Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I have to admit that I did not anticipate this move. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced Sen. John Kerry’s replacement this morning — William “Mo” Cowan, Patrick’s former chief of staff. Deval Patrick chooses a replacement for John Kerry:
Cowan will hold seat until this summer, when voters will choose someone to serve out Kerry’s term (in the running, so far, are Rep. Ed Markey and Rep. Stephen Lynch). In the meantime, Cowan will be the eighth African American to serve in the United States Senate, and the sixth since Reconstruction. What’s more, this will be the first time in more than a century that two African Americans have served concurrently in the Senate.
It should be said that Cowen will also be the third African American appointed to serve in the Senate. So far, only three blacks in the post-Reconstruction period have been elected to the legislative body: Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke, and Illinois senators Carol Mosely Braun and Barack Obama.
WBZ-TV (Boston) reporter Jon Keller reports:
“I have to say, as someone who’s covered the Patrick administration from day one, the trains never ran as smoothly as they did when Mo Cowan was the chief engineer.”
So what does this do for Cowan after a permanent replacement is elected in June?
“Assuming things go smoothly between now and the end of June,” Keller said, “I would say you’d have to put Mo Cowan on your list of potentials for the 2014 governor’s race, if he’s interested.”
WBZ-TV’s Sera Congi reports:
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