Scott Brown, a former U.S. senator for Massachusetts and ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during the first Trump administration, announced Wednesday he is running for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire.
Brown, a Republican, joins an early race to replace Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who announced in March that she would retire at the end of her term. U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, a Democrat, entered the race in April. No other Republicans have announced campaigns thus far.
“We need people in the United States Senate who can get the job done,” Brown said in his announcement video. “And I have a proven record of doing just that.”
Brown was one of the most common names floated by spectators as a potential candidate, and his path to the Republican nomination grew clearer after former Gov. Chris Sununu publicly ruled out a run.
Brown targeted Pappas Wednesday, saying in the video, “For four years, Chris Pappas has stood with Joe Biden as he opened the border, drove up the cost of everything, and made life just simply unaffordable.”
“Chris Pappas wants a better title,” he continued. “I want a better America.”
Pappas, who has represented New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District since 2018, responded to Brown’s announcement with a statement: “I got into this race because Granite Staters made it clear they want a Senator grounded in their values. … While Scott Brown looks for yet another opportunity to do Wall Street’s bidding and blindly support President Trump and his agenda, I’ll always put New Hampshire first.”
Brown was born at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, and moved to Massachusetts in his youth before starting a career in the state legislature there. In 2010, he won a special election to replace U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy and represent Massachusetts. He was defeated by Elizabeth Warren in his 2012 re-election bid and subsequently moved back to New Hampshire, where he ran for this same U.S. Senate seat in 2014. He won the GOP nomination but lost that election to Shaheen.
Brown praised President Donald Trump in his announcement and signaled his allegiance to the president.
“President Trump is fighting every day to right the ship,” he said. “He sealed the border. He stood up to China. And he restored our standing in the world.”
In his Massachusetts political career, Brown was known for his work on veterans’ issues and was ranked “the most popular officeholder in Massachusetts” in a Boston Globe poll. He once described himself as a “pro-choice moderate Republican,” according to Real Clear Politics. GovTrack named him the third most moderate Republican in the U.S. Senate in 2013.
“Scott Brown is right that Democrats like Chris Pappas are out-of-touch with Granite Staters,” Nick Puglia, regional press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement to the Bulletin. “New Hampshire is in play for Republicans in 2026, and we play to win.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which seeks to elect Republicans to U.S. Senate seats nationwide, deemed this a toss-up race.