Full Sununu Interview: ‘If Everything Is A Party-Line Test, Nothing’s Ever Going To Get Done’

[0:00] Well, joining me now is Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire. Governor Sununu, [0:03] welcome to Meet the Press, sir. Thank you very much. So I was going to say, [0:10] ask, geez, is this Washington environment the reason why you chose not to run? To me, [0:16] that's actually kind of obvious. It'd been weird if you chose to want to be, [0:20] if you actually actively said, yes, I want to be there. But let me ask it this way. [0:25] If people like you don't come down here to break this dysfunction, how do we ever break the [0:30] dysfunction? Look, it's a great question. And that's one of the reasons why I pushed and [0:36] kind of entertained the idea so much, because I do believe there's a responsibility to bring [0:41] management decisions, bring leadership, where I think there's a bit of a gap in the system, [0:45] if you will. But also, you got to remember, I'm an active governor. Every single day, [0:49] we're working on making a dozen different decisions with accountability, rebuilding our [0:54] mental health system, balancing budgets, all these things that Congress and the Senate just don't do. [0:57] And as I said earlier, unfortunately, too often on both sides of the aisle, [1:02] doing nothing is a win. And I don't live in that world. I can't really work like that. [1:06] So I'm more of an executive and a manager. And again, you know, we're still in the middle of [1:10] the COVID crisis, right? We've done a great job in New Hampshire of balancing safety and making [1:14] sure that our economy is open and flexible. And we still have the vaccines and the boosters coming [1:18] out. So there's still a lot, a lot of work to do here as governor. At some point, maybe there's an [1:23] opportunity to go down, but you're absolutely right. There just needs to be a fundamental change [1:27] and philosophy on both sides of the aisle to simply start getting stuff done. [1:30] Did you have that? I know you did not give a heads up to Mitch McConnell or Rick Scott [1:34] to your decision beforehand. Have you had any discussions with him since? And have you expressed [1:39] your direct concerns about how the Senate is run as to the reason why you didn't go? [1:46] Yeah, well, after I made the decision again, you know, I represent the people of the state. [1:50] They've hired me to do a job here. So obviously, I'm going to talk to my constituents first. And I left [1:53] messages for a variety of folks in Washington after I made the announcement public to my own [1:58] constituents. But all those issues that, you know, I've been bringing up are issues and [2:02] conversations we had since day one. It was never about could you win or could you get money and [2:06] all the election stuff. We were going to win. That was not really the issue. It was really about [2:10] what was going to be best for my constituents. You know, one thing I remind people is as a public [2:15] servant, it's an amazing job in that our responsibility is to be selfish, to be really selfish for our [2:21] constituents, to put them first every single time. And I think if more folks had that philosophy in [2:26] Washington, frankly, more stuff would get done. They'd be less worried about how they get reelected [2:30] or raising money and all that kind of nonsense. And ultimately, with more things done, you could [2:35] get reelected on those results. That's what we do here in New Hampshire. I think they just need to [2:38] take a little bit of a page of our playbook. Well, let me ask you this. You have the former [2:42] president declaring he now wants to have, in fact, he put out a statement last night. He wants to put out [2:47] primary challengers to the 13 Republicans in the House and the 19 Republicans in the Senate [2:53] that, in his mind, defied the party by, and you heard in the words of Don Bacon, a Republican from [3:00] Omaha, Nebraska, who said, this bill was what my constituents wanted me to support, so I supported [3:04] it. Going down this road of making everything a party-line test, where does that leave us? [3:13] We're not going down that road. Washington has been on that road for a good 10 years now, [3:16] and that's the fundamental problem. If everything is a party-line test, nothing's ever going to get [3:21] done. I had senators telling me, well, when we get 60 votes, we'll work on balancing the budget. [3:25] That might never happen. So start crossing the aisle now. Figure out how to do it. [3:30] Make sure you're managing other people's money responsibly. I've been elected three times. I've [3:34] balanced three different budgets. I've cut taxes every time. When you get the financials right, [3:38] all the other opportunity flows from that, right? And you bring folks together on common ground. [3:43] You got Social Security going to go bankrupt in the next 10 years, and I got no one in Washington [3:47] talking about it. Medicare. I got seniors here. Their Medicare system is going to bankrupt this [3:52] country. But no one in Washington wants to talk about how to make it sustainable. So [3:55] that was my fundamental issue. And again, I think it's just a matter of governors get stuff done. [4:01] And we actually have the best ability to fend off the inaction of Washington. COVID was a great [4:06] example. Governors took the lead, found the solution. So that's just what I got to continue to do here. [4:10] Um, the, the fact that, uh, you, there was a, another candidate in the race, he has claimed that [4:17] because he was more pro Trump, more pro, you know, this populist conservative movement that you were [4:22] scared of the primary. But the fact is these primaries are more toxic than ever on the Republican [4:28] side of the aisle. Are they not? Uh, look primary. Look, I think primaries are good things. There's no, [4:34] there's no doubt about that, but believe me, I was not scared of a primary. I got 65% of the vote, [4:39] uh, about a year ago. That was not the issue at all. Uh, in fact, if anything, there was a lot [4:43] of talk that Chris Sununu has to be the 51st vote to stop the Chuck Schumer agenda. I think maybe [4:49] six months ago, there was a discussion for that. But after last Tuesday, let me tell you, [4:53] Republicans are looking at 53 or 54 votes in the Senate. One of them being right here in New Hampshire. [4:58] We have a lot of good candidates that I think are going to step up and run for that seat because [5:01] Senator Hassan is so vulnerable. So it's not about just stopping an agenda, um, anymore. It's really [5:06] about making sure that my skillset as an executive and a manager is best suited for the constituents [5:11] I represent here. So governor, uh, you have trashed the job of Senate. You've trashed the U.S. Senate, [5:16] and now you're going to try to recruit somebody to run for it. You know, I mean, you, you made a case [5:21] for why you can't get anything done. How do you, with a straight face, recruit somebody to say, [5:25] well, I think it's a totally waste, total waste of time for the next near term, but Hey, you go for it. [5:32] Well, you got to remember, I'm not trashing the Senate. I'm showing the differences. [5:35] You know, I'm not term limited out. I'm going to run for governor in 2022. There's a responsibility [5:40] for my constituents to do that. So they weren't just asking me to run for the Senate. They were [5:44] asking me to give up something that is incredibly challenging, but incredibly fulfilling where I [5:48] get things done every single day. So they were, they were asking me to quit something that I think [5:52] the state has, has, you know, been able to, to really rally around. There are other folks that have [5:56] more legislative, I think, thought processes. Um, they understand policy and funding and all of that [6:01] sort of thing. That's kind of what, what the Senate does and they'd be great at the job. So sometimes it's [6:05] just not about who can win. It's about, you know, who's really fit for the job and where those [6:09] skill sets. And we have a lot of folks in New Hampshire that can bring that to the table for [6:12] Washington. Does former president Trump's presence in the party, all of you in the Republican [6:17] party that are not close to Trump want to say, Hey, let's look towards the future. And it's code for, [6:22] I don't want to talk about Trump, but how much does the former president's presence make, [6:27] make it harder to want to go to Washington, harder to want to compete in a primary, harder to want to [6:32] run for office? No, in New Hampshire, none at all. No, none at all. Look, I maintain a decent [6:39] relationship with the former president, but he doesn't factor into what happens. People worry [6:43] about what happened in 20. People are talking about what's going to happen in 24. Stop it. All [6:47] that matters is 2022 and getting stuff done and handling inflation and workforce issues, [6:53] supply chain issues. These are real. And this is where Washington has completely left their [6:57] constituents behind, right? Governors are on the ground every day talking about this stuff, [7:00] trying to redesign systems. But if you're not connected to your constituents, you're doing [7:04] some of the dumb economic things that this president has been doing and ignoring the realities [7:09] on the ground, pretending that if we just talk about inflation going away, it might happen. It [7:13] won't. You need good solutions. You need good dynamics. You need folks that understand this stuff [7:17] at a grassroots issue. Do you accept the fact that the former president's the current leader of the [7:22] Republican party? Oh, I've never said anyone's a leader of a Republican party. Is AOC and Chuck [7:30] Schumer the leader of the Democrat party? No. Parties are defined by principles, by what you stand [7:34] on, by getting stuff done and the results that you deliver. That's what it's really all about. [7:39] And I don't think, am I the head, the representative, the only head of the party of the [7:43] Republicans in New Hampshire? No, I don't believe that at all. We have a good infrastructure. [7:47] It's about the ideals that we bring to the table. That's what defines a party. I think the media likes [7:51] to talk about individuals because that gets a little more attention in social media and more traditional [7:55] media. But at the end of the day, it's about what you bring into the table. [7:58] So you're still comfortable with Donald Trump's presence in the party? [8:04] Well, he's a Republican that lives in Florida. I mean, that's it. I mean, as far as New Hampshire's [8:09] concerned, the only thing that matters for the party, what are Republicans doing for New Hampshire? [8:12] What's our Senate and our House and our governor doing for New Hampshire? For our citizens, [8:17] that's what defines the party. And so that's what the example and the accountability that I try to [8:22] live up to. It's not about party politics and platform and what's being said in the national [8:25] media. It's what we're delivering. And if we can do that every single day, then we're going to be [8:29] we're going to be successful. Are we supposed to consider you a presidential candidate in 2024? [8:36] People have asked me about that. And look, I suppose that would be on the table, [8:39] but nothing I'm thinking about right now. If I went to Washington, it would be in more of a [8:43] management aspect because that's just what I do. And so we'll cross that bridge or jump off it, [8:49] you know, down the road. Well, maybe that's a cabinet secretary or maybe that's one of the two [8:54] elected jobs. Governor Sununu, we'll be following you. Appreciate you coming on and sharing your [8:58] perspective with us. You bet. Thank you. All right.