WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) – Republican Senator Scott Brown on Thursday was sworn in as the United States Senator from Massachusetts, causing Democrats to lose their supermajority.

Senator Brown, 50, is now the Junior United States Senator from Massachusetts, replacing the late Senator Edward Kennedy, who held his seat for 46 years. Brown became the first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts since 1972.

He won the seat after trailing Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate, for several weeks by a large margin until he closed the gap in the first weeks of January 2010 before going on to win the election.

Brown’s state political experience consists of nearly three terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and three terms in the Massachusetts Senate.

Although he has been labeled by many a liberal or moderate Republican, he has voted about 90 percent of time with state Republican leadership. Brown describes himself as socially moderate and fiscally conservative.

While Brown supported the 2006 Massachusetts health care reform, which required all residents to purchase health insurance, he does not support President Obama’s health care reform plan in its current form. He has stated that he believes the plan is fiscally unsound, and during his campaign notably pledged to be the 41st vote to filibuster the bill in the senate.

He is serving with John Kerry, the senior U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.

Senator Brown’s election creates a point of contingency for the Obama administration’s legislative agenda as Brown’s seating means the loss of the Democratic supermajority – something that may have significant impact as the November Senate elections approach.