What happened in Massachusetts?

The meaning of Republican Scott Brown's upset Senate victory in a liberal state that already has health reform

Republican Scott Brown has pulled off a dramatic upset of Democrat Martha Coakley in a special election to fill the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. Brown's win in generally liberal Massachusetts would have been unthinkable a month ago, when Coakley held a commanding lead in the polls. But the Republican, who entered the race as an obscure state senator, received a windfall in donations from around the country as he promised to become the crucial 41st vote in the Senate needed to block the health-care reform bill. Brown also ran what many political strategists are calling a near-perfect race, surging in the polls just as the campaign drew to a close. What message does the vote send to Washington? (Watch a CBS report about Scott Brown's Senate win)

This proves Americans reject the Democrats' agenda: Democrats will insist voters are just angry over the economy, say the editors of National Review. But until recently the conventional wisdom was that the recession would increase the public's appetite for Obamacare and other liberal policies. Scott Brown "ran on tax cuts, tough interrogations of terrorists, and opposition to a federal takeover of health care and a bank tax"—if that's what people want in liberal Massachusetts, it's surely what they want elsewhere.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us