(Bloomberg) -- New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu said he won’t run for president in 2024, but will instead use his position in the first GOP primary state to try to block Republicans from nominating former President Donald Trump.
“Too many candidates are afraid to confront Trump, surrendering to his attacks. I will have more credibility speaking out against Trump as a non-candidate to help move the conversation toward the future I believe the Republican Party should embrace,” Sununu said in a Washington Post opinion piece Monday.
Sununu, one of the nation’s most popular governors, has been critical of Trump’s personality as well as his policy positions, saying he failed to cut federal spending, secure the border and “drain the swamp.”
“If he is the nominee, Republicans will lose again,” Sununu said. “This is indisputable, and I am not willing to let it happen without a fight.”
Sununu, who embodies New Hampshire’s libertarian politics and describes himself as pro-choice on abortion, did not say who he would endorse. But he has also been critical of Ron DeSantis’s approach to culture war issues, saying the Florida governor was “trying to beat the Democrats at being big government authoritarians.”
“Government never solves a cultural problem,” he told CBS News earlier this year.
Just two weeks ago, Sununu said there was a “61% chance” he would run for president. But as others have gotten into the race — former Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork to run Monday and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is expected to announce this week — Sununu said the increasingly large field could play into Trump’s hands.
“The stakes are too high for a crowded field to hand the nomination to a candidate who earns just 35 percent of the vote, and I will help ensure this does not happen,” he said.
Read more: rump Changed the Rules to Make Winning the Nomination Easier
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