New Hampshire Republicans Initiate ‘Censure Sununu’ Petition amid Redistricting

New Hampshire Republicans have launched a “Censure Sununu” petition after the governor vetoed the Republican legislature’s redistricting maps.

If successful, the petition would publicly condemn Republican Gov. Chris Sununu (R) for vetoing redistricting maps, making anti-Trump statements, and generating anti-free speech restrictions around abortion clinics.

“People are excited to sign it. They want to send Sununu a message — they’ve had enough,” Josh Whitehouse, a former Trump administration official, told the New Hampshire Journal. Whitehouse is a former Trump White House official and member of the state legislature.

Whitehouse told the publication Gov. Sununu has sold the people of New Hampshire out by “alienating himself from the party’s base.”

“Sununu has done a lot to alienate himself from his own party’s base: the Republican legislation he’s vetoed, his anti-Trump statements, his attacks on the party,” Whitehouse said. “He’s driven away the Libertarians, the pro-Trump wing and, with his veto of the congressional districts, the party donors as well. They all feel like they’ve been sold a bill of goods.”

Last week, Gov. Sununu allied himself with Democrats on his state’s redistricting process by again promising to veto GOP-generated redistricting maps. The map would have benefited state Republicans by placing two radical Democrat members, Reps. Chris Pappas (D-NH) and Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH), in a head-to-head matchup in the second district. The map would also have removed the embattled Pappas from his stronghold in Manchester.

Because Sununu has promised to veto the map, the state court will likely draw the map in a more friendly way for Democrats. State Republicans have urged the court to again delay taking on the case until Sununu takes action.

Gov. Sununu has been accused of being selfish for wanting to remain the most powerful Republican in the state and for that reason has vetoed any map that would foster an up-and-coming Republican. “No ‘I’ in ‘Team,’” House Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R-Auburn) said about the veto.

Gov. Sununu’s actions of blocking the Republican-friendly map could allow House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to maintain the House. House Democrats are happy about that prospect.

“I couldn’t agree more with Gov. Sununu,” said vulnerable Pappas, who is hoping to remain in congress amid a red wave.

New Hampshire’s redistricting process must be decided by June 1, the first day of filing for the September primary.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.