Republican lawmaker drops out of key US Senate race — and floats replacement

Days before the federal campaign financial reporting deadline, Republican state Sen. Dan Innis announced he's leaving the race and is begging the younger John E. Sununu to run instead.

Speaking to WMUR9, Innis said that former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown can't win a race against Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH).

"I wanted a good conservative voice to go to D.C. for this seat," Innis said. "But now we've got John Sununu coming in. This is a good conservative as well, and I'm getting behind him because I think he'll be terrific in Washington."

Sununu told Fox News last week, "I know I can win," but he hasn't made a formal announcement yet.

"Sununu is the respected, experienced, and trusted conservative that I was hoping would jump in the race last spring,” Innis said of the establishment Republican. “That is why today I am proudly suspending my campaign for the U.S. Senate and joining the campaign to draft John Sununu for U.S. Senate!”

The seat will be an open one as Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) intends to retire.

John E. Sununu is the brother of former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and the son of former Gov. John H. Sununu. At one point, he was the youngest member of the U.S. Senate. Now, Sununu is 16 years older than Pappas, who is currently leading his primary opponent, Karishma Manzur.

Sununu was defeated by Shaheen in 2008.

“If Sen. Brown truly wants to see his adopted home state elect a Republican U.S. senator next year, we will need a unified Republican Party supporting the best candidate. The last thing we need is a long, drawn-out primary that will inevitably end with Sen. Sununu as the nominee, because Granite Staters will never accept a former Massachusetts senator who consistently sided with Barack Obama and the Democrats the last time he was in Washington," Innis said in a statement, taking a dig at Brown, who previously served as a U.S. Senator in the state to the south.