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Republican Rap Sheet: Sununu’s Party of Corruption, Scandals, Disgrace, & Extremism Is Asking You To Elect Kelly Ayotte

  • Writer: Amplify NH
    Amplify NH
  • Oct 15, 2024
  • 6 min read

Contact: Ryan Mahoney, ryan@amplifynh.org


Republican Rap Sheet: Sununu’s Party of Corruption, Scandals, Disgrace, & Extremism Is Asking You To Elect Kelly Ayotte


MANCHESTER, NH - Today, Governor Chris Sununu released an ad in support of gubernatorial candidate Kelly Ayotte suggesting her term will be more of the same “Sununu Path.” A recent Amplify NH poll showed a 52% majority of voters think the “Sununu Path” is the wrong path. This should come as no surprise considering that Sununu has turned the New Hampshire Republican Party into a party of corruption, scandals, and extremism during his four terms in office. 


“Today’s Republican Party has become unrecognizable to Granite Staters. They are the party of corruption, scandals, abuse of power for personal gain, and radical extremism,” said Amplify New Hampshire Executive Director Ryan Mahoney. “They have sold out their Granite State values in favor of MAGA values, and it’s clear that the takeover of the NH GOP is nearly complete. And now Sununu and NH Republicans are asking voters to trust Kelly Ayotte, who promises to continue down the “Sununu Path”. It’s clear the Republican Party can no longer be trusted with control of the New Hampshire state government and Granite Staters can’t trust Kelly Ayotte to clean up the mess created by Sununu and his radical MAGA allies in the legislature.”


The Republican Rap Sheet Grows


The Republican Rap Sheet just added two new members: Today, the New Hampshire Attorney General announced two felony indictments and five misdemeanor charges for Governor Sununu’s first nominee for the New Hampshire Supreme Court, Justice Anna Barbara Hantz-Marconi for an attempt to commit improper influence and criminal solicitation of improper influence during an investigation of her husband. Sununu’s other inductee is no stranger to fraud, crime, and scandal: former New Hampshire Republican Senator Andy Sanborn was arrested today and charged with felony theft by deception in connection with taking $188,000 more in COVID-19 relief money for his business than he was due. 


During the COVID-19 crisis, Sununu infamously circumvented the authority of the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee to make himself the sole decider in doling out $1.25 billion in federal relief, including hundreds of thousands of dollars to his own ski resort and $844,000 to Senator Sanborn who bought at least three race cars for himself and his wife. This is on top of the Sununu family’s web of shady dealings with foreign governments and businesses around the world.


This builds on an extensive Republican Rap Sheet during Sununu’s tenure:



Ayotte Cashing In On Sununu's Housing Failure


While Sununu makes the case for Ayotte around issues like affordable housing, it’s important to remember that Sununu has failed to deliver on the issue, which Granite Staters say is the most important issue facing New Hampshire, with the median price of a single-family house in the state rising over 80% from 2018 to 2024. Meanwhile, Ayotte has been cashing checks for millions of dollars sitting on the board of Blackstone, the “nation’s largest landlord,” which “has a history of buying distressed properties, raising rents, evicting tenants and managing some apartment complexes with deplorable conditions.” To make matters worse, Sununu has overseen an 85% spike in statewide homeless from 2016 to 2023 (1,317 to 2,441 individuals).


While Ayotte and Sununu tout her plan to continue down “The Sununu Path” — known by New Hampshire voters as “the wrong path” — data suggests Sununu has tanked New Hampshire’s reputation and progress on education, energy prices, business environment, and other quality of life metrics.


The Sununu-Ayotte Path


  • NH’s First Modern Abortion Ban: Governor Sununu signed the most restrictive abortion ban in New Hampshire modern history. It required a mother to deliver her baby even if it can’t survive, with no exceptions for rape or incest. The law threatens doctors with up to seven years in prison. Read WMUR’s fact check on the law Sununu signed here.  

  • An Educational Decline: With Sununu and Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut in charge, New Hampshire students’ test scores have declined.  In 2022 63% of 4th graders in the Granite State were not proficient in reading compared with only 54% in 2015, while 71% of 8th graders were not proficient in math in 2022 compared to only 54% in 2015, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. 

  • Skyrocketing Energy Costs: New Hampshire families are paying 34.5% more for electricity today than when Sununu took office.  The average retail price for electricity (cents/kWh) increased from 15.66 in 2016 to 21.07 in 2022, a 34.5% increase, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.  After seven years of Sununu, New Hampshire has risen to being 5th most expensive state in the country for energy costs. 

  • A Tough Place To Do Business: Sununu never delivered on his campaign promise to bring new businesses to New Hampshire.  Instead, New Hampshire’s ranking as one of the best states to do business dropped 14 spots in CNBC’s list. The Granite State fell from 26th the summer before he took office to 40th in the most recent rankings. In CNBC’s analysis, from 2016 to 2023, New Hampshire fell from 26th to 34th in workforce quality, from 16th to 44th for strength of economy, from 4th to 15th for quality of life (listed as life, health & inclusion in 2023), from 29th to 35th for technology and innovation, and from 1st to 4th for business friendliness. 

  • Less Hospitable For Raising Families: Long heralded as one of the best states to raise a family, New Hampshire’s national ranking fell five spots during Sununu’s time in office from 2nd best state to start a family in 2017 to the 7th best state in 2023. 

  • An Increase In Gun Violence: The first bill Sununu signed into law loosened New Hampshire’s gun laws that are now some of the weakest in the nation and an outlier in the region, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. More than half of Granite Staters say they are more concerned about gun violence compared to a year ago and 57 expressed concern their family members could be a victim of gun violence, according to polling conducted by Breakthrough Campaigns for AmplifyNH in 2023. 

  • A Rising Tax Burden: New Hampshire went from 44th lowest tax burden in 2016 to lowest in 47th 2023).

  • Increasing Healthcare Costs With Worse Outcomes: Total annual health insurance premium costs in NH increased from $6,637 in 2016 to $8,053 in 2022, a 21% increase, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count Data Book, children and teen deaths per 100,000 increased from 18 in 2015 to 21 in 2021.

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About Amplify New Hampshire

Amplify New Hampshire is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization founded to keep Granite Staters informed of the decisions made in local, state, and federal government that will impact their lives and empower them to enact change. For more information, visit amplifynh.org.

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