Northeast
Former Trump ambassador eyes Senate return, potentially setting up key swing state campaign rematch
RYE, N.H. – EXCLUSIVE – Scott Brown is on the move.
The former senator from neighboring Massachusetts and 2014 Republican Senate nominee in New Hampshire, who later served four years as U.S. ambassador to New Zealand in President-elect Trump’s first administration, is seriously considering a 2026 run to return to Congress.
If Brown moves ahead and launches a campaign in the months ahead, it would potentially set up a high-profile rematch with Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, in what would likely be a competitive and expensive Senate clash in a key swing state.
The 65-year-old Brown, who competed in nine triathlons this year and who on average performs around 40–50 gigs a year as lead singer and guitarist with the rock band Scott Brown and the Diplomats, is doing more than just thinking about running to return to the Senate.
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He’s been meeting in recent weeks with various Republican and conservative groups in New Hampshire.
Brown, in a national exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, said he’s doing his “due diligence, meeting with anybody and everybody. So you’ll be seeing me a lot around, whether it’s parades, triathlons, my rock band, meeting and getting out and really learning.”
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And Brown is taking aim at New Hampshire’s all-Democrat congressional delegation.
“The thing that really ticks me off is how they’ve basically covered up for [President] Joe Biden for the last four years, what they’ve done or not done on the border, what they’ve done and not done in inflation, and they’re just completely out of touch with what we want here in New Hampshire. And the more I think about it, I think we can do better,” Brown argued.
Brown made headlines in 2010 as the then-state senator in blue-state Massachusetts won a special U.S. Senate election to serve the remainder of the term of the late longtime Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy.
After losing re-election in 2012 to now-Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Brown eventually moved to New Hampshire, the state where he had spent the first years of his childhood and where his family had roots dating back to the colonial era. He launched a Senate campaign months later and narrowly lost to Shaheen in the 2014 election.
After hosting nearly all the Republican presidential candidates in the 2016 cycle at speaking events he termed “No BS backyard BBQs,” Brown eventually endorsed Trump in the weeks ahead of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary. After Trump was elected president, he nominated Brown as U.S. ambassador to New Zealand, where the former senator served for four years.
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Returning to New Hampshire at the end of the first Trump administration, Brown supported his wife Gail, a former television news reporter and anchor, as she ran for Congress in 2022.
And the Browns also stayed politically active in other ways, once again hosting many of the Republican presidential candidates, as well as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at their “Backyard BBQs” during the 2024 presidential cycle.
Asked in May 2023 if he’d consider another Senate run, Brown told Fox News Digital “of course.”
Now, as Brown considers another Senate run, time isn’t working against him.
Brown jumped in late in the 2014 campaign, just seven months before Election Day.
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This time around, he emphasized, “I have a long runway. I didn’t have that obviously the first time, and I’m going to do what I have been doing for almost a decade now, going around, meeting with people participating in the process.”
During his first Senate run, which came months after he changed his residency to New Hampshire, he repeatedly faced carpetbagger accusations.
Last week, a progressive group in New Hampshire took aim at Brown.
Amplify NH claimed in a release that “the gentleman from Massachusetts is clawing for another chance at power, framing himself once again as a Senate candidate for New Hampshire.”
Brown says he’s not concerned.
“We’ve had a house here for over three decades, and we’ve been fully engaged full-time here for over a decade. So now I think that’s old news.”
And he argued that New Hampshire’s congressional delegation “votes 100% with Massachusetts.”
While Shaheen cruised to re-election in 2020, winning by roughly 16 points, and Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan won re-election in 2022 by nearly nine points, Senate Republicans are eyeing New Hampshire in 2026 as they aim to expand their incoming 53-47 majority in the chamber. New Hampshire, along with Georgia and Michigan, will likely be heavily targeted by Senate Republicans.
Trump lost New Hampshire last month, but he cut his deficit to just three points in his face-off with Vice President Kamala Harris, down from a seven-point loss to President Biden in the Granite State in 2020.
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And the GOP kept an open gubernatorial seat in party hands – former Sen. Kelly Ayotte succeeded longtime Gov. Chris Sununu – while expanding their majorities in the New Hampshire state House and Senate.
Asked if he’d like Trump to join him on the Granite State campaign trail if he decides to run, Brown said “if he’s got the time, of course.”
And pointing to Trump, Brown said “not only did he help obviously, nationally, he helped here in New Hampshire.”
Shaheen has yet to announce if she’ll seek another term in the Senate. That decision will likely come early in the new year.
But Shaheen, in a fundraising email to supporters on Friday, didn’t sound like she was getting ready to retire.
“Democrats need to be ready to fight back” against the incoming Trump administration, she wrote. The senator added that last month’s election setbacks for Democrats highlight that “early preparation has never been more important.”
And Shaheen, a former three-term New Hampshire governor, is taking over next month as the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the first woman to hold one of the top two positions on the powerful panel.
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Shaheen also turns 78 next month.
Asked if age would be a factor in a potential Shaheen-Brown rematch, Brown said he likes Shaheen and really appreciated her support during his confirmation as ambassador to New Zealand, but added that “that’s certainly up to her.”
“I’m 65. I can’t believe it. I feel like I’m 40. My wife says I act like I’m like 12, he added.
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Northeast
Federal judge rules on NYC congestion pricing; interpretation differs between parties
A federal judge issued a partial ruling on Monday in the battle between New York and New Jersey over New York City’s controversial congestion pricing, finding the Empire State took most of the necessary steps to impose a plan to charge a toll on drivers entering the center of Manhattan.
The judge overseeing the case, U.S. District Court Judge Leo M. Gordon, also called on the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to review and provide an explanation of certain aspects of the congestion pricing program.
While Gordon asked the FHWA for more information, he did not explicitly state whether the program should proceed as planned on Jan. 5, 2025.
Despite this, officials from New York and New Jersey claimed victory after Gordon issued his decision.
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“The program will move forward this weekend,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
Also weighing in was Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chair and CEO Janno Lieber, who said the MTA is “gratified” with Gordon’s decision.
“We’re gratified that on virtually every issue, Judge Gordon agreed with the New York federal court and rejected New Jersey’s claim that the Environmental Assessment approved 18 months ago was deficient,” Lieber said. “Most important, the decision does not interfere with the program’s scheduled implementation this coming Sunday, January 5. On the two remaining issues where the Judge requested that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provide additional data – information that was not yet before the Court in this proceeding – we’re confident that the subsequent Federal actions, including the approval of the revised, reduced toll rates, did put those issues to rest.”
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Despite Hochul and the MTA declaring a win in imposing the congestion pricing, Attorney for the State of New Jersey Randy Mastro interpreted Gordon’s decision differently, in that congestion pricing is on hold pending further clarification from federal officials.
“We welcome the court’s ruling today in the congestion pricing lawsuit. Because of New Jersey’s litigation, the judge has ordered a remand, and the MTA therefore cannot proceed with implementing the current congestion pricing proposal on January 5, 2025,” Mastro said. “The judge determined that the Federal Highway Administration acted arbitrarily and capriciously in approving the MTA’s plan, that the FHWA’s decision provided no rational explanation of mitigation commitments, that New York changed its tolling scheme significantly after it gained federal approval, and that more consideration is needed before the current congestion pricing proposal may take effect.
“New Jersey remains firmly opposed to any attempt to force through a congestion pricing proposal in the final weeks of the Biden Administration,” he added. “There could not be a worse time to impose a new $9 toll, escalating over time to $15, on individuals who are traveling into downtown Manhattan for work, school, or leisure.”
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According to the judge’s decision, the FHWA has until Jan. 17, 2025 to provide feedback.
Last month, the MTA approved Hochul’s congestion pricing in a 12-1 vote.
Congestion pricing would commence in January, and institute a video-enforced toll on newly-built gantries surrounding the city’s core. Traffic moving below 60th Street and Central Park, and entering from New Jersey, Brooklyn or Queens — except for via the RFK Triboro Bridge and George Washington Bridge — would be subject to the toll.
Hochul previously said she would like to see a slightly lower price point than the original $15 — around $9, citing inflation — and Lieber suggested he was open to seeing whether a lower toll could achieve the same revenue goals.
Ultimately, the MTA agreed to a phased-in congestion pricing plan that will result in Manhattan drivers getting hit with a higher-priced toll by 2031.
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President-elect Trump has indicated his intentions to scrap congestion pricing once he returns to the Oval Office on Jan. 20, 2025, a move that could be more complicated if the program is already in place.
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Boston, MA
Celtics Rumors: Boston Interested In Reunion With Preseason Standout
The Boston Celtics underwent a preseason split with guard Lonnie Walker IV, but the reigning champs haven’t taken their eyes off the six-year veteran.
Walker agreed to a one-year, Exhibit 10 contract with the Celtics in August just before training camp commenced. It was a low-risk, high-reward move by team president of basketball operations Brad Stevens, who with limited financial wiggle room, sought out ways to improve the team’s roster ahead of its title defense.
That didn’t work out.
Now, as Walker’s settled in with the Žalgiris Kaunas of the EuroLeague, the Celtics are among five “potential suitors,” according to NBA insider Marc Stein, to sign Walker and bring him back. The Philadephia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets are the others Walker is rumored to have garnered interest from.
It seemed like a perfect fit in Boston, especially once Walker took the floor for the Celtics in the preseason. The 26-year-old made four appearances, averaged 7.3 points on 42.9% shooting from the field and scored 20 points in 30 minutes during the team’s second-to-last preseason matchup against the Toronto Raptors. Stevens, seemingly, had the next depth fleece in the palm of his hands, however, once the luxury tax caught up to the Celtics it became time to cut ties with Walker — his league-minimum contract would’ve cost Boston over $10 million on top of its over $600 million offseason spree.
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“This is a championship organization coming off a championship year,” Walker said of the Celtics during team media day, per NBC Sports Boston. “It means a lot (to put on this jersey), and you kind of come into here with the championship mindset, not skipping no steps, being to the best of your capability, you owe it to your teammates each and every day to be 100 percent and be prepared, mentally and physically.”
Pittsburg, PA
Plane diverted to Pittsburgh International Airport after possible lightning strike
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