Boston University students and faculty expressed mixed reactions to the result of Tuesday’s special election, in which state Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, defeated Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley with 52 percent of the vote to become Massachusetts’s first Republican senator since 1979.
Students had a variety of explanations for the result of the election, which mere weeks ago polls predicted would be a landslide victory for Coakley.
BU College Republicans President Katie Flannery, a School of Management senior, said Brown’s victory was representative of Americans’ growing disillusionment with the Democratic majority in government.
‘I think Americans are simply frustrated,’ Flannery said. ‘Independent voters, who were the decisive factor in this election, as they are in most, probably feel like they didn’t get what they bargained for with President [Barack] Obama.’
BU College Democrats Treasurer Matthew Wall, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, agreed that Coakley’s loss was due to dissatisfaction with the Democrats’ progress. ‘I think what happened was the Democrats did not move swiftly enough,’ Wall said. ‘Because voters didn’t see the results of the change that they voted for in 2008, that caused a lot of people that backed Obama and voted for change to show a disapproval or not show up at all.’ While many cite health care as the central issue of the election because of the Democrats’ loss of the 60-40 majority needed to break a Republican filibuster, BU political science professor Betty Zisk said that the economy also had a large impact on the results. ‘The decisive factor in the election I think was anger and fear about the economy,’ Zisk said in an email. ‘Many voters don’t understand the complexity of issues like the economy and two wars and the high cost of health insurance and, most of all, joblessness.’ Many said that they were shocked at the outcome, despite Brown’s steadily increasing poll numbers in recent weeks. CAS sophomore Caroline Prince said she was surprised by Brown’s victory. ‘I’m just surprised. I don’t know,’ Prince said. ‘If a Republican wins the election in the country’s most liberal state . . .’ Others, however, said they predicted Coakley’s defeat. College of Communication senior Caroline Cleaver blamed Coakley’s loss on her lackluster campaign efforts. ‘It doesn’t surprise me that she lost because she really didn’t put much effort into the campaign,’ Cleaver said. ‘She just assumed that because Massachusetts is a blue state she would win. It upsets me that Ted Kennedy’s dream might not work out now because of a loss of a seat for Democrats.’ College of General Studies sophomore Kenneth Kares said Coakley’s downfall stemmed from the negative messages she based her campaign upon. ‘The fact that Coakley’s campaign focused on highlighting her opponent’s weaknesses rather than highlighting her own strengths to me was the mark of a bad campaign,’ Kares said. ‘Brown deserved to win based on his campaign.’ BU College Republicans Vice President Emma Sullivan, a CAS junior, attributed Coakley’s downfall to overconfidence. ‘I think Coakley really just played it too safe,’ Sullivan said. ‘The Democrats were banking on the fact that they would win because of Ted Kennedy’s legacy. They took Massachusetts’s democratic tradition for granted and didn’t capitalize on it until the very end.’ Student reactions to the news ranged from excitement to anger to apathy. ‘All my friends are outraged, but I don’t really know too much,’ CAS junior Lisa Walden said. BU College Democrats Secretary Katie Basse, a senior in CAS, said that she was disappointed with Brown’s election. ‘I’m disappointed with how the election played out,’ Basse said. ‘I had hoped that Coakley would have won because she supported the issues that the late Sen. Kennedy supported, namely health care.’ BU political science professor Douglas Kriner said Coakley’s loss may have a bearing on the results of the November midterm elections. ‘I think this result says more about Coakley’s problems as a candidate than it does about the state of the Democratic Party in Massachusetts,’ Kriner said. ‘That said, the media is certainly interpreting this as a harbinger of doom for Democrats in the 2010 midterm and I suspect that will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.’
Staff writers Saba Hamedy and Meaghan Beatley contributed reporting to this story.