Third Time's the Charm

EVERETT—Sixteen months after ending his second candidacy for the Massachusetts State Senate, Cambridge City Councillor Anthony D. Galluccio has won the all-important Democratic primary to replace outgoing Senator Jarrett T. Barrios ’90.

He will run unopposed in November.

“I will appreciate for many years you giving me the opportunity to serve you in the state senate,” Galluccio said to a crowd of some 200 supporters at the Silver Fox Restaurant and Lounge in Everett, Mass.

“The winning has yet to come, because the winning is in the work,” he added.

Galluccio took 47 percent of the vote, including 60 percent in Cambridge, according to campaign officials.

In his speech to the crowd last night, Galluccio called the election results “a victory for the children of this district” and said supporters would hear “a lot more about children over the course of my tenure in the senate.”

He suggested he would focus on underfunded after-school programs, “disgraceful” public housing, and a lack of healthcare coverage in the district.

A seven-term city councillor, Galluccio has come in first in Cambridge’s citywide council elections for the past 10 years.

When he first ran for the senate seat—which includes parts of Middlesex, Suffolk, and Essex Counties—in 2002, he lost to Barrios by a two-to-one margin.

Galluccio also ran for the senate seat last year when Barrios was running for Middlesex district attorney, but backed out amidst drunk driving allegations and after Barrios vacated the prosecutor’s race to stand for reelection.

Yesterday Galluccio bested Cambridge attorney Timothy R. Flaherty, Chelsea City Councilor Paul R. Nowicki, and Cambridge human rights lawyer Jeff Ross.

In his victory speech, Galluccio recalled his past defeats and urged sympathy for the losing candidates.

“I want you to extend your heart to them and understand that they’re having a bad night tonight,” he said. “We’ve been there, and we’d better respect that.”

Political organizers and labor officials from the area attended Galluccio’s victory party in droves, including President of Massachusetts AFL-CIO Bob J. Haynes, Worcester Sheriff Guy W. Glodis, and Revere City Councillor Dan Rizzo.

The candidates in the race fought to position themselves as heirs to Barrios’ progressive legacy.

The first openly gay and first Hispanic Massachusetts state senator, Barrios was among the leaders in the fight to keep same-sex marriage legal in the Commonwealth. He is leaving elective politics to head the Massachusetts Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation.

Galluccio’s victory came despite Flaherty’s financial advantage in the race.

The son of a former Massachusetts House speaker, Flaherty won the editorial endorsements of several newspapers, including The Boston Globe, Cambridge Chronicle, and Somerville Journal.

In his concession speech in Charlestown last night, Flaherty wished Galluccio well and called him “a good man,” while reiterating the central issue on whichwhich he ran: stopping abuse of the painkiller Oxycontin.

“We better get this stuff out of [Charlestown], or you can bet I’m going to be back,” Flaherty, a former prosecutor, said to cheers.

Galluccio’s departure will mark the second retirement of a veteran councillor this year in Cambridge, as seven-termer Michael A. Sullivan announced in August that he would resign. Galluccio had previously pledged to leave the council after the November election if he won the senate seat.

According to local political observers, the departure of Galluccio and Sullivan could benefit David P. Maher—a former city councillor currently filling the vacancy created by Sullivan’s resignation—and Edward J. Sullivan, the cousin of the current councillor.

Maher ran strongly in many of the same areas as Galluccio and Sullivan during the 2005 city council election, and could benefit from loyalty to his family—which has held a seat on the city council since 1936.

—Paras D. Bhayani contributed reporting from Charlestown.
—Staff writer Paras D. Bhayani can be reached at pbhayani@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Nicholas K. Tabor can be reached at ntabor@fas.harvard.edu.