Brown Defies GOP Pressure, Says He'll Stay in Senate Race

Scott Brown is staying put in what one GOP senator calls New Hampshire's "weird" primary, even as his party's machinery lines up against him. The former Massachusetts senator tells Semafor he won't exit the Republican Senate race despite endorsements for former Sen. John E. Sununu from President Trump, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the Senate Leadership Fund. Brown, lagging in polls ahead of the September primary, argues Sununu has alienated the GOP base and insists he can run as an "independent-minded" Republican who isn't taking orders from Washington.

"Certainly they want me to drop out, because that's what they do. They'll put pressure on me," he says. "I'm not going anywhere." His stance frustrates national Republicans, who already face long odds against Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas and worry a bruising, late primary will further weaken their chances in a state Trump has never carried. Sununu's camp mocked Brown's position, saying he "can't beat" Sununu and should still step aside before the June filing deadline. Polls have consistently put Sununu in the lead, with an Emerson College poll last week putting Sununu at 48% and Brown at 19%, with around 33% undecided, the New York Times reports.

Brown was appointed as US ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during Trump's first term, though the president endorsed his rival last month. In the Semafor interview, Brown blasted Senate Republicans for failing to "get the people's business done," saying, "This TSA thing is embarrassing." GOP Sen. John Cornyn says Sununu has a better chance of winning the general election. "Two good guys. It is kind of weird. Sorry to see it," he says. "But the Sununu family is sort of a dynasty."

• Brown was elected to the Senate in a special election in Massachusetts in 2010 after the death of Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, but he lost to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the general election in 2012. In 2014, he won the New Hampshire primary in a bid to become the first senator to have represented more than one state since the 19th century, but lost to incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. Shaheen, who defeated Sununu in 2008 after his single term in the Senate, is not seeking a fourth term.