With John Kerry expected to be confirmed as Secretary of State today and immediately resign his seat in the U.S. Senate, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin has recommended to the Governor that the following dates be set for the Special Election to fill the Senate vacancy:

Primary Election – Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Election – Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The first step for any candidate will be to collect 10,000 nomination signatures with the nomination papers becoming available by the end of this week. Throughout February as you go about your daily tasks, you will probably encounter volunteers with clipboards asking you to sign nomination papers. As someone who has collected thousands of signatures myself, please be generous about signing.

Congressman Ed Markey has already declared his intent to run and his fellow Democratic Congressman, Steve Lynch, is expected to announce his decision to run or not this Thursday. Should Lynch get into the race, there will be an intense primary campaign since that election is only 90 days away. On the other side, Scott Brown is the person most anticipated to run as a Republican, but the Brown camp has not telegraphed his intentions. Because of the small time window for gathering signatures, Brown or some other Republican will have to kick off a campaign very quickly.

I’ve already made it clear that I am supporting Ed Markey. If you feel similarly, or if you are just curious to learn more about Markey, his background and his record, please come to an informational session tonight at 7 pm at the Pollard Memorial Library at 401 Merrimack Street in Lowell. We’ll also review some of the key dates and activities in the coming election. Finally, if you like Markey and are on Facebook, please go to our Lowell for Ed Markey page and “Like” it.