Elizabeth Warren Wins Massachusetts Senate Race, But Democrats Face Serious Challenges

Elizabeth Warren made history on Tuesday night by becoming the first female senator from Massachusetts. She will join veteran Democrat John Kerry. Republican Scott Brown, the first Republican senator from Massachusetts since John Kennedy, lost by a small margin. 

Warren embodies the idealism and zeal of Jefferson Smith. As the architect of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, she has promised to fight policies that privilege millionaires and billionaires over the interests of middle class people. 

To focus on the results of the campaign, however, would be to ignore the incredible amiability of the race. Both candidates promised to keep super PACs at bay during the Senate race. The race only became nasty near the end, with Brown challenging Elizabeth Warren on claiming her Cherokee heritage in her personnel records at Harvard and Penn.

Progressives favor Warren, including Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois. In other news, voters passed assisted suicide, the "right to repair" initiative and medical marijuana. The state also sent Joe Kennedy, III to Congress. The 32-year-old scion from the Kennedy family will represent the fourth district.

Obama easily won the state, but despite appearances, the state is no longer a Democratic monolith. Warren's narrow margin of victory indicates that Democrats may have to chart a more moderate course. Still, Democrats can celebrate for electing one of the most progressive members Congress has ever seen.