Gov. Chris Sununu says that he’s a veteran when it comes to the state’s biennial budget process.

Standing in front of a joint session of the legislature at his inauguration to a fourth two-year term steering New Hampshire, the Republican governor highlighted that “together we have crafted three balanced budgets, with no new taxes, and we are going to do it again.”

In an interview this week, Sununu highlighted his budget crafting experience.

“Not that we have the budget dialed in, but this is my fourth go-around at the budget. I know exactly what I want to see in it. I know how to balance it. I know how to invest in the surpluses and make sure that we have rainy day funds and savings,” the governor said. “We’re really, I think, way ahead of the game where we were in previous years in terms of the budget.”

Sununu said he’s meeting with state senators and House members and communicating with all the state commissioners about financial priorities for the next two years.

The governor touted that New Hampshire is “one of the strongest states in the country…economically. Businesses are pouring in. Families are pouring in.”

Sununu highlighted the state’s fiscal discipline, noting “we’ve cut taxes, we have these huge surpluses.”

However, the state’s financial beekeeping is not without its detractors. Two different lawsuits are challenging the way the state funds education arguing it puts an unfair burden on property poor towns. Another lawsuit is challenging the state’s education savings account program that stands to distribute more than $14 million to the families whose children do not attend traditional public schools and in some cases attend religious schools. Other municipal leaders have complained that the state has downshifted its responsibility to fund the state retirement system onto towns, cities and schools, which have no choice but to pass the financial burden on to residents in the form of property taxes.

Sununu said the budget process will be important in case of a recession later this year.

“There’s a huge opportunity to make sure we can weather any type of recession that might come in,” Sunun said. “And my job is as governor is to make sure we’re the last ones in a recession and the first ones out.”

The governor is expected to unveil his budget proposal during an address to a joint session of the legislature in mid-February.

“Gov. Sununu has certainly gotten a lot of his budget priorities passed… from his first budget with things like full day kindergarten to last year where we saw the paid family medical leave. At the same time, the House and the Senate have made major alterations to the governor’s budget. When you look at the totality, it’s always going to be a push and pull,” longtime Americans for Prosperity New Hampshire state director Greg Moore told the Monitor.

One of those alterations to the state budget was the inclusion of an abortion ban after 24 weeks of pregnancy, which became law when Sununu signed the budget.

Moore, a former state House of Representatives chief of staff, said internal dynamics in the governor’s office are interesting as well.

“I think one of the things that’s important to note is that while this is the governor’s fourth budget, he’s also on his fourth budget director,” Moore said.

Sununu spotlights 2024 ‘conversations’

Political pundits view Sununu — who cruised to a comfortable double-digit re-election victory in November and broadened his national footprint in recent months through a slew of cable news and Sunday talk show interviews — as a potential 2024 Republican presidential contender.

Sununu, who’s repeatedly said he is not ruling anything out when it comes to a possible White House bid, shared that “a lot of folks are coming to me. A lot of folks want me to run. It’s definitely conversations that we’re having.”

While he said that “my first priority is New Hampshire,” Sununu added “we’ll keep having those conversations.”

The governor said no timetable is set for his 2024 decision, emphasizing that there is still a year to go before the start of the presidential nominating calendar.

“There’s going to be a lot of time before folks even get in the race,” he said. “A lot of candidates will wait to get in. They’ll see where stuff goes. See where we are politically six months from now, or a year from now. Who knows what might happen between now and then.”

While Sununu continues to enjoy very healthy approval and favorable ratings in public opinion polling, he has his share of critics.

After the governor raised eyebrows last month by running digital ads in Iowa and South Carolina, which vote first and third in the GOP’s presidential nominating calendar, he was predictably criticized by longtime state Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley. However, Sununu has also taken incoming verbal fire from his right flank as well.

One vocal critic, former Donald Trump presidential campaign manager and top adviser Corey Lewandowski, pointed to primary losses last year by candidates in high profile races in New Hampshire and neighboring Massachusetts whom Sununu endorsed.

“Every single one lost the primary,” Lewandowski highlighted. “Chris Sununu’s standing is not strong enough in the Republican Party in New Hampshire.”

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