Moderate NH Governor Dismisses Bid to Remove Trump from 2024 Ballot
CV NEWS FEED // Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu hinted that a long-shot bid by a former Trump-backed Senate candidate to remove the former president from the state’s 2024 ballot will likely fail.
Sununu appeared to distance himself from the attempt by New Hampshire lawyer Bryant Messner to remove Trump’s name.
The governor “first heard about this effort over the weekend,” Sununu spokesman Ben Vihstadt told FOX News. “The governor is not making any attempt or assisting any effort to keep anyone off the ballot. He has not spoken to and has nothing to do with Mr. Messner’s actions.”
“Providing he follows the same rules as all other candidates, the Governor doesn’t expect ballot access will be a problem for the former president,” said Vihstadt.
The effort to stop Trump’s candidacy in New Hampshire is spearheaded by Bryant “Corky” Messner, a lawyer and Army veteran who was the Republican nominee for the 2020 U.S. Senate race in the Granite State. Trump endorsed him in both the Republican primary and the general election. Messner narrowly won the primary and lost the general election in a landslide to incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
“The part of the Constitution Messner is citing in his effort to disqualify the former president is Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which explicitly bars anyone who has ‘engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the’ United States from running for public office,” CatholicVote reported Monday:
Messner’s argument hinges on the controversial narrative favored most by leading Democrats: that the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, was an “insurrection or rebellion against the” country, and that Trump “engaged” in it. The U.S. Senate acquitted Trump of those charges later in the month of January, 2021.
Sununu will be stepping down following the completion of his current and fourth term. He is one of the most popular governors in the country and is widely considered to be a moderate. He has also been critical of Trump.
Earlier this year, Sununu was rumored to be considering a bid to seek the Republican nomination for president but ultimately decided in June not to run.
