Sen. Scott Brown

BOSTON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- The election for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts vacated by the death of Ted Kennedy is to be certified, clearing the way for Republican Scott Brown to be seated.

Brown was sworn into office late Thursday afternoon by Vice President Joe Biden, marking the first time since 1953 a Republican occupied that position. Kennedy held the seat for nearly 47 years.

Brown ran an energetic campaign with his central message of being the 41st vote to stop U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare reform plans. That particular cause had been of particular importance to Kennedy.

But the bills that surfaced through the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate grew increasingly unpopular with the American public. Brown seized on that and shocked the political establishment in Massachusetts by taking 52 percent of the vote in a Jan. 19 special election to fill the final two years of Kennedy's term.

Brown asked that certification be speeded up, allowing him to join the Senate Thursday about a week earlier than had been expected. He said there were several Senate votes scheduled in the next week in which he wanted to participate.

Brown's election breaks the theoretically filibuster-proof Democrat Party majority in the Senate. With 60 votes needed to control debate, Democrats held 58 seats and two independents generally voted with them while there were 40 Republicans.