A brand-new super PAC tied to Trump’s political operation has booked $10 million in New Hampshire ads to send John E. Sununu back to the Senate.
A brand-new super PAC (political action committee) tied to President Donald Trump is pouring $10 million into New Hampshire to send John E. Sununu back to the US Senate. Because it’s a super PAC, it can spend unlimited money, and because it was formed so late, the people paying for it can stay hidden until late-October.
No Going Back PAC Inc. didn’t exist until Sept. 1. One week later, on the day primary voters made Sununu the Republican nominee, it booked $9.6 million worth of New Hampshire ads, the New York Times reported. Its reservations here have since grown to about $10 million, according to AdImpact data cited by CNN. Two people with knowledge of the arrangement told the Times the group is financially backed by MAGA Inc., Trump’s main super PAC, whose name comes from his “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited money to help candidates as long as they don’t work directly with the campaigns, and they have to report their donors. But because No Going Back formed so recently, it won’t have to file paperwork naming its funders until October 22, just weeks before Election Day on Nov. 3.
The group shares a treasurer, address, and phone number with MAGA Inc. Reports filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show it has already spent $1.8 million against New Hampshire Democratic Senate nominee, US Rep. Chris Pappas (D-Manchester).
Nationally, Trump’s political operation has lined up nearly $138 million in ads, mail and texts in just 10 days.
Trump gave Sununu his “Complete and Total Endorsement” on Feb. 1. Since then, Sununu has called the Senate race “important to President Trump’s agenda” and said he would “absolutely” campaign with the president. Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said at the NH GOP’s recent Unity Breakfast he believes Donald Trump should be “front and center” in the New Hampshire general election.
Sununu has recently helped defend Trump’s tariffs. In 2005, the libertarian Cato Institute named Sununu the Senate’s top free-trade supporter. He has since described the economic impact of Trump’s tariffs as “very modest.” Granite Post found he held stock in food and retail companies that raised prices while backing Trump’s economic agenda.
Other national Republican groups have been spending in the race since at least February.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune, committed $17 million to help Sununu. The group says that’s its biggest investment in New Hampshire in a decade.
One Nation, a nonprofit tied to the Senate Leadership Fund, reserved $6 million for New Hampshire this summer and has run ads attacking Pappas.
Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group whose super PAC endorsed Sununu, spent nearly $2 million supporting him before September. That’s about twice what Sununu’s own campaign had spent as of Aug. 19, the New Hampshire Bulletin reported.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s America PAC spent more than $90,000 on mailers opposing Pappas in late August, according to Reuters and CNBC. The group has also run digital ads in New Hampshire, NBC News reported.
In June, the US Supreme Court also struck down limits on how much political parties can spend working hand in hand with their candidates. That means the National Republican Senatorial Committee can now spend unlimited money alongside Sununu’s campaign.
All told, Republican groups have reserved more than $31 million in ads for the final two months of the race.
Democratic groups are spending, too. Senate Majority PAC reserved $10.2 million in TV ads to back Pappas. Its affiliate, WinSenate, launched an ad attacking Sununu’s lobbying career the day after the primary.
On Tuesday, the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election forecaster, moved the race from “Lean Democrat” to “Toss Up,” meaning either candidate has a reasonable chance of winning. Cook pointed to the money national Republicans have put into the race as a warning sign for Democrats.
Pappas has raised far more from donors, $14.6 million to Sununu’s $4.1 million through Aug. 19. But Sununu has spent less, so the two campaigns had similar amounts in the bank heading into September: $3.84 million for Pappas and $3.02 million for Sununu.
Sununu has praised the sweeping tax and spending law Trump signed last year. “We also pared back Medicare and Medicaid spending in the Big Bill that passed,” he said at a Cheshire County Republican Committee event on March 4, in footage obtained by Granite Post. He said Republicans “did the right thing” by passing it.
More than 31,000 Granite Staters, most of them low-income seniors, are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. During his earlier time in the Senate, Sununu voted to cut Medicare 13 times.
Granite Post has also reported extensively on Sununu’s record:
- The lobbyist money behind Sununu’s comeback.
- A stock portfolio that looks a lot like his donor list.
- His support for public funding of Trump’s White House ballroom.
- The more than $28 million in government money that has flowed to his family’s ski town and companies since 2010.
