Anthony Amore, the director of security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, is the  first GOP contender for Massachusetts secretary of state this year.
M. Scott Brauer/The New York Times
Anthony Amore, the director of security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, is the first GOP contender for Massachusetts secretary of state this year.

Anthony Amore, the security chief at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and a central figure in the institution’s search for its stolen artwork, is priming a campaign for the Massachusetts secretary of state’s office. .
Amore, 51, who announced his campaign on Tuesday, is the first Republican contender in the race that already features a Democratic primary between longtime incumbent Secretary William F.Galvin and Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim, viewed by some as perhaps Galvin’s most high-profile challenge in his two-plus decades in office.
Amore, a Swampscott resident, said last year that he intended to challenge state Representative Lori A. Ehrlich, a Marblehead Democrat, as his first foray into politics. But in a Boston Globe interviewthis week,he said that shifted in recent months after conversations with party officials, calling the statewide racea “first-in-a-generation” opportunity.
Amore framed his pitch as bringing “fresh leadership” to the office, echoing an argument Zakim has used in his campaign.