Scott Brown’s victory in the United States Senate special election this week leaves Norfolk without a state senator — and sends a number of politicians scrambling to fillthe void. Norfolk Town Moderator Dan Winslow may be one of them. Winslow, a Republican who served as a legal adviser to Brown’s election committee, appears to be in the pro­cess of setting up his own legislative committee. Winslow announced Wednesday that he “has taken a step toward launching a legislative race by receiving paperwork necessary to set up a state candidate com­mittee …” Winslow declined to get more specific, but his email message implies he could run for either Brown’s Nor­folk,

Bristol, and Middlesex Senate District or for the Ninth Norfolk House District (which includes Norfolk, Wrentham, Plainville, two precincts in Medfield, one precinct in Millis, and one precinct in Walpole).

But some observers in Norfolk think he could run for state Attorney General.

Winslow served as chief legal counsel to Mitt Rom­ney during the first two years Romney was governor. Before that he served as a district court judge. He is cur­rently a partner at Duane Morris, a law firm in Boston. The town of Norfolk’s current state representative, Richard Ross, a Republican from Wrentham, has told some Norfolk residents that he is interested in running for Brown’s state Senate seat. Ross could not be reached for comment late this week. If Ross runs in the special state Senate election likely to take place sometime this spring and wins, then Winslow might run to replace Ross in the state House of Representatives. Or Winslow could opt to run in the special state Senate election himself.

The Massachusetts Repub­lican Party is so small that there aren’t typically multiple candi­dates for the same electoral of­fices — and in many cases, there aren’t any GOP candidates. But Brown’s unlikely victory in the federal Senate race has ener­gized Republicans. Other Republicans said to be weighing a run for the state Senate district that includes Norfolk include state Repre­sentative

Elizabeth Poirier of North Attleborough; and Jim Healy, a former Needham se­lectman. Norfolk’s three selectmen — Jim Lehan, Rob Garrity, and Jim Tomaszewski, all Republi­cans — said late this week they have no plans to run for the state Legislature in the near fu­ture. Lehan did say he is plan­ning to run for reelection to the Norfolk Board of Selectmen for what would be a third three-year term.

Among Democrats, state Representative Lida Harkins of Needham and Needham physi­cian Peter Smulowitz have ex­pressed interest in running for Brown’s seat. Another potential candidate is Paul DeRensis, a Sherborn selectman.

Plainville Selectman Robert Fennessy is also eyeing a run.

The special election to re­place Brown will be a so-called “free shot,” meaning incumbent legislators don’t have to give up their current seat in order to run for it, unlike in a general election.

Brown himself first won election to the state Senate in a special election in March 2004 to replace his predeces­sor, Cheryl Jacques, a Demo­crat who resigned mid-term to take a job with a Washington nonprofit organization. Brown, a former Wrentham selectman, had served as Norfolk’s state representative since after first winning election in 1998.