Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) has renewed his contract with Fox News, the network said Wednesday after a previous Boston Globe report sparked speculation over his potential run for Senate in New Hampshire.
Bill Shine, the network’s executive vice president of programming, said in a statement Brown’s contract had never ended in the first place.
{mosads}“Senator Brown has renewed his contributor agreement with FOX News. The previous year long agreement expired on Feb. 11 and was never terminated — this was purely administrative. We look forward to his continuing political analysis and insight across the network,” he said.
The Globe reported Tuesday that a spokeswoman said Brown is “out of contract” with Fox News, though the station representative wouldn’t elaborate on why.
{mosads}When Brown first inked his agreement with Fox, the network stipulated that if he authorized the creation of an exploratory committee for a political run, it would terminate his contract. The news sparked renewed speculation that Brown had made another step toward a challenge to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), but it appears he was only in negotiations with the network, and hadn’t ended his agreement.
He’s made no secret of his interest in running against Shaheen: he’s moved to the state, attended events for Republican candidates there and contributed to the state party. But he also hasn’t shut down speculation that he could ultimately run for president, and his appearance at an upcoming GOP event could cut either way.
Brown is scheduled to speak at the Northeast Republican Leadership Conference in Nashua, N.H., in March, a major party gathering that’s drawing a number of potential 2016 contenders, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, New York Rep. Peter King and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, among others.
Republicans see Brown as their best shot to take down Shaheen, whom they believe to be vulnerable this year because of ObamaCare. She’s faced hundreds of thousands of dollars in attacks from GOP outside groups on the law in recent months.
But Democratic groups have gone up to New Hampshire, preemptively hitting Brown for his ties to Wall Street and his record on environmental issues, in hopes of tanking his popularity in the state enough to dissuade him from entering the race.
Brown seems unfazed by the speculation, however. He spent Sunday night rocking out onstage with Cheap Trick in Massachusetts, strumming along to “Surrender” with Rick Nielson.
“Just played guitar with Cheap Trick. It was sooooooo fun,” he tweeted about the experience.
—This piece was updated at 11:37 to reflect comment from Fox News and updated again at 3:47 p.m.