Elizabeth Warren’s Two Shots At The Senate

John Kerry could offer a second chance.

Image by Stephan Savoia / AP

Elizabeth Warren may well have not one, but two, shots at willing a Senate seat from Massachusetts, depending on what happens to President Obama — and by extension, to Senator John Kerry.

If President Obama wins a second term in office, Kerry, the senior senator from Massachusetts, is seen as a likely pick to replace a soon-retiring Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. And if Kerry is appointed to run the State Department, that will leave one of the Massachusetts senate seats open — forcing a special election that could give whoever loses the Senate race a second shot.

Kerry doesn’t publicly admit to seeking the post — “Kerry’s already running for reelection in 2014, and people wasting time speculating otherwise ought to go sell crazy somewhere else,” his spokesperson Whitney Smith told BuzzFeed — but as the head of the Foreign Relations Committee and prominent Obama surrogate, he’s thought to be coveting the job.

Boston-based Democratic consultant Mary Anne Marsh called a second Warren shot a “possibility” but that the pendulum swings both ways, and an open seat could be an opportunity for whoever does lose the race between Warren and Scott Brown.

“I would just say that if he does get appointed there will be a special election no matter what,” Marsh said. “If [Warren] loses, and I think that’s a huge if, then you would have to say, why did she lose and what kind of campaign did she run?”

And if Warren loses, Massachusetts Democrats might grow angry and try to find a new candidate, Marsh suggested.

“People were upset with Martha Coakley that she had lost,” Marsh said, comparing Warren to the state’s Attorney General, who lost against Brown in 2010.

Warren’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment, but a spokesman for the Massachusetts Democratic Party said that their efforts were solely focused on winning the regular election for Warren.

“I’m sure this brand of parlor game speculation is a hit at the A List Washington parties Scott Brown goes to, but the fact is that Sen. Kerry has made it clear that he plans to run for reelection and Elizabeth Warren is going to win in November,” said spokesman Kevin Franck.