AFP Action endorses John Sununu for 2026 New Hampshire Senate race

First on Fox: The political wing of a fiscally conservative political advocacy group with a strong grassroots outreach operation is taking sides in the Republican Senate primary battle. The winner will move into the race for a key swing state seat that the GOP aims to flip next year.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP Action) announced Monday that it supports former Republican Sen. John E. Sununu is running for 2026 to return to the Senate in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.

New Hampshire’s Senate battle is one of the few battles in next year’s midterm elections that will determine whether the GOP is able to not only defend its majority in the chamber, but perhaps expand it.

The endorsement of Sununu, who faces former Sen. Scott Brown for the Republican nomination, was first shared with Fox News Digital on Monday.

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“John Sununu is exactly the kind of principled leader New Hampshire needs in the U.S. Senate,” AFP Chief Operating Officer Nathan Nascimento said in a statement. “His deep roots in the Granite State and proven record of promoting limited government principles, cutting wasteful spending, and leading smart regulatory reform make him uniquely qualified to represent New Hampshire values ​​in Washington.”

AFP Action’s endorsement is their third in the 2026 Senate races, following their support of former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley of North Carolina and former Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan, who is making his second consecutive run for Senate. But it is the group’s first endorsement in a Senate race where President Donald Trump has so far remained neutral.

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Sununu is a former three-term representative who defeated then-Gov. Shaheen in the New Hampshire Senate elections in 2002. But the senator lost to Shaheen in a rematch in 2008.

Shaheen announced earlier this year that she would not seek re-election in next year’s midterm elections, and Republicans are working to flip the seat as they aim not only to defend their majority in the Senate, but to expand their 53-47 majority.

Now, after nearly two decades in the private sector, Sununu is back on the campaign trail in New England’s only swing state.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., speaks at a news conference with other Senate Democrats who voted to restore government funding, in Washington, D.C., on November 9, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

It’s been 15 years since Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in the swing state of New Hampshire. But Sununu is confident of his ability to break his party’s losing streak.

“This is a race I know I can win,” Sununu said in a recent Fox News Digital interview. “It’s the right message, the right set of issues, and the right person.”

Sununu is a brand name in New Hampshire politics. The former senator’s father, John Sununu, is a former governor who later served as White House chief of staff under President George H.W. One of his younger brothers is former Gov. Chris Sununu, who won election and re-election to four two-year terms to lead the Granite State.

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But Sununu will not have a smooth path to the Republican nomination.

Brown, who was elected and served three years in the Senate in neighboring Massachusetts and who narrowly lost to Shaheen during her first run for re-election as the 2014 GOP Senate nominee in New Hampshire, jumped into the race in late June.

Former Sen. Scott Brown, who launched his New Hampshire Republican Senate campaign in June, in an interview with Fox News Digital, on July 4, 2025, in Exeter, New Hampshire. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

“Our campaign will have the resources needed for the long run, and it will allow me to campaign the only way I know how: with continued hard work and a focus on the retail policies that Granite State voters expect,” Brown said after Fox News first reported two weeks ago that he had raised nearly $1.2 million in fundraising during his first three months as a candidate.

AFP Action’s national political team and New Hampshire team met with both candidates before deciding to endorse Sununu.

“John E. Sununu is a clear and proven champion of New Hampshire values ​​like limited government, personal responsibility and free markets,” AFP Regional Director Greg Moore said. “He is the perfect antidote to what’s wrong in Washington today and would do the Granite State proud in the U.S. Senate.”

AFP, the deeply influential grassroots network founded by billionaire Koch Brothers, highlights that in the 2024 election cycle, it and AFP Action have participated in a record-breaking 647 races, knocked on 20 million doors, and reached 30 million voters. The group says it expects to “significantly exceed 2024 metrics across the board” in the 2026 cycle.

“We will put our unparalleled grassroots operation in full support of this effort and will work to ensure that this race becomes about the issues that matter most to New Hampshire residents and not about the political noise that has become a feature of politics recently,” Moore emphasized.

Republicans are working to expand their 53-47 majority in next year’s midterm elections. Shaheen’s seat in New Hampshire is a prime GOP target, along with battleground Michigan, where Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is not running for re-election, and Georgia, where Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff faces a tough road to securing a second six-year term in the Senate.

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“We believe this will be among the most competitive races nationally this year, and we feel that AFP Action can have a significant impact in returning John E. Sununu to the Senate,” Moore said.

The winner of next September’s Republican primary will likely face off in the general election with four-term Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, the front-runner for his party’s Senate nomination.