WASHINGTON – Republican Scott Brown's defeat of Democrat Martha Coakley for a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts will figure prominently in the healthcare reform battle on Capitol Hill.

Brown replaces Democratic Sen. Edward (Ted) Kennedy, a staunch advocate of health reform who died last August. Kennedy was chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and had suffered from brain cancer for more than a year.

Brown's victory in Tuesday's special election to fill Kennedy's seat marks one of the biggest upsets in the history of Massachusetts, traditionally a Democratic state. It gives Republicans hope that public support is wavering for the Democrats' healthcare reform bill.

Brown will take away the 60th vote needed by Democrats in the Senate to block Republicans from killing legislation through a filibuster. Senate Republicans unanimously voted against the Senate Democrat healthcare reform bill, passed Dec. 24.

House and Senate leaders are currently struggling to combine the two bills into one for a final vote.

The Senate version of the bill is said to have watered down the original intentions of the Democrats, who wanted to establish a public health option. Democrats will have to persuade some Republicans to support their cause, or it is likely healthcare reform will go back to the drawing board.