Massachusetts voters voiced their frustration with Democratic leadership Tuesday by electing Republican Scott Brown (LA '81) to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the late Edward Kennedy.
In a special election marked by high turnout, Brown, becoming the first Republican senator from Massachusetts in 30 years, won 52 percent of the vote against state Attorney General Martha Coakley, who received 47 percent.
'This Senate seat belongs to no one person, no political party 'hellip; this is the people's seat!' the victorious Brown, speaking to a small army packed inside the Park Plaza Hotel, said.
The crowd size exceeded fire regulations, forcing organizers to quietly remove people before Boston police arrived.
'I was here for Mitt Romney [when he was elected Governor], and there were a fourth of the people [who are] here tonight,' Boston resident Dorothy K. said.
Tufts Professor of Political Science Jeffrey Berry said Brown's win was indicative of the population's unhappiness with the current economic situation.
'His victory reflects the level of frustration of Americans under the economy,' Berry said. 'They're not sure what they want but they're voting against the status quo.'
The status quo, in Massachusetts, is the Democratic Party. There are just five Republicans, out of 40 total members, in the State Senate, and all ten U.S. Congressmen are Democrats.
'The Democratic machine, the elites, ignore us,' Massachusetts resident Ralph Gold said. 'They should have dropped everything to create jobs. Instead they pursued all these other agendas, global warming, health care'hellip;'
Thousands of volunteers sharing that view poured into Massachusetts from out of state to oppose Coakley. Randy Maine, a Tea Party activist from Mississippi, said he signed up immediately when he learned that the Republicans would pay for room and board for the first 200 out'minus;of'minus;state volunteers.
'This is about the Constitution,' Maine said. 'Nothing to do with Brown. It was more a matter of defeating healthcare, ousting the central socialist government. It's the second revolution.'
Many Massachusetts voters agreed the election was not about Brown, but about voicing anger at the Democrats who they feel have neglected their interests. 'It's not so much about Brown. He's not the answer, but you've got to send a message. You've got to kick the bums out,' Gold said.
Still, many Brown supporters insisted that only he could have won this election, because he said the right things on the right issues and represented the people.
Coakley's campaign had been widely acknowledged to be lackluster, but sophomore John Peter Kaytrosh, a campaign volunteer, said it gained momentum in the last leg of the race.
'Towards the end Coakley's campaign had as much energy as Brown's campaign did although Brown had a huge head start because there was a lot of complacency among state and national Democrats,' Kaytrosh said.
Kaytrosh also pointed out that the eventual margin of victory was lower than what polls had been predicting.
Berry called Brown's victory 'devastating' for the Democrats' health care bill.
'Its not clear that any health plan will pass at this point,' he said. 'The only way it could conceivably pass is if the House Democrats pass the Senate bill right away and send it to the President's desk, but if I had to bet, I'd bet against that happening.'
Brown overwhelmingly won the central and southeastern parts of the state, gaining large victories in many of Massachusetts' least populated towns and cities, while Coakley won the larger cities. Libertarian Joseph Kennedy won one percent of the vote.
