Chris Sununu boasts about beating Ron DeSantis in a conservative ranking: 'I'm sorry, Ron.'

• New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu took a swipe at Ron DeSantis while boosting his conservative credentials.
• "I'm number 1 in personal freedoms, right?" Sununu told Politico. "I'm sorry, Ron. You're number 2.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on Thursday took a swipe at a potential 2024 GOP primary rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, while boosting his own conservative credentials.

"I'm number 1 in personal freedoms, right?" Sununu said during a Politico interview. "I'm sorry, Ron. You're number 2."

Sununu referenced DeSantis while pushing back against the moderator's description of Sununu as a "moderate" Republican. He was apparently citing an index of personal and economic freedom in the states, created by the libertarian think tank Cato Institute.

He also appeared to take a shot at DeSantis for his ongoing war with Disney.

"I'm a principled free market conservative," Sununu said. "For others out there that think that the government should be penalizing your business because they disagree with you politically, that isn't very conservative."

Sununu didn't elaborate on that point, but it comes as DeSantis continues his feud with Disney over his move to restrict certain classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity. Florida Republicans are now moving legislation to give DeSantis new power over Disney properties.

"There's a new sheriff in town, and that's just the way it's going to be," DeSantis said at Wednesday.

Sununu said he tries to remind people of what "conservative" means. "Conservative does believe in limited government," he said. "Conservative knows the limits of those powers."

Sununu acknowledged during the interview that he is considering running for president, and he said his guess is that DeSantis will run too. The fourth term governor said he's using his "Live Free or Die" political committee to help him with logistics.

"People are asking me to travel around, and I think that's super cool," he said. "They want to know, 'How's New Hampshire different?' No sales tax, no income tax, I just got rid of interest and dividends tax."

Sununu boasted that he's ranked "the most fiscally conservative goveror of the country," though he did not cite the ranking. He said he would challenge anyone on Second Amendment rights and regulatory reform though he allowed that he's "maybe" more moderate on social issues.

"I would challenge anyone on conservative credentials," he said.