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Edward Brooke, the first African American elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote and the first Republican senator to call for the resignation of President Nixon over the Watergate scandal, died Saturday at his home in Coral Gables, Fla. He was 95.

He died from natural causes, said his former legislative aid, Ralph Neas.

Upon winning the Senate election in Massachusetts in 1966, he became the first black member of that legislative body since Hiram Revels and Blanche Kelso Bruce were sent to Washington during the post Civil War Reconstruction-era by a "carpetbag" Mississippi Legislature.

Brooke achieved a number of social firsts in the Senate, including the integration of its swimming pool and barbershop. To this day only four other black senators have been popularly elected to the U.S. Senate, one of them being Barack Obama.

It was an era of moderation when Brooke entered the Senate. He joined a small band of liberal Republicans, when centrist voices like Jacob Javits of New York, Charles Percy of Illinois and Mark Hatfield of Oregon influenced political debate. Brooke supported housing and other anti-poverty programs, advocated for a stronger Social Security and for an increased minimum wage, and promoted commuter rail and mass transit.

He also bedeviled the Nixon White House, criticizing the administration for adopting a "Southern strategy" of wooing Southern whites by not enforcing civil rights laws. He also sponsored a resolution calling for an end to U.S. involvement in Vietnam and opposed three of the president's conservative nominees to the Supreme Court.

In November 1973, in the midst of the Watergate crisis, Brooke called for the president to step down. "President Nixon has lost his effectiveness as the leader of this country, primarily because he has lost the confidence of the people," Brooke said. Nixon resigned the following August.

Brooke lost his reelection bid in 1978 to Democrat Paul Tsongas after admitting he made "misstatements" under oath about his personal finances during a divorce proceeding.

Four months after his loss, the Senate Ethics Committee issued a statement saying that although Brooke had engaged in "improper conduct" under the Senate's financial disclosure rules, his violations did not merit disciplinary action.

Brooke retired to a 152-acre farm in Warrenton, Va., raising cattle and growing hay. He had two daughters from his first marriage and then had a son with his second wife, Anne Fleming.

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Edward Brooke dies at 95; Republican Senator from Massachusetts

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The 2016 Republican presidential field could be bigger than any in recent memory thanks to a growing second tier of potential contenders.

While several prominent politicians already have insinuated themselves into the mix, from Ted Cruz to Rand Paul to Chris Christie to Jeb Bush, a number of under-the-radar names are now flirting with a 2016 candidacy.

They may be the long shots, but could shake things up -- by playing the spoiler in key primaries, positioning themselves as a potential running mate for the eventual nominee or even becoming a dark horse competitor in the final stage.

"It is definitely a new phenomenon," Ronald Reagan biographer Craig Shirley said of the increasingly crowded fields. (The 2008 and 2012 GOP contests were a political demolition derby.) "I don't think this has anything to do with the growth of the United States, you just have more people who are convinced they are qualified to run for president."

Some potential candidates are hardly new to the game, including Rick Santorum and others.

Longtime Republican pollster Glen Bolger said the lure is especially strong for pols who have inhabited that spotlight. "They figure, Barack Obama can come out of nowhere," he said, referring to the president's leap from one-term senator to president. "They think, 'I can be different, I can break the mold and get the nomination'."

He added: "[But] it's like catching lightning in a bottle. I won't say it can't be done, but that's what a lot of these candidates are relying on."

George Pataki, the three-term former New York governor, has said he's weighing a 2016 run, and he seems to be taking the idea seriously. He launched a super PAC called Americans for Real Change, which produced an ad this fall timed with appearances in New Hampshire. His message: fiscal responsibility, with a populist twist.

"Big government benefits the rich and powerful. They can afford to play the game -- you can't," he says in his televised ad. "It's time for a new America, with much smaller federal government. Washington can't run the economy, and shouldn't try to run our lives."

Asked about a possible bid, Pataki told Fox Business Network in November: "I'm thinking about it."

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