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‘That’s Not What Happened!’: GOP Governor Spars With ‘The View’ Co-Hosts Over Kamala Harris’ Candidacy

Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu sparred with "The View" co-hosts on Thursday over how Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu sparred with “The View” co-hosts on Thursday over how Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

Sununu criticized the lack of a primary process for the Democratic Party once President Joe Biden exited the 2024 election on July 21, arguing the delegates were not given a choice to pick a candidate. The co-hosts argued the Democratic Party immediately backed Harris to be the party’s nominee rather than being told to support her.

“Three phone calls were made between Schumer and Pelosi. Biden said I’m in this thing, I’m not leaving. A couple phone calls were made, and all of a sudden he’s pushed out. And then 48 hours later, all the delegates aren’t given a choice of other candidates, they’re told you’re gonna get behind Kamala,” Sununu said.

“That’s actually not what happened,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said in response to Sununu. “The other choices decided she was the best choice. That’s what they decided … but also Newsom said, ‘I’m not going to challenge this’ and people decided who would’ve gone in to challenge said ‘no actually we’re not going to challenge her, we actually think.'”

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Sununu offered a scenario where the Republican Party’s delegates pulled Trump out and immediately installed former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley into the election. The co-hosts suggested that would be a good outcome, while Sununu argued that voters should decide on the party’s nominee rather than the “elites.”

“That would be awful for America. But that would be awful because the voters have to decide,” Sununu told the co-hosts amid their pushback. “Because voters have to decided, not elites.”

“Stop calling them elites!” Goldberg snapped. “That’s divisive.”

Co-host Sunny Hostin argued that Harris earned the vote by being Biden’s running mate in both 2020 and 2024, though voters did not choose their nominee’s running mate.

Harris dropped out of the 2020 presidential primary in December 2019 while polling at an average of 3%, according to Roll Call. The then-presidential candidate won only 844 votes in her primary run and secured zero delegates in the process, according to election data.

The vice president garnered the lowest vice-presidential favorability rating in NBC News poll history in June 2023 with a net-negative rating of -17 in June 2023. Among the 1,000 people surveyed, 32% had a positive view of Harris and 49% had a negative view of her, including 39% who had a “very negative view.”

Harris raised $81 million in the first 24 hours of her presidential campaign on July 22, one day after Biden’s withdrawal from the race. She exceeded the required number of delegates needed for the nomination by securing at least 2,688 delegates by the morning of July 23, just two days after launching her campaign.

Featured image credit: [Screenshot/The View]