Republicans need to narrow primary field to beat Trump and win 2024 election, Gov. Sununu says

New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu on Monday said members of his own party need to narrow the 2024 GOP presidential primary field to defeat former President Donald Trump and win back the White House.

In a New York Times op-ed titled "If Republicans Narrow the Field, We Will Beat Trump," Sununu wrote that after the primary debates Wednesday, GOP candidates "need to see if they can catch fire this fall — and if they can’t, they need to step aside, because winnowing down the field of candidates is the single best chance to stop Mr. Trump."

Trump said Sunday that he will not attend the Republican primary debates in Wisconsin in light of a new CBS News/YouGov poll showing that he has 62% support in the primary, 46 points ahead of all other candidates.

Sununu, who cited the number of GOP candidates in June as a reason why he didn't enter the presidential primary race, wrote in the op-ed that the other Republicans are "running to save America," while "Trump is running to save himself."

His advice to candidates was to "not be afraid to attack Trump" at the debate this week, but the advice may not be as helpful as he hopes. The CBS poll showed that 91% of likely GOP primary voters said candidates should be "making the case for themselves" and just 9% said they should be "making the case against Trump."

"If Mr. Trump is the Republican nominee for president in 2024, Republicans will lose up and down the ballot," Sununu also wrote. He cited a recent Associated Press poll showing that nearly two-thirds of Americans say they are likely to not support Trump in 2024.

"Leaders within the Republican Party — governors, senators, donors and media influencers — have an obligation to help narrow the field," he wrote.

Candidates who do not qualify for the first two debates "must drop out" and by Christmas, those polling in the low single digits should leave the field as well, Sununu also said.

The first GOP presidential nominating race is scheduled for Jan. 15 in Iowa. Currently, only Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are receiving an average of more than 5% support in primary polls, according to FiveThirtyEight.

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