Republican governor helps rescue competitor choking during lobster-roll contest

Chris Sununu, the Republican governor of New Hampshire, recently helped rescue a man who began choking during a lobster roll-eating contest.

Over the weekend, tens of thousands gathered for the annual Hampton Beach Seafood Festival near Hampton, New Hampshire, a town of some 16,000 residents located along the Atlantic Coast, just north of Massachusetts.

'Joey Chestnut I failed you.'

On Sunday, the festival hosted a lobster roll-eating competition, and Christian Moreno, a resident of Nashua and a newbie to food-eating competitions, decided to participate.

While competitors were scarfing down lobster rolls, Moreno suddenly began signaling that something was wrong. According to video shared by WMUR-TV, he began leaning forward and striking his chest repeatedly.

After several seconds, Gov. Sununu, who appeared to be standing nearby, noticed Moreno's distress and rushed onto the stage to render assistance.

"I started saying, ‘He’s choking, he’s choking,’ and I could tell people weren’t responding," the governor told WMUR-TV. "So I just moved forward and immediately started to kind of give him the Heimlich."

Sununu made at least four thrusts on Moreno's abdomen before an EMT on the scene ultimately dislodged the wayward morsel from his windpipe.

Moreno, apparently a fierce competitor, immediately returned to the competition and, according to Sununu, wolfed down several more lobster rolls before time was called.

"He went right back to the contest, which I couldn’t believe," Sununu said. "He ate another seven lobster rolls after that. Right down the gullet."

Unfortunately, those seven rolls weren't enough, and fellow contestant Chris Thurston of Somersworth walked away with the $600 first-place prize.

Moreno also did not realize the identity of his rescuer until after the incident was over.

"My counter came up to me and, like, made a joke and was like, 'Oh, like, I bet nobody else can say that they’ve gotten the Heimlich from the governor before.' And I looked at him, was just like, that was, that was the governor?" he recalled.

"Lo and behold, the governor was the first one to notice what was actually happening."

Moreno and Sununu reconnected after the event and posed for a couple of pictures together, including one in which they humorously reenacted the choking scene. Moreno shared the image on his Facebook account with the message: "Joey Chestnut I failed you."

In another Facebook post, Moreno credited Sununu and the paramedic with saving his life and warned viewers: "Remember to chew your food everybody."

He also insisted to WMUR-TV that he will compete again next year.

"I will be there for my redemption, 100%."

After four terms as governor though, Sununu, 49, will not compete again for the governor's office, the New York Post reported, announcing in July that he would not seek re-election.

"Could I win again? Of course. But it’s [public] service, and someone else needs to kind of take the mantle," he said in June.

Blaze News reached out to the Hampton Area Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the seafood festival, for comment.

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