New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu implied Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) should have endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley because she gave him his job.
“Tim Scott wouldn’t have a job without Nikki Haley,” he told Fox News’s Martha MacCallum on Friday.
“Nobody cares what Tim Scott thinks,” Sununu said. “If they did, he actually wouldn’t have been driven out of this race three months ago.”
Scott is expected to announce his endorsement of the former president for the 2024 GOP nomination during Trump’s campaign rally Friday evening in Concord, N.H., according to two sources familiar with the plans.
Haley and Trump were both vying for backing from Scott, who suspended his bid in November.
Sununu, who threw his support behind Haley in December, argued senators are worried about Haley because “she calls them out.” He then repeated her claims that the upper chamber is “overpaid” and “underworked” and essentially a “privileged nursing home.”
“They get frustrated because someone’s actually gonna become president that holds them accountable, that holds them to fiscal discipline that actually wants to drain the swamp,” he said. “That’s what Nikki’s trying to do.”
“You shouldn’t be surprised that senators feel threatened by it because they’ve basically made a career out of public service,” Sununu added.
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan also questioned Scott’s decision Friday, calling the looming endorsement “concerning.”
“It’s certainly not good news. It doesn’t come as a huge surprise. It’s concerning,” he said in an interview with contributor Kevin Cirilli of The Hill’s “Daily Debrief.”
While Hogan, the former co-chair of No Labels, a nonprofit group attempting to build support for a third-party ticket, has also endorsed Haley in the GOP primary race, he has not closed the door to running his own bid.
The news comes just days ahead of the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary.
While Trump maintains the lead, Haley has been gaining momentum in the Granite State. She is only trailing Trump by 10.6 percent, according to the polling average from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ.