'I'm A Scrapper': Defiant Scott Brown Files For U.S. Senate In Face Of Party Opposition

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

Calling himself a “scrapper,” a defiant Scott Brown formally entered the U.S. Senate race on Wednesday, the first day of filing for the Sept. 8 primary.

“This is when the campaign really starts,” Brown told reporters at the Secretary of State’s Office. “It reminds me a lot of 2010, when I stopped the Democrat super majority, when Kennedy died, and I was down 41 points. I ended up winning by five or six.”

Polls show Brown is trailing GOP frontrunner John E. Sununu by a similar amount. Brown acknowledged that Sununu has the party’s backing.

“John is supported by the NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee), the Senate Leadership Fund, Americans For Prosperity, and now apparently Turning Point, as well as President Trump,” he said. “And (Democrat) Chris Pappas, he’s backed by every super PAC; all his money comes from California.

“There’s only one person in New Hampshire who’s running for the United States Senate who’s truly independent, and I don’t owe anybody anything except the people. And that’s really refreshing and uplifting.”

Scott Brown with his wife, Gail Huff Brown, their grandson, and Secretary of State David Scanlan, June 3, 2026.

Brown was accompanied by a group of supporters and his wife, Gail Huff Brown, who ran an unsuccessful race in the NH-01 GOP primary in 2022. He repeatedly declared himself the “independent” candidate in the race while claiming Sununu is beholden to Trump in exchange for his endorsement.

“The fact is that John was with (Ohio Gov. John) Kasich, and then he was with another candidate, and he called Trump a loser right before the last election,” Brown said. “He’s never supported (Trump). The whole family has never supported (Trump). So, the question people of New Hampshire have to ask is, what did he do to get that endorsement?”

Asked about Brown’s comments, the Sununu campaign released a statement focused on the general election.

“John is crushing the primary and is positioned to defeat Chris Pappas because Granite Staters of all political beliefs know John will be an independent voice in the Senate who will always put New Hampshire first,” said campaign spokesman Mike Schrimpf.

Polls show Brown trailing far behind Sununu, including a NHJournal/Praecones Analytica poll taken last month giving Sununu a 73-27 percent edge. And Sununu has raised significantly more money than Brown, who reported spending more than he raised last quarter.

Brown remains undeterred.

“I’m the candidate with the most experience, almost 40 years in the military. I’m the only person with any military experience,” Brown said. “I have almost four years as an ambassador; I’m the only person with international experience. And more importantly, I’m a grandfather of four, and I know the challenges that our young families are facing right now.”

Brown, a former Massachusetts state senator, won a stunning victory in the 2009 race to fill the seat left vacant by the death of U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy. He lost his reelection bid to Elizabeth Warren by six points. Two years later, he ran for the Senate in New Hampshire, losing to incumbent Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen by three points.

This is Brown’s fourth U.S. Senate bid.

Campaign pros tell NHJournal that Brown simply doesn’t have a path to victory.

“Why?” was one campaign veteran’s response to news that Brown had filed his candidacy.

The primary means Republicans will focus on that contest until Sept. 8, rather than on Pappas, the likely Democratic nominee. Some Republicans are frustrated by Brown’s decision to wage a long-shot campaign rather than support Sununu.

“This is why we can’t have nice things,” GOP strategist Michael Biundo posted on X in response to Brown’s filing.

Sununu is expected to file next Wednesday.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.