New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) set himself apart from many members of his own party on Sunday, backing the House censure of Rep. Paul Gosar for promoting violence against Democrats and criticizing Republicans advocating retaliation against GOP lawmakers who voted for President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill.
“When a congressman says those things ... of course, they have to be censured for that ― of course they have to be held to bear for that,” Sununu told Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“When we talk about kicking people off of committees because they don’t like one vote or the other. Again, I just think they have their priorities screwed up.”
“It sounds to me like you said Paul Gosar should’ve been censured and stripped of his committees,” Bash said.
“Yes,” answered Sununu.
“And it’s OK for Republicans to support a bipartisan infrastructure bill,” Bash continued.
“Of course,” said Sununu.
Gosar was censured and stripped of his committee assignments for posting a doctored anime video depicting him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and attacking President Joe Biden.
Just two Republicans voted with Democrats to support the censure.
In contrast, when 13 Republicans joined most Democrats in the vote to pass President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which he signed into law last week, those lawmakers faced uproar from hard-line Republicans. The backlash included calls for political punishment, like having their committee assignments stripped.
Sununu was until recently a major prospect for Republicans hoping to flip the Senate in the 2022 midterms. He announced earlier this month that he won’t run for Senate and will instead seek a fourth term as governor, citing a desire to fight for people in his state rather than “slow down and end up on Capitol Hill debating partisan politics without results.”