Republican Scott P. Brown pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Massachusetts political history last night, defeating Democrat Martha Coakley to become the state’s next US senator and potentially derailing President Obama’s hopes for a health care overhaul.
The stunning, come-from-behind victory caps a dramatic surge in recent days as Brown, a state lawmaker from Wrentham once thought to have little chance of beating a popular attorney general, roared ahead of Coakley to become the first Republican senator elected from Massachusetts since 1972.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Brown had won 51.9 percent to Coakley’s 47.1 percent. Independent Joseph L. Kennedy received 1 percent.
Coakley called Brown to concede a little more than an hour after polls closed, and the Brown campaign party erupted into jubilant cheers soon after.