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Tufts Alum Wins U.S. Senate Bid
Mass. State Sen. Scott Brown, a 1981 Tufts graduate, wins special election to serve the remainder of Ted Kennedy’s term in the U.S. Senate
Scott Brown
In an unexpectedly close race with national implications, Tufts graduate and Massachusetts State Sen. Scott Brown (A’81) defeated one-time frontrunner Martha Coakley in the Jan. 19 special election for U.S Senate, making him the first Republican elected to represent Massachusetts in the Senate since 1979. Brown won 52 percent of the vote to Coakley’s 47 percent.
“I thank the people of Massachusetts for electing me as your next United States senator,” Brown said in his victory speech. “Every day I hold this office, I will give all that is in me to serve you well and make you proud.”
The special election was held to fill the Massachusetts Senate seat vacated when the late Senator Ted Kennedy passed away on Aug 25, 2009.
Brown, a Republican legislator and lawyer from Wrentham, Mass., announced his intention to run in the race on Sept. 12, 2009. He graduated from Tufts in 1981 with a degree in history.
Brown was elected to the Massachusetts State House of Representatives in 1998. In 2004, he won a State Senate seat representing the 9th District of Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex counties.
The same year Brown was elected to the State Senate, the United Chamber of Commerce named him Public Servant of the Year for his efforts to reform the state’s sex offender laws and protect the rights of victims.
Brown also holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the National Guard, where he has served for nearly 30 years.
The Tufts graduate is no stranger to leadership roles, as his career as shown. In fact, one of his earliest such roles came on the Hill, as co-captain of the basketball team during his senior year.
The remainder of Kennedy’s term runs until January 2013. The next general election for the Senate seat will be held in November 2012.
Brown will be the fifth Tufts graduate to serve in the 111th Congress. The others are U.S. House Reps. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), John Olver (D-Mass.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.). The last Tufts graduate to serve in the U.S. Senate was the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), who held a seat from 1977 to 2001.
