Gov. Chris Sununu said his repeated swipes at Donald Trump saying the former president can’t win back the White House in 2024 and won’t be the Republican nominee are “nothing personal.”

However, the former president, who launched his third straight White House run in November, seems to be taking Sununu’s jabs quite personally.

“Isn’t he a nasty guy?” Trump said of New Hampshire’s governor at a campaign event last week in Manchester.

Trump also targeted Sununu for deciding against running for the U.S. Senate in 2022 to challenge Democratic incumbent Sen. Maggie Hassan, whom Republicans had heavily targeted and viewed as vulnerable.

“He could’ve really made an impact,” Trump said. “He could’ve run for the Senate. He probably would’ve easily won because of the family name, would’ve won. And that would have been a tremendous thing.”

Then Trump, who’s the overwhelming front-runner at this early point in the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race, turned his scorn to Sununu’s potential 2024 White House run.

“Instead, he wants to play games with running for president,” Trump said.

Sununu, speaking with reporters on Wednesday after an Executive Council meeting, said he paid Trump’s comments no mind.

“I didn’t see his speech, really,” when asked about Trump’s comments.

He reiterated that the GOP is ready to look ahead.

“We all need, as Republicans, someone that can win in November of ‘24. Period, end of story, that’s it,” Sununu said. “If you can’t assure the Republican Party that you can cross the line in November of ‘24 — and it’s pretty clear he can’t — then we have to find somebody else. That’s it. It’s nothing personal. We’re moving on as a party.”

Sununu supported Trump during the 2016 general election and again as the then-president unsuccessfully ran for re-election in 2020. The governor had a strong working relationship with the Trump White House, including close ties with then-Vice President Mike Pence.

However, Sununu has long pushed back against Trump’s unproven claims that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” and “stolen.” He also started stating in early 2021 that the GOP is larger than any one person, which was perceived as a swipe at the former president.

Starting last autumn, Sununu amped up his criticism of the former president during numerous national interviews on cable news networks and Sunday talk shows.

Taking aim at Trump for potentially skipping the first Republican presidential primary debate in August, Sununu said last weekend in a Fox News interview that “leaders don’t wimp out. If President Trump wimps out on this one, he’ll have a lot of explaining to do.”

Sununu has flirted with running for the White House for months and has said he will likely decide in the early summer, following the conclusion of New Hampshire’s current legislative session and the signing of the state’s next biennial budget.

“My family’s behind me,” Sununu told Fox News on Sunday. “My mission right now is to make the party bigger. Now if that means me getting on the stage and I can do that in the best way, I’m going to do it. I think that would be a lotta fun and I guarantee Fox a lot of great ratings. But if I can be a better helper and more of a team player by helping other candidates, I’m going to do that as well.”

2024 Watch – on deck

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina returns to New Hampshire on Monday and Tuesday, for his second trip in a month to the state that holds the first primary and second overall contest in the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate and a rising star in the GOP, is scheduled to hold a town hall on Monday evening at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, as part of his listening tour.

The senator recently launched a presidential exploratory committee and is expected to formally declare his candidacy at an event in his home state of South Carolina on May 22.

Trump returns to the Granite State on Wednesday for his second trip in two weeks. He’s scheduled to headline a CNN town hall at Saint Anselm College. It will be Trump’s first appearance on CNN since his 2016 campaign for president.

Former two-term Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson – who formally launched his Republican presidential campaign last week – will also be campaigning in New Hampshire on Wednesday.

Joyce Craig’s big bucks

Democratic Mayor Joyce Craig of Manchester is showcasing her fundraising prowess as she moves closer to running for governor next year.

Craig highlighted this week that she hauled in over $100,000 in the 72 hours following her Monday morning announcement that she was setting up a gubernatorial exploratory committee. The move by the three-term Democratic mayor of New Hampshire’s largest city was her first formal step towards launching a 2024 campaign for the corner office.

A release from her exploratory committee stated that the contributions came from all ten of New Hampshire’s counties, with three-quarters of donations $200 or less.

“I’m so grateful to everyone who has chipped in and expressed support for our exploratory committee over the past few days. This early momentum is a clear sign that Granite Staters are ready for a governor that puts families and communities first,” Craig touted in a statement.

Craig, who made history as the first woman elected to lead Manchester, announced in March that she wouldn’t seek a fourth two-year term in November, and sources close to the mayor told the Monitor that she was seriously looking at a potential run for governor in 2024.

The mayor on Monday also unveiled a large list of leading political leaders heading up her gubernatorial exploratory committee, led by former four-term Gov. John Lynch and former first lady Susan Lynch.

Former state Sen. Dr. Tom Sherman – the 2022 Democratic gubernatorial nominee who was seriously considering a second straight bid for New Hampshire governor – said in a video a few hours after Craig’s announcement that he wouldn’t run again.

Democrat Cinde Warmington - who’s currently serving her second two-year term on New Hampshire’s five-member Executive Council representing District 2, which includes Concord – is seriously mulling a gubernatorial run.

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