claimed. «Absent a credible transition structure inside Venezuela, external pressure is far more likely to deepen chaos — driving more Venezuelans to flee — than to produce political change.»
Analysts in the libertarian foreign-policy space have issued similar warnings.
Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, argued that «U.S. militarized pressure on Venezuela is far more likely to worsen instability than to produce meaningful political change,» adding that history shows «coercion in Venezuela leads to unpredictable outcomes and episodes of mass flight.»
«Escalation without a stable political alternative inside Venezuela risks accelerating the very migration pressures Washington is trying to contain,» said George A. López, a senior analyst at the Quincy Institute.
venezuelan political crisis,immigration,homeland security
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A 19-year-old man was mauled to death after climbing into a lion enclosure Sunday morning in Brazil.
Viral video captured the incident, showing the victim scaling a roughly 26-foot-tall fence to enter the lioness’s enclosure at Arruda Câmara Zoobotanical Park, known locally as Bica, in João Pessoa, Paraíba.
Local media Correio Braziliense identified the victim as Gerson de Melo Machado who has long aspired to be a lion tamer. Machado reportedly had mental health issues and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The zoo confirmed in a statement that the individual deliberately entered the enclosure, was attacked by the animal, and did not survive his injuries.
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An lioness stands on a platform at a zoo enclosure on Aug. 19, 2024. (Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu)
«The Arruda Câmara Zoobotanical Park (Bica) deeply regrets what happened this Sunday morning, when a man deliberately invaded the lioness’s enclosure, resulting in his death,» the zoo said in a statement on social media Sunday. «This is an extremely sad episode for everyone, and we express our solidarity and condolences to the family and friends of the man.»
In the video, witnesses watched in horror as the teen climbed the towering fence and shimmied down a nearby tree. A lion in the enclosure spotted him, prowled to the base of the tree and waited as he continued his descent.
When the boy got close enough to the ground, the lion sprang on him. He tried to flee, disappearing into the bushes and briefly reappearing during his escape, only to be leapt on again by the lioness. The mauling then continued out of view behind a wall.
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Zoo patrons look through a window at a lion enclosure on Feb. 21, 2008. (Justin Sullivan)
Following the incident, the park was closed to allow for safety procedures and the removal of the body. The zoo stated that Bica will remain closed to visitors until the investigation and all official procedures are complete.
Machado had struggled with mental health issues throughout his life, and his mother had also been diagnosed with schizophrenia, according to Correio, which cited child welfare counselor Verônica Oliveira, who had been monitoring him since childhood. Oliveira told the outlet that Machado had always dreamed of traveling to Africa to become a lion tamer and was once caught hiding in the landing gear of a plane, believing it would take him there.
The zoo stated it does not plan to euthanize the lion, emphasizing that the killing resulted from deliberate trespassing, an incident that was «completely unpredictable» and «outside of any scenario within the park’s routine.»
Visitors view two lions through a window in their enclosure on July 22, 2025. (Justin Sullivan)
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The lion is reportedly stressed but shows no signs of behavior that would warrant concern for euthanasia.
«It is important to emphasize that euthanasia was never considered,» the zoo said. «Leona is healthy, does not exhibit aggressive behavior outside the context of the incident, and will not be euthanized.»
brazil,mammals,mental health
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