New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said former President Donald Trump winning the GOP nomination will hurt down-ballot Republicans.
“No question Trump on the ticket hurts our Senate races, our gubernatorial races,” Mr. Sununu told MSNBC on Monday. “That’s why I love Nikki Haley so much, because she doesn’t just win, she wins the swing states, she makes it easy to win everything else.”
Mr. Sununu endorsed Ms. Haley in December, saying that “no one can match her resume.”
He has been vocal about his dislike of Mr. Trump, and has echoed Ms. Haley’s mantra that the ex-president is followed by “chaos and distraction.”
Mr. Sununu, a Republican, urged New Hampshire voters to get out and vote Tuesday at the first-in-the-nation primary.
“Don’t sit at home. If you’re in New Hampshire, don’t sit at home and wait to see what happens. Go vote. Participate,” he said. “If you think Trump’s a threat to democracy, you participate in democracy. You beat him at the ballot box. Don’t wait for court cases and all that other stuff to take him down. It’s never happened before.”
Tuesday’s primary is a big chance for Ms. Haley, a former South Carolina governor, who climbed in the polls but still trails the former president by about 19 points in New Hampshire.
Mr. Trump won big in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15 and appears poised to run away with the nomination unless New Hampshire delivers a surprise win for Ms. Haley.
“We want to get as high of a voter turnout as possible tomorrow and if we do that, she’s got a real chance,” Mr. Sununu said.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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