Massachusetts’ Republican U.S. Senator Scott Brown is off and running hard to hold onto the seat he won just a little less than two years ago. He knows he faces a tough challenge. Even as a popular, personable incumbent who is a great natural campaigner – Brown knows this is a state that simply prefers to send liberal-leaning Democrats to the U.S. House and Senate.
Look at the history.
Massachusetts hasn’t had a Republican in the U.S. House since the mid-90s. Brown is the first Republican we’ve had in the Senate since Edward Brooke was defeated by Democrat Paul Tsongas over 30 years ago. Democrats had held the Senate seat Brown now occupies for 57 years — from 1953 until his election in 2010.
She still may face a primary next September, but it looks like Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren will be the Democrat Brown faces in November. Warren is well-connected with the national Democratic Party, so her campaign’s going to get lots of serious money from all over the country. She’ll need it. Scott Brown already has at least $10 Million dollars in his campaign treasury. Warren has only about a third that much. Those numbers will climb for both candidates in the months ahead. With control of the U.S. Senate hanging in the balance, Democrats desperately need to win back the Scott Brown seat. Republicans everywhere want to hold it just as much and they’ll also send in lots of money.
This relatively small state could easily see $50 million dollars or a good deal more spent in this contest. Come October, there won’t be an unsold minute of advertising time on any Massachusetts TV or radio station. You will be saturated with commercials for and against both candidates. The whole country will be watching to see how Massachusetts votes and what happens in this race early on Election Night could even influence the results in other contests across the country.
