N.H. Gov. Chris Sununu: ‘Extremism’ cost Republicans; voters want ‘more moderation’

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu pointed the finger Sunday at “extremist” GOP candidates, blaming them for his party’s poor midterm performance.

Mr. Sununu said the election results, in which Republicans failed to retake the Senate and are poised to have a razor-thin majority in the House, are “just a rejection of that extremism” by voters against Trump-backed candidates and those who deny the results of the 2020 election.

“It is not a good strategy. It’s nothing that works. Sure, it taps into an extreme base and a fire that’s there with some folks, but at the end of the day, you can’t govern if you don’t win,” Mr. Sununu said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Candidate quality matters. There’s a chance of extremism that I think a lot of Republicans were painted with, rightfully or not.”

Mr. Sununu said the past few elections have seen evidence that voters want more moderate candidates going forward and not those who brand themselves as far left or far right, but said that notion has largely been ignored within the party.

“Let’s go back to the 2020 election. Joe Biden was the most moderate of all the candidates running on the Democrat side. He was deemed the most moderate of both he and Donald Trump. America has been asking for more moderation for quite some time,” Mr. Sununu said. “There’s just certain parts of the Republican Party that haven’t listened so well. We’ve just got to get back to basics. It’s not unfixable.”