If the 2026 GOP primary is going to be more than “pick your favorite pre-owned senator,” the conservative and liberty wings need to ask both Scott Brown and John Sununu some direct, specific, uncomfortable questions.

Questions for Both Candidates

1. Career politicians or citizen servants?
   You have both already had your turn in Washington. Why should Granite Staters send you back instead of promoting a new, unowned candidate from New Hampshire’s own bench?
2. What will you actually abolish or sunset?
   Name one federal department, agency, or major program you would vote to shrink or eliminate in your first term. Not “reform,” not “study,” but cut.
3. Debt and generational theft.
   Is there any circumstance under which you would vote for another multi-trillion-dollar omnibus that increases the national debt, even if party leadership calls it “must pass”?
4. Emergency powers and COVID-style rule by decree.
   Name one specific emergency power you would support permanently revoking from the federal toolkit, not “reviewing” or “reforming” but removing outright.
5. Patriot Act and surveillance state.
   Do you support letting key provisions of the Patriot Act and related surveillance authorities expire unless they include strict warrant requirements and criminal penalties for abuses? Answer yes or no, then explain.
6. Border versus big government.
   Would you support a border security bill that includes a de facto amnesty or new federal control over state ID and employment systems, or is that a red line?
7. War powers and the permanent national security class.
   Will you commit to opposing any major new overseas conflict unless Congress passes a formal, time-limited declaration of war or authorization that names the enemy and the objective?
8. ESG, DEI, and regulatory weaponization.
   Do you support legislation to bar federal regulators and contractors from using ESG and DEI metrics as a backdoor ideological test for banks, schools, and businesses?
9. School choice and the federal role.
   Should the U.S. Department of Education exist at all? If you say “yes,” explain the narrow list of functions you think Washington should keep and why New Hampshire cannot handle them itself.
10. Crypto, cash, and CBDCs.
    Would you oppose a Central Bank Digital Currency that allows the federal government to track or control individual transactions, and would you write that prohibition into law?
11. Free speech versus “misinformation.”
    Will you back a law explicitly banning federal agencies from pressuring or colluding with social media companies to censor lawful political or scientific speech?
12. Party versus principles.
    Give one example of an issue where you would be willing to vote against your party’s Senate leadership to protect civil liberties or shrink government, even if it costs you committee assignments.

Scott Brown Specific Questions

Scott Brown is the former Massachusetts senator who won the 2010 special election, later became a New Hampshire candidate, and later served as a U.S. ambassador. He is now back asking Granite Staters for a Senate seat again.

1. Massachusetts record versus New Hampshire rhetoric

1. From “liberal Republican” to Live Free or Die.
   In 2010, you were described as a liberal Republican by national standards, suited to Massachusetts. Which parts of that voting profile should New Hampshire libertarians expect you to repudiate?
2. State hopping credibility gap.
   You have been a senator from Massachusetts, a New Hampshire candidate, an ambassador, and now back as a New Hampshire candidate. Why should voters see this as a commitment to this state rather than a personal career project?
3. The “people’s seat” line, revisited.
   In 2010, you said the seat was “the people’s seat.” What is the strongest piece of evidence from your Senate tenure that you actually governed against party leadership in favor of those people?

2. Dodd–Frank, Wall Street, and the administrative state

4. Owning the Dodd-Frank vote.
   You were one of the few Republicans who voted for Dodd-Frank and have even said it would not have passed without you. Do you believe that the law increased or decreased the concentration of financial power in “too big to fail” institutions?
5. Regulatory capture.
   Many on the right argue that Dodd-Frank helped entrench the largest banks while crushing smaller ones with compliance requirements. If that critique is even partially true, what part of the law would you sponsor a bill to repeal, and why did you not see that problem at the time?
6. Bureaucrats versus markets.
   Do you still believe that more centralized discretionary power in financial regulators is the best way to protect consumers, or have the last fifteen years convinced you that “Big Regulator plus Big Bank” is a cartel rather than a cure?

3. Social issues and conscience protections

7. Conscience and emergency contraception fights.
   In Massachusetts, you supported conscience protections for religious hospitals in disputes over emergency contraception. How do you view the proper balance between religious liberty and state mandates now, and what would you actually vote for at the federal level?
8. Federalism versus one size fits all.
   Are you prepared to let culturally very different states set very different rules on abortion, gender medicine, and school curriculum, even when those rules offend your personal views, or do you favor federal preemption in some of these fights?

4. Trump, ambassadorship, and the liberty wing

9. Trump world and Tea Party roots.
   You entered the Senate as a Tea Party favorite and later served as Trump’s ambassador. Name one way that experience made you more skeptical of executive power, not less.
10. Where do you disagree with Trump from the right?
    Point to a Trump era policy you believe was too statist or too interventionist and say clearly that you would vote the other way if it came up again.
11. Are you a reliable “no” vote on bad Republican bills?
    Give an example of a bill a future GOP president would likely support, on spending, surveillance, or industrial policy, that you would oppose on liberty grounds.

John Sununu Specific Questions

John Sununu served in the U.S. House and then in the U.S. Senate. He built a reputation as a fiscal hawk and a Republican critic of some Patriot Act provisions, but he also served through the height of the Bush era security and spending expansions.

1. Liberty credentials versus Bush era complicity

1. Patriot Act and civil liberties.
   You pushed to rein in parts of the Patriot Act and warned about trading liberty for security. Looking back, what do you regret voting for in the Bush-era security state, and will you commit to repealing it?
2. Where did you bend to the Bush administration?
   Name one high-profile vote where you now think you gave too much ground to the White House or your party on war, surveillance, or executive power.
3. From opposition to reforms.
   You helped block a rubber-stamp Patriot Act reauthorization. If you return to the Senate, what concrete legislative changes would you propose, not speeches, to dismantle the collect it all surveillance architecture?

2. Fiscal conservatism in practice

4. Finance Committee record.
   You were praised as an advocate of fiscal discipline on the Finance Committee. Name a significant spending or bailout vote you regret supporting, or that you are proud you opposed even at political cost.
5. Bailouts and moral hazard.
   In light of the 2008 crisis and everything since, do you now oppose using federal funds to rescue failing private firms such as banks or automakers? If not, define your red lines.
6. Entitlements and the third rail.
   Would you support means testing or raising eligibility ages for Social Security and Medicare to avoid tax hikes on younger workers, or is that politically untouchable for you?

3. Foreign policy and “forever wars”

7. Iraq, Afghanistan, and regret.
   Do you still think the Iraq war was justified, given the cost in lives, liberty, and dollars? If you could recast one war vote from your time in Congress, which would it be and how would you vote now?
8. NATO and blank check commitments.
   Should Congress draw a bright line around U.S. obligations to defend new countries under NATO, or do you support continued expansion with automatic security guarantees?
9. Future interventions.
   State clearly the conditions under which you would refuse to support U.S. military involvement, even if a President from your own party demanded it.

4. Establishment ties and independence

10. Family name and party machine.
    Your last name is synonymous with New Hampshire GOP establishment politics. How will you convince liberty voters you are not simply the Senate arm of the same network that loves big government contracts and federal money?
11. Crossing leadership when it matters.
    Give one concrete hypothetical where you would publicly and repeatedly defy a Republican majority leader to defend civil liberties or cut spending.
12. Swamp resistance test.
    If K Street and the donor class line up on one side of an issue, for example, another corporate subsidy bill, and the grassroots in New Hampshire line up on the other, which side gets your vote, and why should anyone believe you?

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