Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott P. Brown announced Wednesday that he is making another bid for the Senate from New Hampshire next year. Brown is the first high-profile Republican to enter the race for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who defeated him when he sought the seat in 2014. Democrats have coalesced around Rep. Chris Pappas, whom Brown went after in a video launching his campaign for the seat. “In Washington, we haven’t been represented by the right people. 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,” the former senator said. “If we send Chris Pappas to the Senate, we’ll get more of the same,” he added. Republicans haven’t won a Senate race in New Hampshire since 2010, when Kelly Ayotte, now the state’s governor, won a single term. But the GOP is optimistic about competing in the state, which could be the party’s third-best pickup option in 2026, behind Georgia and Michigan. Senate Republicans currently hold 53 seats and have a favorable map heading into the 2026 elections, with just two races for GOP-held seats currently rated as competitive by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales. Pappas responded to Brown’s Senate announcement by arguing that New Hampshire voters “know where I stand” and that his potential opponent “stands with corporate special interests.” “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,” Pappas said in a statement. Brown first came to the Senate in 2010, when, as a little-known state legislator in heavily Democratic Massachusetts, he scored an upset victory in the special election to complete the late Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s term. Two years later he lost a bid for a full term to Democrat Elizabeth Warren. Following his defeat, he moved to New Hampshire, a state to which he has deep family ties, and challenged Shaheen in 2014, falling short by 3 points. Brown later served as U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during President Donald Trump's first term. His wife, former broadcast journalist Gail Huff Brown, ran for Pappas’ 1st District seat in 2022, placing third in a Republican primary won by Karoline Leavitt, who is now the White House press secretary. Brown, who was the first current or former senator to endorse Trump for president in 2016, told WMUR that he would welcome the president’s support in the race. "There's no assurances in anything in life at all. I live every day as if it's my last — and certainly I would love the president's endorsement," Brown said. It’s not clear whether Brown will have the GOP lane to himself, as appears to be the case for Pappas on the Democratic side. Former Gov. Chris Sununu has already said he won’t run. Businessman Walter McFarlane, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination to challenge Pappas in the 1st District last year, has said he is considering a bid. Nonprofit executive Phil Taub, who considered challenging Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan during the 2022 cycle before deciding against it, has also said he was looking at the race. The National Republican Senatorial Campaign stopped short of endorsing Brown on Wednesday, though it expressed confidence in the party’s chances next year. "Scott Brown is right that Democrats like Chris Pappas are out-of-touch with Granite Staters. New Hampshire is in play for Republicans in 2026, and we play to win," NRSC regional press secretary Nick Puglia said in a statement. National Democrats, meanwhile, pointed out that Granite State voters had already rejected Brown. “Republicans have not won a Senate seat in New Hampshire in more than a decade and 2026 will be no different,” Maeve Coyle, a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement. Inside Elections rates the Senate race in New Hampshire as a battleground.
