Dem trades professor’s office for Senate seat
Elizabeth Warren is trading the halls of academia for the halls of the U.S. Senate following her victory in one of the most costly and hardfought battles of 2012 against Republican Sen. Scott Brown.
A former Harvard University law professor, Warren, 63, has never held elected office but she gained national recognition — and criticism — for her work establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for the Obama administration as part of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
Warren’s approach to the agency and its jurisdiction made her a hero among liberals, but it also earned her broad opposition from Senate Republicans who blocked her nomination to lead the CFPB. So instead, she ran for the Senate. The Massachusetts Senate race was a top priority for both parties. Republicans needed to hold on to the seat to control the Senate, while Democrats saw Massachusetts as one of the party’s best pick-up opportunities. At the beginning of the campaign, Brown andWarren agreed to a pact to keep outside groups’ ads off Massachusetts television by agreeing to pay a penalty if outside groups ran ads on their behalf.
It didn’t stop the two candidates from attacking each other. Warren went after Brown’s appeal to Boston-area blue-collar workers, particularly men, and repeatedly aligned his politics with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Brown returned fire with attacks on a controversy surrounding Warren claiming Native American heritage on employment forms at Harvard. Warren responded in an ad. “As a kid, I never askedmy mom for documentation when she talked about our Native American heritage,” Warren said.
— Susan Davis