Profile: Massachusetts Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren
- Warren defeated Scott Brown in closely watched race
- Warren is a former Harvard University law professor
- Prominent for her work establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Elizabeth Warren is trading the halls of academia for the halls of the U.S. Senate following her victory in one of the most costly and hard-fought battles of 2012 against Republican Sen. Scott Brown.
A former Harvard University law professor, Warren, 63, has never held elected office but she gained national recognition — and criticism — for her work establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for the Obama administration as part of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
Warren's assertive approach to the agency and its jurisdiction made her a hero among liberals, but it also earned her broad opposition from Senate Republicans who blocked her nomination to lead the CFPB.
So instead, she ran for the Senate.
The Massachusetts Senate race was a top priority for both parties. Republicans needed to hold on to the seat to increase their odds of taking control of the Senate, while Democrats saw Massachusetts as one of the party's best pick-up opportunities in a state President Obama carried by 26 percentage points in 2008.
At the beginning of the campaign, Brown and Warren agreed to a pact to keep outside groups' ads off Massachusetts television by agreeing to pay a penalty if outside groups ran ads on their behalf.
It didn't stop the two candidates from attacking each other. Warren went after Brown's personal appeal to Boston-area blue-collar workers, particularly men, and repeatedly aligned his politics with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who despite being a former governor is unpopular in the state. Brown returned fire with repeated attacks on a controversy surrounding Warren claiming Native American heritage on employment forms at Harvard.
Warren responded to the controversy in a television ad. "As a kid, I never asked my mom for documentation when she talked about our Native American heritage," Warren said. "Let me be clear: I never asked for or never got any benefit because of my heritage."