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Bristol County Republicans have big plans for 2026.
About 40 party members gathered in a small ballroom at the Whaler Inn and Suites this month for a meeting of New Bedford’s Republican City Committee. It was the group’s second meeting after a 16-year hiatus.
Shawn Oliver, the New Bedford city councilor who is running for lieutenant governor on a ticket with Brian Shortsleeve, chaired the meeting. His most important ask to the crowd: Get your Republican friends to run for office.
“Talk them into it,” he said. “It’s a good time. It’s fun. It really is.”
Republican candidates face long odds elsewhere in deep blue Massachusetts. But in Bristol County, the party has been gaining ground for years — President Donald Trump received 48% of the county’s votes in 2024. Local Republicans want to build on that momentum in state elections this fall.
The party’s goal is to recruit candidates to run in all 19 of the county’s statehouse races. Already, 14 Republicans have announced bids, more than in any year since at least 2012. The slate includes two candidates running against longtime Democratic incumbents who have never faced a Republican challenger.
Bob McConnell, a member of the state Republican committee, is collecting signatures to become the first Republican to run against state Sen. Mark Montigny, first elected in 1992.
“We’ve got to try to get more of our Republican candidates elected to change this one-party rule, which has been disastrous,” McConnell said to the city committee.
Local Republicans say voters are turning to their party because they’re frustrated with the high cost of living. GOP candidates are doubling down on affordability in their campaigns. They’re blaming the Democrats in power for allowing utility bills and local property taxes to rise beyond what many households can afford.
What it means to have a Republican city committee again
The re-establishment of New Bedford’s Republican City Committee in February is a sign of “huge and tremendous growth” for the party, McConnell said. It had been inactive since at least 2010, public filings show.
Jacob Ventura, a New Bedford Republican who informally advises South Coast candidates and has previously run for state and local office, said New Bedford is starting to feel the benefit of having a more organized party.
“It makes it easier to fill a room, to generate buzz,” he said.
Republicans can now raise money for candidates across the city. The committee plans to send 42 delegates to the state Republican convention, where later this month the party will nominate gubernatorial candidates. That’s ”a huge, huge uptick from zero,” Oliver said at the meeting.
It’s a reflection of the area’s changing politics.
Bristol County has historically been one of the most conservative parts of the state, and it’s becoming even more conservative. New Bedford’s steady drift to the right can be seen in its presidential votes over the last decade. Support for President Donald Trump has increased from 33% in 2016 to 38% in 2020 to 45% in 2024. Most of the votes in New Bedford wards 1 and 2 went to the president in the last federal election.
“There’s certainly an upswing in what you would call MAGA,” Ventura said, referencing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
While City Council races aren’t explicitly partisan in New Bedford, there are some signs of a rightward shift in city politics. Ward 1 Councilor Leo Choquette left the Democratic Party and registered as a Republican late last year, shortly after Oliver officially joined the GOP. Ventura said he expected at least one more councilor to change ranks “soon.”
Oliver said he’s received lots of messages since the committee was re-established from Republicans who said they’re glad to now have a “safe space” to talk about their beliefs.
Local Republican candidates had nearly identical responses to the question of why voters are turning to the GOP. They say voters want a change in leadership because they’re fed up with how unaffordable life in Massachusetts has become, pointing to skyrocketing energy bills in particular.
“People are done staying quiet,” Oliver said.
The candidates said the state needs to roll back clean energy programs and increase local aid, the portion of the state budget that gets sent to municipalities. The candidates also back an audit of the state Legislature that voters approved in 2024, which legislators have resisted.
It’s a pragmatic message focused on household budgets, steering clear of the nation’s red-hot immigration and culture-war debates.
To address high utility bills, Oliver said the state needs to turn its climate plans into “goals,” rather than “mandates.” Being “cleaner and greener” is good, he said. “It’s the method with which you get there.” He pointed to MassSave, an energy program that utility customers are required to pay into, as a driver of utility bills that the state should cut back.
Oliver said he’s running for lieutenant governor in part because state funding to cities and towns has not kept pace with inflation, putting pressure on local property taxpayers. The Massachusetts Municipal Association says local budgets are reaching a “breaking point.” New Bedford is facing a budget gap of at least $10 million, and Mayor Jon Mitchell has said declining local aid is one reason for the shortfall.
Who’s running
Republicans are running in 13 of the 19 statehouse districts in Bristol County, and the party is working to recruit candidates for the handful of remaining races.
With one contested Republican primary so far, at least 14 people have pulled papers or announced plans to run for the county’s state senate and house seats.
That’s the highest number of Republican candidates in the county since at least 2012, according to data provided by election tracker Ballotpedia. Between seven and 13 Bristol Republicans have run in the last several election cycles, the numbers show.
Candidates still have until April 28 to submit nomination papers, and they have to gather a certain number of signatures to get on the ballot, so the number of candidates could change in the coming weeks.
Two Republicans are running for the 9th Bristol district, an open race now that incumbent Rep. Chris Markey, a Democrat, is running for Bristol County District Attorney. The district covers Dartmouth and parts of New Bedford’s Far North End. Trump prevailed there by 141 votes in the last federal election.
The GOP candidates are Henry Bousquet, a New Bedford teacher who was passed up for a spot on the city’s School Committee earlier this year, and Chester Tam, an IT worker from Dartmouth.
Bousquet said Republicans seem to be gaining support from centrist voters who feel left behind by the Democratic party.
“I think there are lots of people that are just uncomfortable with how far to the left things have gotten,” he said.
Tam said the increasing cost of living was part of his decision to run for the open seat. As he campaigns door-to-door, voters are telling him they can’t keep up with the cost of necessities like utilities and insurance, and a surprising number of them are thinking about moving out of Massachusetts.
“The opportunities I had as a kid, I don’t see those opportunities opening up for my children,” the father of three said. He said is 23-year-old son may have to leave the state to afford the life he wants.
Jesse St. Gelais, who is running for the 8th Bristol district held by Democrat Steven Ouellette, had nearly the same thoughts about his 25-year-old daughter. He said he bought his first home at 21, but she can’t afford to do the same.
Democrats are campaigning on affordability too. But St. Gelais said voters aren’t swayed because they aren’t feeling it personally.
“When you look around, nothing’s getting better,” he said. “Everybody’s hurting around here.”
The 8th Bristol is another seat Republicans may be able to take. In 2024, Trump earned 54% of votes in the district, which covers Westport and parts of Fall River, Acushnet, Freetown, and New Bedford’s Far North End.
St. Gelais first ran for the seat in 2024 as an independent, losing to Ouellette. But Ouellette only won in the five-way race by a plurality, receiving 31% of votes cast. Republican Christopher Thrasher received 30% and St. Gelais received 18%.
So far, this time around, no independents have announced a run for the seat, and St. Gelais is the only Republican who has jumped in the race.
“I identify more with the Republican values — faith, hard work, play by the rules,” St. Gelais said.
For the first time, two long-serving Democrats from New Bedford could face Republicans on this fall’s ballot.
McConnell, the Republican state committeeman, is challenging Montigny, Greater New Bedford’s state senator, who has held influential positions close to Senate leadership. Montigny has faced rare primary challenges since he was first elected in 1992, but never a Republican.
Seyyed “El Cid” Shahrouzi, who moved from Winchester to New Bedford late last year, is the first Republican to challenge Rep. Tony Cabral since the incumbent was elected to the 13th Bristol district in 1990. At the committee meeting, Shahrouzi told a reporter that he was passionate about the district despite his recent residency, and he had a vision for New Bedford’s future.
“This is the center of the universe,” he said.
Democrats hold supermajorities of 131-25 in the Massachusetts House and 35-5 in the Senate. Bristol County’s delegation, while overwhelmingly Democratic, includes a few Republicans in the northern part of the county.
Republicans elsewhere in Bristol County are also challenging Democrats, including Sen. Michael Rodrigues, the powerful chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, as well as Fall River representatives Carole Fiola and Alan Silvia.
Ventura, the informal Republican advisor, said voters want options on their ballots. “The more fundamental issue is just bringing competition back,” he said. “It’s just good for democracy.”
There’s a silver lining even if Republicans don’t win, Oliver said as he urged people at the committee meeting to run for office.
“At the very least, Republican challengers make for better Democrats,” he said.
Email Grace Ferguson at gferguson@newbedfordlight.org
Talk about misplaced anger regarding higher energy costs! Try directing it towards Trump who’s war of choice with Iran has resulted in an extra $15 – $20/week to fill my tank and his “War on (Offshore) Wind” is leading to less energy entering the grid resulting in higher electricity costs for consumers and businesses, not to mention depriving the region of thousands of great-paying union jobs for local residents.
Excellent points, Mr. Pimental. More largely, Trump and his regime’s increasing defiance against our country’s Constitution and our Republican congresspeople’s refusal to stop those actions are taken into consideration, St. Gelais’s saying that “Republican Party values” include “playing by the rules” beggars belief. And that the percentage of New Bedford voters has increasingly voted for Trump over the years is nothing about which to be proud.
The Republican Party has a lot to do with earning our trust back. As a former republican, Reagan Republican, this party is nothing but a sham unless the new people stand up and call out the MAGAs who have destroyed this country. Yes we have costs rising here in energy, but it is not 100% the states fault and there are other contributors, as Jim pointed out, that are seriously impacting the cost of living for all of us. To be blunt, this new and rising local Republican Party must stand tall, talk the truth, support truth with facts, all facts where your party and the democratic party has made mistakes, then demonstrate the bridge that we can walk over together. With the rift in politics today, and the disgusting behavior of the person in the White House, the lack of leadership at the national level of the Republican Party, the local organization will struggle.
If we are to believe this is a new kind of Republican who really cares about the state I for one need to see them work with other people. Is this really about moving the state forward? Or is the letter after your name the primary focus?
The SouthCoast could have been the hub of the wind industry but Charlie Baker claimed that the state wasn’t interested in subsidizing the SouthCoast. Then along came Trump who tried to kill the entire industry specifically hurting the SouthCoast.
Republicans of the past understood you have to cultivate all kinds of business to grow the economy. Good jobs equal people who can buy things. This Republican Party is for the elite.
It has consistently been the Democrats working to bring business and good jobs to this state. Who created the biotech industry and green jobs? Who has consistently tried to attract industry to our state?
The reason we have high energy costs is that we are at the END of every pipeline. Look at our geography. We had (and maybe we still do) the opportunity to be at the beginning of the wind pipeline. There is NO COST for the wind. You are paying for the transmission, just like your gas and electric bills.
Before you talk about tax breaks and subsidies look at the perks the oil and gas industries have enjoyed for many years.
You brought up local aid. How many communities are actively looking for business and industry? My experience is there is an awful lot of NIMBY. Why aren’t communities looking to build their own economies? It’s easier to blame everything on the state.
As you look at the candidates, ask yourself is it about the R or is it about moving Massachusetts forward? Are you voting for someone because of the R or do they really have a plan? So far I’m only hearing about the R. Where is the plan?
A hundred or so years ago the Republican Party was the party of the large corporations and the super wealthy. They advocated “liassez faire” policies meaning that corporations should be allowed do as they please without any governmental oversight or regulations. Progressives disagreed and recognized that if capitalism is not made accountable in a democratic society, greed would rule the day.
It is now 2026, and while the term “liassez faire” is rarely used, it is still the defining policy of the Republican Party. Never has the gap between the rich and the poor been any larger. The oligarths rule America and they do so by providing politicians with huge political contributions also known as legalized bribes.
So, if you want the super rich oligarths and liassez faire to rule America, then vote Republican.
I have lived in a town in Bristol County for my entire life, and Republicans have never brought in business. They’ve spent most of their time opposing bringing in new business to our town. We could have at some point been involved in wind energy manufacturing, but it was opposed at every level by Republicans in town.
I don’t have a whole lot of faith in Republicans because at this point, our gas prices are up, our food prices are up and Republicans just go right along with our current president. Within the past few years, we had a republican win our state representative election and he has done nothing to bring money into our town. In fact, we had to meet with our Democratic State Senator to get funding to help out with allocations to our town to improve our water/sewer department.
If another Democrat was president things would be worse. Trump is just fixing what the Democrats did. They are just mad because we are not signing that blank check without answering where it’s going.
Blank check? The blank check has gone to Trump and his family. Arab countries have bought billions in Trump crypto currency and Trump’s son in law was paid two billion dollars in “consultant” fees by Saudi Arabia. Another Arab country gave Trump a fancy jet. (what are they looking for in return?). Trump’s net worth has exploded since he’s been president. How and why? Hidden deals have been made with Arab countries. Trump cabinet members have abused their powers, placed inside bets on administration policies earning hundred of thousands of dollars. They have lied to Congress as a matter of routine. Consumer prices have raised exorbitantly thanks Trump’s tarrifs and economic policies. The tariffs have been declared unconstitutional by his Supreme Court but the consumers get no refund. Corporations do. So, who made things worst and who has gotten the blank check?
Congrats to the New Bedford Republican party, while most of the comments here are drawn upon political lines, this should not be about far left or far right ideology. It should be more about providing a more bipartisan approach to our state government (that puts state residents first, lowers taxes, reduces the size of state government, and provides a common sense approach to energy to lower our utility bills). Nothing will change with a one party system running our state and we need a more balanced group on Beacon Hill to deliver better representation for our residents.
HA! This is rich. Trump ruins our economy and its somehow Bristol county democrats fault. OKAYYYY BUDDDDYYYYYYY.
No surprise that this article was about the local republican party rebuilding itself to be involved in state politics and was twisted into a bash Trump forum. One of the comment reads Trump ruined the economy, when he didn’t leave our borders wide open and let 15 Million undocumented Illegals into our country. It was Joe Biden and Maura Healey who welcomed all the illegals here and billions of taxpayer dollars were spent on them. This money could have been used to help our cities and towns, deal with the dramatic decrease in state aid, skyrocketing utility bills, and rising taxes. If we can bring back a balance to state politics it will be better for everyone. No city, town, or state should ever be run or controlled by one party.
We have seen the damage the republicans have caused across the country and they are trying to destroy Massachusetts by adopting Trump’s lies and policies we need to support the Democrats and keep Massachusetts safe and vibrant.
We can also thank two Republican members of our City Council for consistently voting against an early municipal primary election date in New Bedford. We are the only community in Massachusetts, except Cambridge, not to have a September municipal primary. The following article explains exactly how that happened:
https://newbedfordlight.org/new-bedford-city-council-changes-its-mind-on-expanding-mail-in-voting-window/
…. “that would’ve moved the preliminary city election from Oct. 7 to Sept. 16 to allow more time to securely process mail-in voting ballots in the general election. New Bedford’s bipartisan Election Commission had recommended the earlier date. So had the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office. The Council itself had voted for the change in a subcommittee….
..Councilors Gomes and Oliver consistently voted no on the proposal every time it came up. Other councilors changed their minds throughout the process, and that flipped the council. ..”
In my opinion, this is a great disservice to the people in New Bedford who might be elderly or handicapped, or work several jobs, and have family and other obligations which make it difficult to vote in person on election day, or even go to an early voting location.
Having this highly recommended early municipal election primary in September makes sense. I really hope that our City Council does take this measure up again and that the people of New Bedford can look forward to the same September municipal primary election date that all other communities in Massachusetts now enjoy.