Fox News cuts ties with Scott Brown as he gears up for possible Senate run

Fox News has ended former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown’s contributor agreement after he told the network he planned to explore a bid to run for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire.

“Scott Brown’s contributor agreement was officially terminated today once he notified FOX News of his intention to form an exploratory committee to run for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire,” Bill Shine, executive vice president of programming for Fox News, said in a statement Friday.

In a statement posted to his Twitter account Friday afternoon, Mr. Brown said that he has “enjoyed being a part of the Fox family” and that he is “extremely grateful to everyone at Fox for their friendship, & wish them all the best moving forward.”

“Their analysis & insight has helped hold politicians accountable for their actions especially on ObamaCare,” he wrote.

Mr. Brown was reportedly expected to launch a committee for a possible Senate bid as early as Friday.

He has been calling key GOP officials in the Granite State over the past few weeks telling them he plans to run and has been offering paid positions for a possible bid, according to the Associated Press.

The move by Mr. Brown, who has a vacation home in New Hampshire and still enjoys wide appeal and name recognition among Republicans in neighboring Massachusetts, would seemingly expand the map for the GOP in the party’s quest to pick up the six seats necessary to re-take control of the Senate.

Mr. Brown temporarily threw a wrench into President Obama’s plans to pass health care reforms with his stunning win in a special election in January 2010 to fill the seat of the late Ted Kennedy, the Senate’s longtime liberal lion. Mr. Brown subsequently lost the seat to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, in 2012 and had flirted with running in a special election in 2013 to fill the seat of Secretary of State John Kerry.

This week, the University of Virginia Center for Politics’ “Sabato’s Crystal Ball” rated the race as No. 11 among U.S. Senate seats held by Democrats likely to flip after the fall elections and said Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is the starting favorite.

“Simply put: If the Granite State Hamlet (former Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts) gets in this race, it moves up this list,” wrote Crystal Ball managing editor Kyle Kondik. “If he doesn’t, it moves down.”