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Though trading jabs on social media and during stump speeches, the two Republican candidates for the 8th Bristol state House seat agree on key issues that they’d like to address if elected, including the audit of the legislature and affordability.
Christopher Thrasher and Jesse St. Gelais both ran for the seat in 2024 — St. Gelais as an independent — a seat that has been held by Democrats for decades. They lost to Steven Ouellette, a Westport Democrat. Now they’re competing for the Republican nomination and a rematch with Ouellette.
Christopher Thrasher, an attorney living in Westport, finished less than 300 votes behind Ouellette in 2024 as the sole Republican on the ticket. Jesse St. Gelais, an insurance agent residing in Acushnet, came in third with about 3,000 fewer votes. This year, he’s running as a Republican.
Key election dates
The Massachusetts primary election is Sept. 1, with polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The early voting period ends Aug. 28.
Thrasher, 41, grew up in North Carolina. He came to Massachusetts by way of UMass, where he got his law degree in Dartmouth, and moved to Westport in 2021. Before becoming an attorney, he worked as a political consultant. He founded his company, Ballot Access Marketing, in 2016, and has contracted with candidates across the country since.
“I hate the word ‘politician,’” he said. “I want to do something good, give back, be able to have a real effect on policy.”
His company consulted for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 presidential campaign. This year, he has helped collect signatures for candidates in Massachusetts, including Ann Manning Martin (Republican candidate for lieutenant governor). He said he is under nondisclosure agreements with other candidates.
Thrasher said he was not involved in the fraudulent signatures that disqualified Manning Martin from the race.
He’s also involved with Mass Priorities, a project of a Minnesota-based Domestic Policy Caucus, that is fighting against municipal broadband projects. It has been called a “dark money” group by some.
Thrasher confirmed by email that the caucus is a client of his company, with his business providing “professional policy analysis, advocacy, and communications services.”
“I firmly oppose municipal broadband projects across the Commonwealth because taxpayers should not be forced to bankroll wasteful government-run networks,” Thrasher wrote. “As to the ‘dark money’ charge, that is a useful political attack when critics do not want to argue the merits.”
He said questions about Mass Priorities’ donors or internal funding should be directed to the organizations.
Federal data show Thrasher has donated to libertarian and Republican organizations, as well as to RFK Jr.’s presidential campaign.
St. Gelais, 42, has been working for his family’s insurance business for over two decades. He never finished his degree at Bristol Community College, saying it became too expensive. He previously ran as an independent on the slogan “people over party,” but is now running as a Republican. He said his values (“faith, work hard, play by the rules”) align with those of the Republican party. (Federal data show he donated to a Republican PAC in 2023.)
Over the last few weeks, St. Gelais has been door-knocking with a cowboy boot on one foot and a plastic medical boot on the other (he recently broke a leg bone). The latter is decorated with two stickers: an American flag and a cross.
“Me being in the private sector, I feel when you work hard, you should be able to keep a little bit more of what you work for,” he said. “Tax dollars for working people are being spent on pet projects from a lot of the electeds, instead of being reinvested in the community.”
Both sit on their respective town committees — Thrasher has appointments on Westport’s offshore wind, finance, planning and building, and audit committees; he was elected to its school committee in 2024. St. Gelais is on Acushnet’s master plan committee, but has not held elected office.
They are going for a seat that represents residents among all of Westport and portions of Freetown, Acushnet, Fall River and New Bedford. Four of the five municipalities voted majority red (some by a thin margin) during the 2024 presidential election.
Audit, affordability
Both candidates agree on several issues, including that the legislature should be audited. They both cited 72% — the share of Massachusetts residents who voted on a 2024 ballot question in favor of allowing the state auditor to audit the body. Most Democrats in the Legislature, however, voted to narrow the scope of the audit this June.
Thrasher said this shows the Legislature is refusing to be accountable for its actions. St. Gelais accused Ouellette, who voted to narrow the audit, of toe-ing his party line, rather than voting for what residents want.
Both also cite the affordability crisis, placing blame on career Democrats and the policies they’ve backed, including energy policy.
“We can’t pigeonhole everyone into 100% electric,” St. Gelais said. “I have solar panels on my roof, but also heat my house with oil.” He called for repealing the state’s mandate of net–zero emissions by 2050.
The state committed to reducing carbon emissions by at least 50% compared to 1990 baselines by 2030, and net-zero emissions by 2050. In order to do that, it has other mandates, including for electric vehicles. The Healey administration, however, recently delayed some goals, including a standard for clean heat, amid affordability concerns.
“If you want to have it as a goal, that’s fine, but to mandate people pay for green energy mandates and you look at all the convoluted charges in there, I don’t think that’s fair to the public, not at a time when we’re all hurting,” he said.
St. Gelais also said the state has been funding the “migrant crisis” while working people and senior citizens with fixed incomes are struggling to get by. He said funding of shelter for migrants should cease and be re-invested in communities through unrestricted government aid.
(In 2025, amid an influx of migrants, Gov. Maura Healey limited who could access emergency shelters in the state, requiring legal immigration status.)
Thrasher criticized clean energy (he used finger quotes with the term, but clarified he’s not against it, just against a project “pretending” to be clean energy). He was involved in a ballot proposal petition drive in 2025 that aimed to change the way utility companies such as Eversource charge their customers. (The petition drive failed to gather enough signatures to make the ballot.)
A member of Westport’s Offshore Wind Advisory Committee, Thrasher is opposed to offshore wind.
“This industry would not exist were it not for government subsidies. It is not a competitive technology. I dare say it’s not safe,” he said, referencing the 2024 blade failure that brought debris to several beaches. Thrasher said he thinks more gas pipelines and solar is the correct path, but said he’d be open to land-based wind depending on where it is sited.
Both candidates pointed to fishermen as a source of their concerns, in addition to other potential impacts from offshore wind projects; Thrasher cited the altered viewshed from Westport.
Though fishermen generally have opposed offshore wind — anti-wind flags flying on some vessels in New Bedford’s harbor — some fishermen have earned money working on the projects and are continuing to seek wind work as they have fewer days to fish at sea. Studies are still underway on what offshore wind’s impacts will be to fishing grounds and fishing vessels.
Both candidates said that if elected, they’d seek to sit on the house Ways and Means Committee, which determines the budget. Thrasher listed energy as a second committee, while St. Gelais listed agriculture (on which Ouellette sits).
St. Gelais described himself as a man of faith. He said he was “a little disturbed” by the recent passage of state legislation that lifts restrictions on abortion after 24 weeks of gestation.
Its passage was supported by physicians groups, who said the state’s existing statute “does not adequately meet the needs of all patients,” some of whom needed to travel out of state to get care after experiencing pregnancy complications. In 2024, 0.2% of abortions in Massachusetts happened after 24 weeks, according to state data.
After an interview, The Light attempted to reach Thrasher by phone to ask him follow-up questions, but he said he was only available by email. He wrote that he would have voted against the abortion legislation because “it goes too far.”
Both candidates attended a public meeting last month in New Bedford about Flock cameras, also known as automatic license plate readers. Municipalities across the country are pausing or terminating the use of the technology. In New Bedford, the Police Department suspended it pending a review. Critics of the system say Massachusetts has failed to adopt regulations of the powerful surveillance tool.
At the meeting last month, more than a dozen residents slammed the city’s use of the tool and demanded it be removed. St. Gelais said he’d support legislation requiring more public input, such as a city or town getting to vote on its adoption.
Thrasher also said legal guardrails need to be established.
Campaign finances, background
St. Gelais has raised more than Thrasher, according to the latest campaign finance reports. St. Gelais’ cash on hand sits at around $17,000, and he has raised more than $25,000 since the 2025 election. More than one-third has come from New Bedford (his family’s insurance business is in the city).
Thrasher has less than $300 cash on hand as of Aug. 20. His only listed contributions since 2025 are three from himself this summer, totaling $30,000, which he said is his own money.
Thrasher said he hasn’t asked for money: “I feel it is my responsibility as a candidate to put forth a vision of action that will resonate in the primary. After the primary, then I will be asking.”
St. Gelais addressed past reporting in The Light on a civil case in which a Superior Court judge found he acted fraudulently to transfer a neighbor’s property to himself after the neighbor fell behind on payments (the advisory jury, however, ruled in favor of St. Gelais). St. Gelais said he spent tens of thousands of dollars to file appeals to clear his name, but those appeals were denied.
“I didn’t commit fraud,” St. Gelais said, noting the jury did not find he was unjustly enriched.
He blamed Thrasher for the 2024 article, saying he “tried to smear me” and that he was “poorly treated” by The Light in its past coverage. The Light published his rebuttal days after the article.
As a final word, St. Gelais said the legislature needs balance through more conservative members. He also said he will not default to voting with the party line: “Vote for your district first. If my district believes in something and wants it, I’m their representative. I support it.”
Thrasher also promised he’d go against party leadership if it would benefit his constituents. He called himself a “policy wonk” and promised he would file no fewer than 100 bills at the beginning of the legislative session. As a resident, he’s drafted eight.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
I trust both of them…
I wouldn’t.
Unfortunately character and integrity don’t matter much to Republicans though.
For every bad Republican there plenty of bad democrats, these days everyone jokes about how the democrat party is on life support and has transitioned into a bunch far left liberal lunatics, socialists, communists, and radical extremists. No one in their right mind is supporting or voting for any of their sick agenda, failed policies, and their hate filled redirect.