Edelblut won’t run for governor, wants to focus on family

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CONCORD, NH – State Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, who finished a close second to Chris Sununu in the 2016 Republican primary for governor, says he’s not interested in running in next year’s gubernatorial election.

Sununu has said he won’t run for a record fifth term as the state’s top executive. A recent University of New Hampshire poll of 1,156 people showed Edelblut, of Wilton, as the least popular of potential GOP candidates for governor.

“Having prayed and counseled with many over this decision, I have decided that I will not be running in this cycle,” Edelblut said in an op-ed published in the Union Leader on Sunday. “Rather, I will continue to serve out my term as the commissioner of education.”

The former member of the N.H. House of Representatives said the youngest of his seven children is now in college and he and his wife find themselves as “empty nesters.”

“While I am more in love with my wife today than when we first married, I have the opportunity today to rekindle and nurture this beautiful relationship with the woman I fell in love with 37 years ago.”

In 2021, the N.H. Executive Council, voting along party lines, appointed him to a second four-year term as education commissioner.

Edelblut has been a lightning rod for Democratic criticism.

His opponents assert he has not been supportive enough of teachers. Last year, he wrote an op-ed urging teachers not to “undermine the sacred trust” of education and stating that “biases are beginning to seep into our own institutions.”

Critics also take him to task for his strong support of the state’s school voucher system, which allows public dollars to be spent on private school tuition.

On Aug. 10, educators and others at a state Board of Education meeting spoke against his recommendation to allow a right-wing nonprofit, PragerU, to provide a free, online financial literacy course for high school students. The board tabled the matter and is scheduled to take it up again when it meets on Sept. 14.

The UNH poll released on Aug. 28 showed Edelblut with a favorability rating of -25, the least popular of potential GOP candidates. The favorability ratings represents the percentage who have a favorable opinion of the candidate minus those with an unfavorable opinion.

Other prospective Republican candidates also had negative favorability ratings: Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (-14), former N.H. Senate President Chuck Morse (-13 percent) and former Hillsborough County Treasurer Robert Burns (-12).

On the Democratic side of the governor’s race, Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig had a favorability rating of -9 and N.H. Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, whose district takes in much of the Monadnock Region, had a rating of +4.

However, the poll showed 65 percent of voters didn’t know enough about Warmington to have an opinion, while 37 percent didn’t have an opinion about Craig.

Meanwhile, the poll showed Sununu with a relatively high net approval rating of 63 percent.

When asked what they think is the greatest problem facing New Hampshire, 27 percent of poll respondents mentioned the cost of housing, 13 percent said the cost of living, 9 percent said drugs/addiction and 8 percent said homelessness.

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