Dan Innis encouraged Scott Brown to also drop out of the U.S. Senate race and back John E. Sununu. (Photo by Will Steinfeld/New Hampshire Bulletin)
State Sen. Dan Innis became the first candidate in New Hampshire’s 2026 U.S. Senate race to drop out Thursday, and on his way out he endorsed John E. Sununu, who publicly said he’s considering a run but hasn’t officially launched a campaign.
Innis announced he was suspending his campaign in a statement posted online. He said he ran for the seat “because there was no real Conservative running” and that “Chris Pappas (a Democratic candidate) would be a disaster for our state, and I believe that only a true Republican with unquestionable Conservative credentials can defeat him next November.” However, when Sununu told WMUR he was considering joining the race earlier this month “all of that changed for me in an instant,” Innis said.
Dan Innis
“If Senator Sununu decides to put his name on the ballot, there is no way that I would try and stand in his way,” Innis wrote.
Innis lavished praise on Sununu, who previously represented New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate from 2003 to 2009 and is part of the politically connected Sununu family. He called Sununu “the respected, experienced and trusted Conservative that I was hoping would jump in the race last spring.”
Innis encouraged Scott Brown, the only other Republican in the race, to also drop out and back Sununu. Brown represented Massachusetts from 2010 to 2013 in the Senate before moving to New Hampshire.
Innis said if Sununu decides not to run, he’ll reactivate his campaign.
Sununu lost reelection to the Senate in 2008 and has remained out of elected office since. He is the brother of Chris Sununu, who served as New Hampshire’s governor from 2017 to 2025 and was widely rumored to be a candidate for this race until he publicly ruled out a campaign in April. His father, John H. Sununu, was governor from 1983 to 1989 and White House chief of staff under President George H.W. Bush.
On the Democratic side of the race, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas and progressive organizer Karishma Manzur are seeking the nomination. The race became wide open after current U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen announced in March she wouldn’t run for reelection after 18 years in the Senate.