Scott Brown: To New Hampshire with Love?

Nearly 40 percent of New Hampshire U.S. Senators in state history have been educated in Massachusetts and more than one in six were born in the Bay State

Former Republican Massachusetts U.S. Senator and recently hired FOX News contributor Scott Brown left the door open last Thursday during a visit to the Granite State to run in neighboring New Hampshire’s 2014 Senate race against Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.

After passing on an open seat race to replace newly appointed Secretary of State John Kerry, Brown’s comments came as a bit of a surprise for those who thought the former Senator was settling down – at least for the next cycle – as a television commentator and host (recently subbing for Bill O’Reilly).

Democrats may scoff at and dismiss the idea of a ‘carpetbagger’ coming to New Hampshire this late in his political career (though the carpetbagger label didn’t prevent Hillary Clinton from winning a Senate seat in nearby New York in 2000).

But while it may be debatable whether the ties between Massachusetts and New Hampshire are significant enough for Scott Brown to win over skeptics (he owns a house and has family there), historically the connections run quite deep.

A Smart Politics analysis finds that 18 of the 63 U.S. Senators in New Hampshire history were born in one of its bordering states (25 percent), including 11 from Massachusetts (18 percent) while nearly 40 percent were educated in the Bay State.

A total of 40 of New Hampshire’s 63 elected and appointed Senators were born inside its borders since statehood, or 63.5 percent.

Massachusetts is the most popular state from which Senators have been imported with 11, followed by four from Connecticut, three from Maine, two from Vermont, and one each from Missouri, New Jersey, and Canada.

(Brown was born in Maine but grew up and spent most of his life in Massachusetts).

The Massachusetts connections in the New Hampshire U.S. Senate delegation began at statehood.

One of New Hampshire’s first two Senators was Massachusetts-born as well as five of the first 11 it sent to the nation’s upper legislative chamber:

· Anti-Administration Senator Paine Wingate (1789-1793): born in Amesbury.
· Pro-Administration/Federalist Samuel Livermore (1793-1801): Waltham.
· Federalist William Plumer (1802-1807): Newburyport.
· Jeffersonian-Republican Nahum Parker (1807-1810): Shrewsbury.
· Federalist Thomas Thompson (1814-1817): Boston.

Bay State born Senators are still being imported today in New Hampshire, including three of the last eight and five of the last 14:

· Republican Charles Tobey (1939-1953): born in Roxbury.
· Republican Robert Upton (1953-1954): Boston.
· Democrat John Durkin (1975-1980): Brookfield.
· Republican Warren Rudman (1980-1993): Boston.
· Republican John Sununu (2003-2009): Boston.

The eleventh Massachusetts-born Senator from New Hampshire was Jacksonian/Democrat Isaac Hill (1831-1836, West Cambridge).

As mentioned above, Brown was born in Maine but grew up, was educated, and spent his professional career in Massachusetts. (The other three Maine-born New Hampshire U.S. Senators are Jeffersonian-Republican Clement Storer (1817-1819), Republican George Moses (1918-1933), and Republican Styles Bridges (1937-1961)).

Brown graduated high school in Wakefield, Massachusetts, received his B.A. from Tufts in Medford, and then his J.D. from Boston College Law School.

A Massachusetts-based education has been quite common among the 63 men and women to serve in the U.S. Senate from the Granite State with 24 getting their education south of the border, or 38 percent.

In addition to the Massachusetts-born Senators Wingate, Livermore, Thompson, Hill, Tobey, Upton, Durkin, Rudman, and Sununu, another 15 New Hampshire Senators were educated in Massachusetts according to information provided in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress:

· Federalist James Sheafe (1801-1802) graduated from Harvard College in 1774.

· Federalist Charles Cutts (1810-1813) graduated from Harvard University in 1789.

· Jacksonian / Democrat Levi Woodbury (1825-1831; 1841-1845) studied law in Boston (as well as Exeter and Litchfield, Connecticut).

· Democrat Charles Atherton (1843-1849; 1853-1853) graduated from Harvard University in 1822.

· Democrat Benning Jenness (1845-1846) attended Bradford Academy (later Bradford College) in Haverhill.

· Oppositioner James Bell (1855-1857) attended Phillips Academy in Andover.

· Republican George Fogg (1866-1867) studied law at Harvard Law School.

· Republican Gilman Marston (1889-1889) graduated from the law department of Harvard University in 1840.

· Democrat Henry Hollis (1913-1919) graduated from Harvard University in 1892.

· Republican Henry Keyes (1919-1937) graduated from Harvard University in 1887.

· Democrat Fred Brown (1933-1939) attended Boston University School of Law.

· Republican Maurice Murphy (1961-1962) graduated from Holy Cross College in 1950 and from Boston College Law School in 1953.

· Democrat Thomas McIntyre (1962-1979) graduated from Boston University Law School in 1940.

· Republican Louis Wyman (1974-1975) graduated from the Harvard University Law School in 1941.

· Republican Judd Gregg (1993-2011) received his J.D. from Boston University in 1972 as well as his LL.M. in 1975.

Of course, the difference between Brown and most of the Senators listed above, is that not only did he receive his education in Massachusetts but also his entire military (attaining the rank of colonel in the Massachusetts Army National Guard) and political career (as selectman, state representative, state senator, and U.S. Senator just a few years prior).

Should Brown run and win he would become one of a very small number of U.S. Senators to have represented two different states in the chamber over a political career.

Only one individual has represented three states in the Senate over a political career: James Shields in Illinois (1849-1855), Minnesota (1858-1859), and Missouri (1879).

When hosting the “O’Reilly Factor,” Brown commented how he “remains plugged in” with his former colleagues on the Hill.

It will be interesting to see if one of those colleagues, New Hampshire Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte, gives a Brown candidacy any public encouragement in the coming weeks.

The Birth State of New Hampshire U.S. Senators

* Denotes Senator educated in Massachusetts. Data compiled by Smart Politics with information provided in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

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