Robert Byrd

Edward Brooke: U.S. Senator from 1967 to 1979It looks like Massachusetts will continue to be tied for third place among states to go the longest without electing a Republican to the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke’s 1972 re-election over Democrat John J. Droney was the last time a member of the GOP won, tying with New Jersey’s Republican Sen. Clifford Case. Both men sought and were defeated for re-election in 1978, with Case falling to a primary challenger and Brooke fending off Avi Nelson in the primary but losing the general to Democrat Paul Tsongas.

The two states to go longer without electing a Republican to the Senate are West Virginia and Hawaii. Sen. William Chapman Revercomb won a special election to fill a Senate vacancy in 1956, only to lose to the still-serving Robert Byrd in 1958, while 1970 saw the last election of Hawaii Republican Hiram Fong, one of the 49th state's original U.S. Senators.

WCAX-TV/Channel 3 out of Burlington is reporting a conversation with Vermont's senior U.S. senator, Patrick Leahy (D-Middlesex). Several weeks ago, we reported on the possibility that Leahy, who currently chairs the Judiciary Committee, could rise to the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee, currently chaired by U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, the aging West Virginia Democrat.

It was a touching moment when West Virginia icon Robert Byrd broke down in tears on the Senate floor, lamenting the diagnosis of his friend, Sen. Ted Kennedy.

But relations were not so close a few decades ago, when Byrd managed to oust the Massachusetts Senator from his Senate leadership position in the Democratic Caucus in 1971, in part because of Kennedy losing a Maryland ally.