MANCHESTER, N.H. – On Thursday morning, the re-election bid of New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu was officially endorsed by the Associated Builders and Contractors of New Hampshire and Vermont (ABC-NH/VT) in a ceremony outside of the currently under construction 409 Elm St. apartment building.
“Governor Sununu’s pro-free enterprise and pro-economic prosperity agenda has certainly helped and promote and make New Hampshire the envy the rest of the country,” said Joshua Reap, CEO and President of ABC-NH/VT. “We’re booming and a lot of that is due to these policies we’ve seen in place.”
Gerry Dupont, co-owner of Red Oak Apartment Homes, the company developing the 409 Elm St. building, also praised Sununu.
“Governor Sununu, we applaud your efforts to make New Hampshire a place people want to call home and we support your initiatives to keep New Hampshire a place to live, work and play,” she said.
In turn, Sununu praised the building and expressed his hope to see similar projects come to the Manchester area and provide additional housing and across the state through initiatives such as the InvestNH program as well as new appeals boards that contractors can use to challenge local zoning decisions they feel were made incorrectly.
While Sununu said he doesn’t support state-level action mandating more housing in cities and towns across the state, he believes that the current incentives and support are helping to address the issue of affordable housing in a timely manner while balancing the concerns of some home-owners who may not want additional neighbors.
“We have small towns that would never typically look at affordable housing-type projects, but maybe they are looking at five units here or ten units there and that’s exactly what we’re hoping to incentivize,” “I think some concerns are serious and they happen, but we’re trying to create opportunities to overcome them a little easier and a little faster because speed is the issue, right?”
Sununu also discussed several infrastructure investments at the state level ranging from broadband to cleaner drinking water that have also helped the state’s economy along with the initiatives related to supporting housing developers, but he expressed skepticism over a proposed commuter rail station slated just a few thousand feet away from 409 Elm St., stating its potential cost and the change in commuting habits after the COVID-19 pandemic as well as his view that it would help the Massachusetts economy more than the New Hampshire economy.
In regard to the endorsement, he viewed it as “more valuable than anything in the world,” given the size of the group, which currently is connected with 260 businesses across the state.
“When you get endorsed by those groups that represent tens of thousands of people across the state, those endorsements matter,” he said.
Sununu put the endorsements of large groups in contrast to endorsements by individuals, even himself, which he views as minor in comparison. He did not want to presume that his endorsement would be the deciding factor in any race, but said he would be happy to support any Republican even if he doesn’t formally endorse them and believes that regardless of endorsements, the key factor is the candidates themselves.
“At the end of the day, this is New Hampshire, right? The voters really decide on the candidates based on who’s going to create the best opportunities for them and their families, and that’s what they should do,” he said.