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What's next for Coakley? A reelection campaign

John Blanding/Globe Staff

Coakley's gesture appeared to spell victory, but the looks on some of her supporters' faces told a different story when she spoke Tuesday night.

By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff

Despite being stung by her devastating loss to Republican Scott Brown in the US Senate race, Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley will return to work this week and seek reelection in the fall, aides said.

"She loves her job," said Coakley spokesman Corey Welford. "It allows her to take on issues she feels passionately about, to fight for people in the state."

"She is going to run for reelection. Many of the issues she discussed during this campaign are issues she's already fully engaged in as attorney general -- holding Wall Street accountable, taking on predatory lenders, fighting to make health care more affordable for all our citizens," Welford said.

It remains unclear whether Coakley will face a challenge. Some ambitious Democratic prosecutors and state lawmakers had already been preparing campaigns for attorney general. And House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones Jr. of North Reading said in today's Globe that Republicans might consider a challenge to Coakley, even if she decided to run again.

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