Barney Frank's high-profile effort to secure the interim U.S. Senate being vacated by John Kerry has come to naught – Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has named his former chief of staff, Mo Cowan (pictured left), to the position.
The Washington Post reports that Cowan will fill Kerry's seat until a special election is held in June. Kerry is vacating his seat to become the next U.S. Secretary of State.
Cowan will become one of two African Americans serving in the Senate – Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina is the other – and the first African American senator from Massachusetts since Edward Brooke, a Republican who served from 1966 to 1978.
Frank, the co-author of the Dodd-Frank Act and a former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, used media appearances to declare his interest in filling Kerry's vacancy until a new senator was elected. Frank made no immediate comment on the Cowan appointment.