May election set for Galluccio seat

By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff

A special election will be held May 11 to fill the seat left vacant by Anthony D. Galluccio, the state senator from Cambridge who resigned last week after being ordered to jail for violating the terms of his probation, Secretary of State William F. Galvin said today.

The primary will be held Tuesday, April 13.

Five potential candidates have already expressed interest in the job, including Galllucio's chief of staff, Sal Domenico, longtime Cambridge City Councilor Marjorie Decker, real estate broker Michael Albano of Chelsea, and attorney Timothy Flaherty of Cambridge.

Candidates must collect at least 300 certified signatures, and then file them with local city and town election officials by March 2.

Galluccio, a former Cambridge mayor who won his seat in a special election in 2007, stepped down last Tuesday, a day after a judge sentenced him to a year in prison for violating the terms of his probation by failing a breathalyzer test. Galluccio, 42, had been under probation after a hit-and-run accident in Cambridge last year. He blamed the positive reading on his toothpaste.

The election date was set after the state Senate passed an order setting the schedule.

"We have an important budget coming up this year as we continue to deal with this recession," Senate President Therese Murray said in a statement. "The Senate and the constituents from that district deserve to be fully represented before we begin Senate budget deliberations."

The seat represents the Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex District, which includes Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Revere, Saugus, and Somerville.