Morning Digest: Scott Brown is trying another comeback

The one-time Massachusetts senator is pinning his hopes on New Hampshire—again

Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (at right), with former Vice President Mike Pence (credit: Scott Brown X account)

Leading Off

NH-Sen

Former Sen. Scott Brown, who briefly represented Massachusetts in Congress more than a decade ago, announced Wednesday that he would wage a second Senate campaign in the neighboring state of New Hampshire.

Brown is the first prominent Republican to enter the race to succeed retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the Democrat who defeated him in 2014, but he may soon have some company in the GOP primary.

Rep. Chris Pappas, by contrast, is on a glide path to the Democratic nomination, and Brown is already preparing for their potential general election battle.

"For four years, Chris Pappas has stood with Joe Biden," Brown tells the audience in his launch video. The Republican, who served as Donald Trump's ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, goes on to praise his old boss for "fighting every day to right the ship."

Brown was an ardent Trump supporter during the 2016 presidential primary at a time when party leaders were still wary of their new frontrunner, and Trump rewarded him with an ambassadorship the following year.

Following Trump's loss in 2020, though, Brown's feelings changed—at least for a little while. The ex-senator remained a visible presence in the first-in-the-nation primary state heading into the 2024 presidential primaries, and he used his perch to say kind things about Mike Pence.

At one of his "No BS BBQ" events in the fall of 2023, he praised the former vice president's actions on Jan. 6 and commended him for showing "chutzpah" by presiding over the electoral vote count despite threats to his life. And after Pence abandoned his bid, Brown responded by urging other candidates to drop out, too.

"For anyone not named Trump to have a chance," he wrote, "the field needs to start consolidating ASAP."

Brown, however, had no qualms about supporting Trump again in the general election, though Trump went on to lose New Hampshire for the third time in a row.

His narrow 51-48 loss to Kamala Harris, however, has Republicans hopeful that they can flip Shaheen's seat. Pappas, though, believes Trump will be anything but an asset to Brown, arguing that his new rival is searching "for yet another opportunity to do Wall Street's bidding and blindly support President Trump and his agenda."

Before Brown can fully focus on Pappas, however, he’ll need to win what could be a competitive GOP primary. Several other Republicans are also still eyeing the contest, and two have spoken out about their interest recently.

Just a day before Brown's kickoff, state Sen. Dan Innis said that he was interested in campaigning for this open seat, adding that "a conclusion will be reached by Independence Day." Innis, who is one of the more prominent gay Republicans in the nation, would be the first gay member of the GOP's Senate caucus.

Private equity attorney Philip Taub also said that he could run, though he told the National Journal he would "take the next couple of months" to consult supporters before making up his mind.

Brown has a long electoral history, though little of it is in New Hampshire. The Republican, who was a member of the Massachusetts Army National Guard, was elected to the Bay State's House of Representatives in 1998 and the state Senate in 2004.

The little-known lawmaker suddenly became a national sensation in 2010 when he overcame his state's deep blue lean to win the special election to succeed the legendary Ted Kennedy, a victory that deprived Senate Democrats of their filibuster-proof 60-seat majority.

Brown was immediately talked up as a future presidential candidate, and his strong polling numbers at home deterred prominent Massachusetts Democrats from challenging him in 2012. But Elizabeth Warren, a consumer protection expert who wasn't initially well-known to the public, took on the task and unseated Brown 54-46 as Barack Obama easily won the state's electoral votes.

There was almost immediate speculation that Obama's decision to appoint Sen. John Kerry as his second secretary of state would give Brown an opening to flip Massachusetts' other seat in a 2013 special election. Brown did indeed want to return to the Senate, but he decided instead to wage his comeback in another year—and another state.

Brown moved to his vacation home in New Hampshire, a state that's long been far more politically competitive than its neighbor to the south, and announced that he would challenge Shaheen in 2014. Brown argued that he was anything but an outsider by declaring he was "ninth-generation from New Hampshire" and noting that he was born at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Critics responded by highlighting that the shipyard complex is located across the state line in Maine and noted that Brown's mother took him to Massachusetts when he was a baby.

Shaheen, who has long been one of the most prominent elected officials in her state, also blasted her opponent for treating New Hampshire as "Scott Brown's consolation prize." Shaheen managed to prevail 51-48, a bright spot for her party in an otherwise ugly year that saw Democrats lose control of the Senate.

After his defeat, Brown asked to receive a state pension back in Massachusetts, a move that seemed to mark the end of his brief foray into New Hampshire politics. One GOP strategist told the Boston Globe, "You can't fault anybody for getting their pension that they've earned, but if you're looking at running for another state office, it's probably not the best timing or message you want to have delivered."

Brown returned to New Hampshire from New Zealand after Trump's loss in 2020 and found himself in the news again—though not as the candidate. His wife, former TV reporter Gail Huff Brown, sought the GOP nod to challenge Pappas in the 1st Congressional District in 2022, but she struggled to gain traction in the primary.

"Scott Brown was once a GOP hero. Now his family's political journey could end today," read a headline in an NBC article published hours before Huff Brown finished a distant third. (Future White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who took first, went on to lose to Pappas.)

Brown, though, is trying to keep his political journey alive with his latest comeback campaign for Shaheen's seat, and he's once again trying to preempt attacks on his ties to the state.

"My life began here in New Hampshire at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard," he tells the audience at the start of his announcement video. The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, despite the instance of some Granite State Republicans, remains just as much a part of Maine as it was during Brown's last campaign.

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The Downballot Podcast

Mamdani's astonishing victory

Zohran Mamdani pulled off one of the most astonishing upsets of all time on Tuesday, so we've devoted this week's entire episode of The Downballot podcast to understanding how it happened and what it all means.

Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard discuss how Mamdani drew out new voters and forged an unlikely multi-ethnic coalition through his singular emphasis on affordability—a stark contrast to Andrew Cuomo's old-school campaign (or lack thereof) and his reliance on dark money.

The Davids also look ahead to November and explain why Mamdani remains the frontrunner despite Wall Street's panic. They conclude by emphasizing the lessons Democrats should learn from the race, including the most important of all: act like a winner.

The Downballot podcast comes out every Thursday morning everywhere you listen to podcasts. Click here to subscribe and to find a complete transcript.

Senate

MT-Sen

Former Sen. Jon Tester tells Politico that he's not interested in running for office again, including against Republican Sen. Steve Daines next year. Tester, who lost reelection last year for Montana's other Senate seat, said, "Democrats make this mistake too often; we try to recycle candidates."

(Republicans, for once, are much more pro-recycling than Democrats; see our NH-Sen item above.)

TX-Sen

In an apparent about-face, Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson is interested in running for the Senate in Texas, reporter Juliegrace Brufke relayed Wednesday, though he has yet to say anything publicly.

Brufke says Jackson's deliberations come as Republicans fret that Attorney General Ken Paxton will defeat Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP primary and endanger their prospects in the general election.

Jackson, who is Donald Trump's former White House physician, didn't rule out opposing Cornyn all the way back in 2022, but he seemed to finally put the idea aside last month.

"I'd prefer not to spend a ton of money on a primary, you know, in a race that's going to get really expensive in the general," Jackson told NOTUS of the battle between Cornyn and Paxton. "So I hope the two of them can work it out and figure out what they're going to do."

Neither Senate candidate is interested in any such détente. Cornyn even told the Wall Street Journal this week that he might drop out if he believed doing so would prevent Paxton from winning the GOP nod, though he didn't say who his preferred savior would be.

Governors

RI-Gov

State House Speaker Joe Shekarchi tells WPRO he'll use the summer to consider whether to seek the Democratic nomination for governor of Rhode Island. Shekarchi, who would be the first gay person to lead the Ocean State, added that his decision wouldn't be "determined on who else is in the race or whatever everyone else is doing."

Boston Globe columnist Dan McGowan interprets this bit of what he calls "Shekarchi-speak" to mean that the speaker will no longer defer to Democratic Gov. Dan McKee, who continues to insist he's running for reelection despite ugly poll numbers. McGowan adds that Shekarchi "also doesn't care" that he'd need to face former CVS executive Helena Foulkes, who is running in all but name, in the primary.

House

IL-07

Democratic Rep. Danny Davis will announce early next month if he'll seek a 16th term, reports Politico's Shia Kapos. The 83-year-old incumbent recently told the Austin Weekly News he was undecided about running again in Illinois' 7th District, a safely blue seat based in Chicago.

Not everyone, though, thinks Davis is keeping everyone guessing because he's still trying to make up his mind. Kapos says that some observers are speculating that the congressman is delaying his announcement to help a preferred successor, though there's no word on which hopeful he might favor. Davis' team denied the claims, though, and said he was still "assessing" what to do.

Several Democrats are publicly and privately considering running should Davis, who was first elected in 1996, retire and set off the 7th District's first open-seat race in 30 years. We'll hold off on diving into the crowded potential field, though, until Davis makes his plans known.

A few Democrats, however, aren't waiting. John McCombs, a Marine veteran who is also a standup comic, tells Kapos he's decided to run. He said of his unusual resume, "My experience as a Marine was to fight and win battles, and as a standup comedian it's to communicate in any room."

Businessman Jason Friedman, meanwhile, announced his own campaign back in April.

IL-09

State Sen. Mike Simmons remains interested in seeking the Democratic nomination for Illinois' 9th District, reports Politico, and he's even set to appear at a forum Sunday with his six would-be rivals. Simmons said he was interested in succeeding Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky shortly after she announced her retirement last month, but we haven't heard anything new about his plans in the ensuing time.