Democrat nominee Kamala Harris is campaigning hard in the blue state of New Hampshire, which a Republican has not won since former President George W. Bush, because the polls are close and "she's scared," New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Wednesday on Newsmax.
"Remember in 2016, former President Trump only lost New Hampshire by like a couple thousand votes," the GOP governor said on "Wake Up America." "I mean, it was really about a 1% race. And that's more like what you're going to see in 2024, given the demographics, given all the polling that's coming out. It's very similar in New Hampshire as it played out against Hillary [Clinton] in 2016."
Further, New Hampshire voters are traditionally "very private" and don't answer polls about how they'll be voting, said Sununu.
The state could also prove crucial for a Trump win, said Sununu.
"If Harris were to take Michigan and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Trump still wins as long as he can carry Georgia and New Hampshire and Arizona, which he very well could do, so the four electoral votes here will be very important," the governor said.
And the candidate that puts in the work and money in New Hampshire can be "very successful," he added.
"We're hoping the Trump campaign keeps up the momentum, keeps the push here because it will drive not just him but up and down the ticket," said the governor.
New Hampshire's federal delegation is blue, he added, but the state's House, Senate, and governorship are "very much red," so "there's a lot of opportunity to win here in New Hampshire."
Sununu also told Newsmax that many voters are switching to vote as Republicans in his state, adding that the two issues that will drive the election are the economy and the border.
"It's not just the illegals, 11 million illegals coming in," said Sununu. "The issue that moves voters is drugs, is fentanyl. We know that's where it's coming from and so many families across this country have been devastated."
Meanwhile, Trump and Harris will square off in the Sept. 10 debate, and Sununu said his advice for Trump is to "do what he did in that first debate" against President Joe Biden and "keep it under control."
"Try to avoid the bombastic attacks on her personality and all that sort of thing," he said. "We're Republicans. We win on the issues. We have the right answers. We have real solutions."
This includes the economy, said Sununu.
"People are going to keep feeling that anxiety, that financial anxiety, that the Biden administration has drawn on them," he said. "If [Trump] can keep the attack right there, right focused on that agent of change, and let [Harris] just spin her wheels and talk about nothing, that's going to be a big win for him."
Sununu, meanwhile, had initially endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's presidential campaign, but he said Wednesday that there's no question that her supporters now back Trump, aside from a few exceptions.
He also said he thinks the polls will become more accurate than they were in August because Harris' "honeymoon is absolutely over."
"She has to stand on her own two feet. She's going to have to do interviews, have to do the debate, have to answer for all of this," said Sununu. "So if this is her high-water mark, which I believe it is, that's not a good sign for the Harris campaign."
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