Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was confirmed today by the U.S. Senate to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State by a 94-3 vote, which sets the stage for a special election to replace him as senator.

The Texas senators — Republicans John Cornyn and Ted Cruz — voted against Kerry’s nomination, along with Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.

The vote opens the door officially to the idea of Scott Brown returning to the Senate after his defeat at the hands of now-Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in the 2012 elections.

“Forty-seven percent of registered voters would vote for Brown compared with 39 percent who would vote for a generic Democrat,” Politico reported after WBUR/MassInc released a poll in December.

Brown won a special election to replace the late Ted Kennedy in January 2010. “Massachusetts law dictates that a special election cannot take place sooner than 145 days from the time an out-going Congress member’s resignation is effective, meaning that at least 145 days must pass between the date that member actually leaves their job and the date that the special occurs,” according to ABC. “At this juncture in time,  even if Kerry has an incredibly quick confirmation at the beginning of the next Congress, the earliest conceivable date to reach this mark is in June, 2013.”