Last night, in a special election, former Massachusetts State Senator Scott Brown defeated State Attorney General Martha Coakley to fill the seat left behind by the late  immigration reform champion Senator Ted Kennedy.

While the upset has sent waves through the political world, begging questions of the Democrats’ next steps and what the results mean in the fight for health care and progressive policy as a whole, one issue remains unshaken – immigration reform.

Many naysayers and peddlers of conventional wisdom have already begun to write the obituary for President Obama’s agenda, including comprehensive immigration reform. But their thinking is exactly wrong. Unlike health care, comprehensive immigration reform has traditionally garnered bi-partisan support, and a path to victory in the United States Senate will require votes from both sides of the aisle. Yesterday’s victory by Republican Scott Brown has not changed that calculus and the campaign will continue organizing and pressuring Congress to act.

Earlier today, on a national telephonic press conference*, a diverse group of leaders spoke about the Massachusetts election and its lack of influence on the current debate.

Eliseo Medina, Vice President of the Service Employees International Union said that the campaign has always planned to attract bipartisan support.

“Yesterday, we lost one vote.  That will make our job more difficult—but not impossible. We never thought of immigration reform as a partisan issue—we always knew we would need the support of both parties in order to pass comprehensive legislation. Our entire campaign has been geared up to secure the 279 votes we need to win, and we will keep working to accomplish that—including meeting with Senator Brown to discuss how critical immigration reform is for our country.”

Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice dismissed the flawed group think that has permeated Washington D.C.

“People who say we can’t pass immigration reform in this political environment are exactly wrong. Support for comprehensive immigration reform crosses party lines,” said Sharry. “If the lesson Democrats took away from Massachusetts is that that they should not take on tough issues or make waves, they are wrong. Voters are hungry for leadership, despise partisanship, and want both parties to work together to solve our toughest problems. Immigration reform represents a golden opportunity.”

Driving home this last point, today America’s Voice released the latest polling on immigration reform. The results? According to the poll, 69 percent of Democrats, 67 percent of Independents and 62 percent of Republicans support a pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants living in this country.

Across party lines, the majority of Americans want comprehensive immigration reform.

Not only does immigration reform still have the backing of the American public and a chance for Congressional support, but last night’s election shows that voters are ready for true leadership in Washington and are tired of lip service without results.

As Kelly Fincham at Irish Central writes:

Immigration reform is only a tough political issue because the politicians make it tough. Scott Brown’s election is no reason to see immigration reform dumped from the Congressional agenda.

In fact, as Seth Hoy at the Immigration Impact blog notes:

With Senator-elect Brown facing re-election in 2012, he will have to find a way to win the hearts and minds of all residents in the state—including the more than 403,000 New American voters in Massachusetts. How Brown votes on comprehensive immigration reform will largely determine his success.

For those of you ready to write-off immigration reform in 2010 over last night’s events, we will continue organizing, fighting and pressuring for Congress to make good on the promise of immigration reform this year. And, we have the American people behind us.

* A full audio recording of the telephonic press conference can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/audioRI4A

Categories: Massachusetts, Washington DC, comprehensive immigration reform

Tags: MA election, martha coakley, massachusetts election, scott brown

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