NH Primary Source: Trump says he’d ‘like to see’ Sununu run for US Senate

(New Hampshire Primary Source is a regular feature of WMUR’s political coverage.) TRUMP: SUNUNU SHOULD RUN FOR SENATE. Former President Donald Trump told a radio talk show host Monday he thinks Gov. Chris Sununu should run for the U.S. Senate.Trump did not give an official endorsement to the governor, but, answering a question posed by conservative commentator Howie Carr on whether Sununu should challenge Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan in 2022, Trump said:“I’d like to see him — look, I’d like to see him run.”He added a few minutes later, “I think he would poll the highest.”In the meantime, Trump repeated a claim that there was widespread voter fraud in New Hampshire in 2020.He said: “I think we did really well in New Hampshire. I think that was one of the states, that was another one that was, something went wrong. And they did, you saw the work that they did.“They found out tremendous amounts of corruption in that election in the area that you know so well. It’s great.“And I knew we did well in that area and we won that area and they said we lost it.“Now they found out we won it. It’s a disgrace. So, you know, I’m not exactly thrilled about it. I, I’ve always felt we won New Hampshire. I think so did you.”While Trump did not explain what he was referring to, it appears that he was speaking about the result of the state representatives’ race in Windham.An audit of that contest found that a discrepancy between the Election Day and recount vote totals in the state representatives’ race was caused by improperly machine-folded absentee ballots. The folds in about 400 absentee ballots were miscounted as votes, the auditors said.The audit reviewed the governor’s race and U.S. Senate race in the town for comparative purposes but did not review the presidential race.The official results of the presidential race in Windham, listed on the Secretary of State’s website, shows that Trump received 5,196 votes and President Joe Biden received 4,567 votes.In Rockingham County, Biden received 100,064 votes to 95,858 for Trump.Statewide, Biden received 424,937 votes and Trump received 365,660 votes. WMUR is seeking comment from the governor’s spokesperson and the state Republican Party in response to Trump’s comments about a Sununu run for the Senate and the election in New Hampshire. We will add their comments if they respond.In May, prior to the audit, Trump claimed without evidence there was “massive election fraud in New Hampshire.”Sununu rejected the claim, saying: “A discrepancy of 300 votes out of over 800,000 cast does not constitute ‘massive election fraud.’ In fact, it is proof that New Hampshire’s voting process is the most reliable, safe and secure in the country, and that we will ensure every last vote is accurately accounted for.”New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Raymond Buckley said Monday night in a statement:“Chris Sununu should be embarrassed to receive such a toxic endorsement from Donald Trump. While backing Sununu’s potential Senate candidacy, Trump profoundly insulted the integrity of our elections and our state’s proud tradition of democracy.“It’s no surprise that just like (Senate Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump is now backing Chris Sununu. Both know that Sununu would be another ‘yes’ vote for their toxic agenda. This endorsement is an insult to our state and Chris Sununu should reject it, but I’m not holding my breath.”