Scott Brown

Scott Philip Brown, born September 12, 1959, is an American politician, diplomat, military veteran, and former model. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the Massachusetts General Court before winning election to the United States Senate representing Massachusetts, where he served from 2010 to 2013. He later served as the United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2020. Alongside his political career, Brown served for 35 years in the Army National Guard, retiring as a colonel.

Brown was born at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, to Claude Bruce Brown and Judith Ann Rugg. His family traces its New Hampshire roots to the 17th century. Raised primarily in Wakefield, Massachusetts, he spent summers in Newburyport and Portsmouth. Brown graduated from Wakefield High School in 1977 and earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from Tufts University in 1981, where he joined the Zeta Psi fraternity. He later earned a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School in 1985 and also took classes at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

During the 1980s, Brown maintained a catalog and print modeling career in New York and Boston. In June 1982, while attending law school, he won Cosmopolitan magazine's "America's Sexiest Man" contest and appeared in a magazine centerfold. The appearance helped pay for his legal education, and he was represented by Wilhelmina Models. Concurrently, Brown served in the Massachusetts Army National Guard, which he joined at age 19 in 1978. He joined the Judge Advocate General's Corps in 1994, became a head defense attorney in New England, and retired in May 2014 with honors including the Legion of Merit and the Maryland Distinguished Service Cross.

Brown entered local politics in 1992 as a property assessor in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and joined the town's Board of Selectmen in 1995. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1998, serving three terms for the 9th Norfolk District. In March 2004, Brown won a special election to the Massachusetts Senate, serving until 2010. In the state legislature, he served on committees related to public safety, education, consumer protection, and veterans' affairs, authoring a 2007 law establishing a state tax form check-off box to assist returning military veterans.

Following the death of Ted Kennedy, Brown won a January 2010 special election for the U.S. Senate, defeating Democratic candidate Martha Coakley. He served in the Senate until January 2013, losing his 2012 re-election bid to Elizabeth Warren. After his Senate term, Brown worked in the private sector, relocated to New Hampshire, and ran for the U.S. Senate in 2014, losing to incumbent Jeanne Shaheen. He sought the same seat again in 2026 before serving as the U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa from 2017 to 2020.