Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown says his high-stakes comeback bid for a New Hampshire Senate seat towards a member of the highly effective Sununu household reminds him of 2010, when polls and pundits counted him out in Massachusetts and he shocked the political world.
“I’m used to being the underdog,” a rejuvenated Brown stated in an interview, recalling the 2010 race for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s seat – which Brown memorably referred to as “the folks’s seat.”
“That’s what it appears like proper now.”
Solely this time the closely-watched marketing campaign might be a referendum on President Donald Trump, who Brown’s major opponent John E. Sununu has referred to as a “loser” who would convey down the GOP – a prediction he in all probability now regrets.
After Brown’s victory within the particular 2010 election, the political realities of Massachusetts set in and three years later he misplaced his seat to Democrat Elizabeth Warren.
Clueless Washington pundits are already downplaying the 66-year-old Brown’s candidacy and labeling Sununu because the candidate with the most effective likelihood of beating Democrat Chris Pappas, conveniently skipping over Brown’s political power in a MAGA-dominated major and failing to acknowledge the importance of Brown’s political report, which incorporates his surprising 2010 upset of Democrat Martha Coakley and his close to upset of incumbent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire.
“It motivates me when folks ignore me or deal with me like (expletive),” Brown stated. “New Hampshire goes to find out who’s the nominee, not DC. They’ll’t even open up a authorities, and have a foul report choosing winners and losers.”
Brown says he has acquired nonstop fundraising help since Sununu introduced his candidacy, together with in a latest journey to Texas, which helped him increase greater than $1 million.
“With out doing something, folks have been rallying round me,” stated Brown, who Trump tapped to be Ambassador to New Zealand and who has remained a Trump loyalist. “They’re sending me cash, they’re volunteering. It jogs my memory a lot of 2010.”
Sununu, brother of former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, one among CNN’s favourite Republicans, is definitely generally blended up along with his extra in style youthful brother.
However he might find yourself being the proper foil for Brown, a weak MAGA like a watered-down martini, who received’t draw a lot help from conservative voters.
“John is not any Chris Sununu and all people is aware of it,” Brown says.
Pappas already is aware of Brown has the most effective likelihood of beating him, as a result of he ignored the previous Massachusetts senator in a fundraising pitch fully about Sununu’s entrance into the race.
If Pappas was actually fearful about Sununu, he wouldn’t have elevated him within the fundraising electronic mail.
“Nationwide Republicans spent months recruiting John Sununu as a result of they know he’s their greatest shot at flipping this Senate seat,” Pappas says disingenuously.
Sununu will probably face scrutiny within the Republican major for his report of slamming Trump, together with in a scathing article in 2024 earlier than the election.
“If he’s our nominee, we’re going to lose, and we’re going to lose dangerous,” Sununu, who himself has endorsed a collection of presidential losers like John Kasich and Nikki Haley, stated of the 2024 election.
The 61-year-old Sununu additionally might be harm by the actual fact he has been absent from New Hampshire politics for practically twenty years, and as a substitute has labored as a company lobbyist.
“To assume we’re going to ordain somebody due to a reputation, these days are over,” Brown added.
New Hampshire’s unpredictable voters, who elected Republican Kelly Ayotte governor and gave Democrat Kamala Harris a 3-point win over Trump in 2024, are used to having a say in nationwide politics.
And if Brown does flip the seat Republican in 2026, it might have nationwide implications, very like his 2010 victory. New Hampshire is one among solely a handful of states the place the GOP has an opportunity to show a blue Senate seat pink.
