The Massachusetts Democratic Party has retained Northwind Strategies — the firm that advised Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren’s 2012 campaign — to help with its coordinated effort in the expected Senate special election this year.

The move means Doug Rubin, an operative at the firm close to Warren and Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, will not be advising a candidate in the Democratic primary, but rather will be helping with strategy for whoever is the Democratic nominee.

Democratic Sen. John Kerry’s expected confirmation to be secretary of State appears likely to set up a special election that could happen as early as June.

Messages left on Rubin’s cellphone Wednesday afternoon were not returned, but state party spokesman Kevin Franck confirmed the agreement. He said Massachusetts Democrats are poised to run a starkly different campaign in 2013 than their failed 2010 special election effort.

“In the 2010 special election for U.S. Senate we dropped the ball and we’re not going to make that mistake again,” he said in an email.  “The Massachusetts Democratic Party is starting early to ensure that we can build a state-wide coordinated campaign to defeat Scott Brown and send another excellent Democrat to join Elizabeth Warren in the U.S. Senate. While the short time frame of a special election presents challenges, we are picking up where our historic efforts of 2012 left off and we’ll be ready for Scott Brown.”

Brown, defeated by Warren on Nov. 6, has not yet announced whether he will run again for Senate.