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Republican Scott Brown elected to US Senate

By Andrew Slade, Gavel Media Team, on January 19, 2010 11:10 PM

By Andrew Slade, News Editor -

After several decades of representation of Massachusetts residents by two Democratic senators, Republican State Senator Scott Brown defeated Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley in an extraordinary upset from what was just weeks ago assumed to be a sure thing for the latter candidate. Over the last week, however, the race tightened significantly with some polls taken prior to the election indicating that Brown was leading Coakley.

While the cause of the relatively sudden downfall of Coakley’s campaign cannot be pinpointed, commentators and party leaders are citing a sense of complacency in Coakley, coupled with the public’s distaste for the present state of legislative progress in Congress. In her concession speech, Coakley promised to be “brutally honest” about her performance as a candidate.

For Senate Republicans, Brown represents a 41st vote: the exact number required to maintain a filibuster and effectively prevent the passage of Democratic legislation like the health care reform bill. Among some Democrats, there is hope that Massachusetts officials will be able to stall the seating of Brown for the next two weeks, potentially allowing Congressional leaders to push through health care reform while they still theoretically have the votes necessary to do so.

Since this was a special election to fill the vacancy that resulted from Senator Ted Kennedy’s passing, Brown will only serve until the end of the last term to which Kennedy was elected, meaning he will have to run again in 2012. Assuming she wishes to run, Martha Coakley will be up for reelection to the office of Attorney General this fall.