page_title: Mo Cowan
section_title: Tenure
hierarchical_section_title: Mo Cowan / U.S. Senate / Tenure
caption_attribution_description: U.S. Representative Ed Markey and incoming U.S. Senator William "Mo" Cowan at a farewell gathering for outgoing U.S. Senator John Kerry. December 31, 2013.
context_page_description: William Maurice “Mo” Cowan is an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts from February 1, 2013 to July 16, 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as legal counsel and chief of staff to Governor Deval Patrick. Patrick appointed him on an interim basis to fill the vacancy left by fellow Democrat John Kerry, who resigned to become U.S. Secretary of State. He declined to run in the 2013 special election to complete the remainder of Kerry's term. He was succeeded by fellow Democrat Ed Markey. Cowan was the eighth African-American U.S. Senator and the second from Massachusetts after Edward Brooke. He was one of three African-American U.S. Senators in the 113th Congress, along with Republican Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina and Democrat Cory Booker from New Jersey, although he did not serve alongside Booker, who took office on October 31, 2013.
context_section_description: In December 2012, President Barack Obama announced the nomination of U.S. Senator and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry to serve as Secretary of State, leaving a vacancy in the seat Kerry had held for 28 years. Under state law, the House of Representatives grants the governor of Massachusetts the right to fill vacant U.S. Senate seats with an interim appointment. Governor Deval Patrick announced that he was looking at "out of the box candidates" who had never run for office, and would hold the seat temporarily, forgoing a run in the special election.
  On January 30, 2013, Patrick announced the appointment of Cowan to the seat. Cowan became Massachusetts's second African-American U.S. Senator after Edward Brooke. He served alongside Tim Scott of South Carolina, the first time that two African-Americans served simultaneously in the senate. Cowan's term officially began on February 1, 2013, once Kerry's resignation took effect. He was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden on February 7. The term ended on July 16, 2013, when Ed Markey was sworn in following the special election.
caption: Cowan (right) with U.S. Representative Ed Markey (left), his successor in the Senate, at a 2013 gathering
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS REBEL T3", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2013:01:31 19:51:10", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Rating": "0", "Image Tag 0x5012": "1", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "410", "Image SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "Image RecommendedExposureIndex": "800", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image CameraOwnerName": "", "Image BodySerialNumber": "122062113785", "Image LensSpecification": "[18, 55, 0/0, 0/0]", "Image LensModel": "EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II", "Image LensSerialNumber": "000044a48f", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "8696", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2607", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:01:31 19:51:10", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:01:31 19:51:10", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "6", "EXIF ApertureValue": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "55", "EXIF SubSecTime": "34", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "34", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "34", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4272", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2848", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "854400/181", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "569600/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2"}