‘His family is in on every deal’: Defeated GOP Senate candidate hits Trump over corruption
WASHINGTON, DC: Former Republican Senator John Sununu lashed out at President Donald Trump, blaming him for a disastrous midterm loss.
Sununu, who lost his Senate bid for New Hampshire, accused Trump of failing to fulfill his promise to tackle corruption, claiming that “his family is on every transaction.”
He also blamed Trump's business dealings and ongoing military campaign against Iran for driving voters away from Republicans in Tuesday's elections.
Failed GOP Senate candidate says Trump deserves blame for midterm defeat
Speaking to former Ohio Gov. John Kasich on SiriusXM’s 'The John Kasich Show', Sununu said Trump’s failure to deliver on his promises to end the Iran conflict and “drain the swamp” hurt Republican candidates in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
He blamed the president for much of the party’s heavy losses, saying voters were turned away by his actions.
“Now it seems like he or his family is on every transaction and deal that goes on in Washington,” Sununu said. “Those two things, I think, caused people to say, ‘You know, I just can’t vote for a Republican while he’s still in office.'”
Sununu lost his bid to Democratic Representative Chis Pappas, who defeated him in the New Hampshire Senate race. Although the race was considered competitive, pre-election polls generally showed Pappas leading.
Notably, served as a Republican US Senator from New Hampshire from 2003 to 2009. He was also the Republican nominee for the US Senate from New Hampshire in the 2026 election..
“This president ran on and won on a platform of drain the swamp, right? The institutional corruption, whatever you want to call it, drain the swamp,” he continued.
“And now it seems like he or his family is in on every transaction and deal that goes on in Washington.”
Trump blames candidates, says his absence from ballot cost GOP
On the other hand, President Donald Trump has blamed GOP candidates’ quality and touted that the GOP would have registered a landslide victory in midterm polls if he had been on the ballot
“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday night as election results showed Democrats making significant gains.
Trump also targeted Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, calling him a “RINO,” while refusing to take responsibility for the party's losses.
Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz earlier blamed the GOP’s poor performance on candidates he called “uninspiring, lazy and thoroughly ineffective communicators.”
He specifically criticized Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), whose campaign struggled to gain traction against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.
