Sununu: Trump’s 2024 Announcement ‘Won’t Clear Field’

New Hampshire Republicans and Democrats had mixed reactions to Donald Trump's announcement Tuesday that he will make another run for the White House in 2024.

“America’s comeback starts right now,” Trump told cheering supporters at his Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida. "In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States."

Trump was dark in his assessment of the United States under President Joe Biden, calling the country a "nation in decline" with “blood-soaked streets” in “cesspool cities."

The announcement came a week after Election Day saw many candidates backed by Trump lose, including First Congressional District candidate Karoline Leavitt and U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc.

No Major Impact

New Hampshire state Rep.Al Baldasaro from Londonderry told WMUR he was in Florida for the announcement and called Trump "the real deal."

Ahead of the announcement, Gov. Chris Sununu was not impressed with Trump's decision.

“Won’t clear the field. He’s really making an announcement at one of his weakest political points, right? I mean, we just got crushed in this election,” Sununu told Fox News while at a Republican National Governor's Association national conference in Orlando. "He’s never been weaker politically. It’s really an announcement from a defensive position. And therefore, I think it’s going to make a little bit of news and we’re all going to move on."

Sununu was again not firm on his own plans for the White House, and said he is not ruling anything else out

New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley said a Trump candidacy would be "disastrous" for Republicans if he's the 2024 nominee.

"With the support of the New Hampshire Republican Party leadership, who have already made their preference for Trump being the nominee widely known, we have no doubt Trump will be on the ballot, and Democrats across New Hampshire will unite like never before in rejecting his dangerous ideas and policies, just as they have every time his name has been on the ballot in the past," Buckley said in a statement.

In an Emerson College polling survey taken just before Election Day of likely New Hampshire voters, President Joe Biden tops Trump in a 2024 rematch 45%-41%, with 11% of the respondents saying they would vote for someone else.

If Trump were to win in 2024, he could only serve one additional term. The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states no one will be elected to the office of President more than twice.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH