GOP's Ross to run for state Senate seat

""Scott Brown was one of the first people who believed in me and wanted me to run for public office," Ross said at a press conference in the community room of the the North Attlleboro police station. "There is a time to move on, and this opportunity is too great to pass up," he said.

Like Brown, Ross is a Wrentham Republican.

He said he was encouraged by Brown to run for Wrentham selectman after Brown, a former selectman in the town, was elected to the state House in 1998. In 2004 when Brown was elected to his current state Senate seat, he was again succeeded by Ross, who currently represents the 9th Norfolk district.

"People in the 9th Norfolk have helped me shine," Ross said. "I look forward to this next challenge, and meeting people in the northern part of the district and giving them that same opportunity to become part of my life."

Ross said he made his decision on Sunday, after speaking with other potential Republican candidates.

"I wanted to talk to [other candidates] about their options, and make sure we didn't do anything to damage the advancemnts that have been made in the last couple weeks," Ross said.

Ross said that he wanted to change the overwhelming one-party rule of Democrats on Beacon Hill. He also said the current Massachusett system that mandates health care coverage for all works against small businesses.

Ross, a 55-year-old funeral home owner, is a graduate of the New England Institute of Anatomy. He is married with three children. He is a member of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Eonomic Dvelopment and Emerging Technologies, the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs and the Joint Committee on Education . He is also on the House committees on global warming and climate change and post audit and oversight.

Brown's state Senate district covers 13 communities stretching south from Needham to Attleboro..

Ross and Republican state Rep. Elizabeth Poirier of North Attleboro were considered by many to be eyeing Brown's seat. Two Democrat challengers have announced their candidacy for the seat, Peter Smulowitz, a Needham physician, and state Rep. Lida Harkins of Needham.

Brown pulled off a stunning political upset this month, riding a wave of voter discontent and mounting a superlative campaign, to take the senate seat held for nearly a half century by the late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy., a Democratic icon..

No date has been set for the election to replace Brown in the state Senate. State Senate President Therese Murray must set the date no more than 14 days after Brown resigns from the state Senate. But Brown has not filed his resignation which he intends to do closer to the date he is sworn in as a U.S senator, according to campaign aide Felix Browne Browne said that it is expected that the new U.S. senator will be sworn in in Washington Feb. 11.

Poirier was also at the press conference in North Attleboro to discuss the state Senate seat. Before Ross announced his candidacy, Poirier spoke, announcing she would not run, but instead seek re-election to her current seat.

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