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The people running to represent the South Coast in Congress and the courtroom shared their positions on the region’s biggest issues Tuesday night at a candidate forum hosted by The Light and the League of Women Voters SouthCoast.
U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, a Democrat, and his challenger, Republican Tyler Macallister of Mattapoisett, staked out very different priorities for the Massachusetts 9th Congressional District on energy, immigration, and voting laws.
In the race for Bristol County District Attorney, state Rep. Chris Markey, a Democrat, emphasized his experience and passion for the job of being a prosecutor. Seth Aitken, a former Fall River city administrator and a Republican, said the DA’s office needs better leadership and structural changes to hold criminals accountable.
Moderator Jack Eklund asked questions prepared by The Light and the League of Women Voters at the forum, held at Keith Middle School in New Bedford.
Competing priorities from 9th Congressional District candidates
Macallister focused on energy as his first priority for the congressional district and New Bedford.
“My very first legislative activity would be to reevaluate how we handle energy and energy permitting within the federal government,” said Macallister. The state has a moratorium on new thorium reactor technology, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a 10-year permitting process, he said. “One of the first things I would be looking to do is to shorten that time horizon [to] two years.”
Keating took a broader view.
“The first thing I would do is embrace the Constitution of the United States, because if we don’t do that, all the other things don’t matter,” he said.
Keating, an eight-term incumbent, added that he would assert Congress’s authority over tariffs, and described the president’s imposition of tariffs as illegal. He also said he would uphold the Constitution regarding declarations of war, civil rights, and voting rights.
On attracting federal funds and investments in technology and other industries, Macallister said the waterfront is starved for skilled welders, plumbers, and electricians.
“So one of the things that I would be doing is harboring federal dollars to open up training for those positions,” he said. “When it comes to availability within the technology sector, we need to attract them back here, and that’s a joint effort for the state and the federal government.”
Keating said connecting education and jobs has been a priority for him, adding that he secured funding for improvements to New Bedford Regional Airport. However, he said funding cuts threaten energy-sector jobs, union jobs, and healthcare jobs.
On energy, differences in positions emerged regarding offshore wind.
Keating referenced high energy prices and blamed the Trump administration’s tariffs and war with Iran. “That war has to stop. His tariffs programs have to stop, because they are affecting our costs in the delivery of energy, too.”
The candidates addressed the proposed discharge of industrial wastewater into Cape Cod Bay by Holtec, the current owner of the decommissioned Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. Keating said his office was the first to discover the plan to discharge. “We put a stop to that.”
Macallister, who holds a marine biology degree from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, argued that offshore wind turbines are neither effective nor efficient, based on his observations during multiple offshore trips.
He said he owns a solar energy system on Cape Cod and believes “solar has a place,” while also expressing support for nuclear energy. “We can develop the energy at a low cost for this area very quickly.”
On rising housing costs, Macallister said institutional investors were outbidding working-class families. He also discussed zoning and increasing the number of available housing units, though he acknowledged they’re state-level issues. Keating linked high mortgage rates to inflation, arguing that the war had driven up interest rates.
Macallister and Keating also differed on immigration — specifically whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should be reformed.
“We saw it just here in New Bedford, just the other week, the way the ICE operates,” Keating said, referring to the dozens of ICE arrests two weeks ago. “We have to have an enforcement agency,” he added, noting that he understands that need as a former district attorney. “But ICE, as we know it, is doing worse than malfunctioning. It is criminal.”
Macallister said Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” had also overseen immigration enforcement under former President Barack Obama, who was known for deportations. “He’s now working with President Trump doing the same exact job, and he’s being criticized,” Macallister said.
On ICE, Macallister said some aspects of the agency need to be reviewed. However, he argued that lowering tensions and allowing ICE officers to do their jobs would prevent many of these problems.
Macallister and Keating also disagreed on the proposed SAVE Act, a bill in Congress that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote.
“We have a lot of fraud,” said Macallister. “Keeping the vote secure and safe is very important to me and having an ID required is part of that.”
“The SAVE act is a failed solution attempt for a problem that doesn’t exist,” Keating said. “You can go back decades statistically in the U.S. and see that the incidence of fraud is extremely low.”
The moderator asked candidates how they would ensure government transparency, and how often they would hold public meetings in the district if elected. Neither candidate committed to a certain number of public meetings.
Keating listed people and groups he’s met with, including fishermen, New Bedford Port Authority officials, healthcare professionals, local firefighters, and legislators. “If you look at what truly being accessible is, it’s being able to meet with groups,” he said, “but also be able to take those meetings, take those spots, and translate them into real action.”
According to Keating’s website, he last held a town hall meeting on March 20, 2025, in Wareham. “I know there’s a lot of focus on town halls, and they have their place, and we’ve done that,” he said, “but getting our work done, and doing it, involves dealing with groups.”
Macallister began by saying that each town and its constituents have distinct characteristics. “Being in this position, you have to be a chameleon, but you also have to be the person there listening to them.” He said he has made himself available by phone and email and would continue to do so, adding that going the extra mile to meet with people comes naturally to him. “I would continue those relationships, whether it be here or down in the D.C.”
The Massachusetts 9th Congressional District includes New Bedford, much of the South Coast, Cape Cod, the islands, and the South Shore.
DA candidates agree on most problems, but propose different solutions
The district attorney candidates, Markey and Aitken, shared different approaches to the challenges of prosecuting cases quickly and successfully. Though they discussed controversial topics like immigration and Flock cameras with differing tones, the result of their plans for immigration and Flock would be largely the same.
Both candidates promised more training and mentorship for assistant district attorneys, particularly those in the lower district courts, who are often at the start of their legal careers. Markey said he would hold trainings in the evenings and on weekends. Aitken said he would hire more prosecutors in the district court, saying the current staff can’t handle the court’s high caseload.
On immigration, both candidates had concerns about the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement tactics, but Markey expressed a greater willingness to push back against ICE. (While district attorneys don’t have a direct role in immigration enforcement, it touches their work because the immigration status of victims, witnesses, and defendants can affect the course of a criminal case.)
As a state legislator, Markey voted for the PROTECT Act, a new law designed to limit state cooperation with ICE and prevent immigration arrests in certain areas, including courthouses. But he said he was concerned about the state’s ability to affect federal enforcement actions.
“I think we are giving a false hope to immigrants, that they are going to be protected in particular areas,” he said. “There is nothing on the enforcement side that we can do.”
Markey said his office would need to have a respectful relationship with ICE so that, when a defendant faces serious criminal charges, prosecutors can ask federal agents not to detain the person before they can be held accountable in a Massachusetts court.
Aitken said he doesn’t support the PROTECT Act because he isn’t interested in fighting ICE.
“The idea of trying to invalidate ICE’s authority, to take a law enforcement tool off the table, is antithetical to what a DA should want,” he said.
Still, Aitken said he would comply with the new law as DA.
As activists condemn the use of license-plate-reading surveillance technology such as Flock, and communities — including New Bedford — reassess their use of the cameras, both district attorney candidates said they support the technology as an “essential” law enforcement tool. They differed on the guardrails necessary to stop police from abusing it.
Markey said police should have to follow the same internal procedures that they do to get other information, such as private surveillance camera footage. He said there needs to be enough evidence of a potential crime, and a supervisor should have to sign off on searches.
“There are safeguards that are reasonable that we use every single day,” Markey said. He stopped short of saying police should need a warrant signed by a judge before conducting a Flock search.
Aitken said he would talk to cities and towns to understand their policies. Flock and similar tools have been overly politicized, he added.
Cases often move more slowly through the court system than they should — a New Bedford Light data analysis found earlier this year that just a quarter of Massachusetts felony cases end on schedule.
Aitken said many organizations within the court system share blame, and he’s ready to work out a solution by talking with them. Markey, by contrast, said he had the “experience and judgment” to try cases on schedule. He recounted a rape case he worked on as a prosecutor that was tried in a matter of months.
Mental-health problems can play a role in some crimes, and the candidates proposed different approaches to those cases.
Aitken said mental health can be a reason to connect a defendant to treatment rather than prosecute them criminally, but the DA’s first priority has to be holding people accountable and keeping the public safe.
Markey described his plans to hire a forensic psychologist within the DA’s office, perhaps the first role of its kind in the country, to quickly evaluate defendants and consult with prosecutors. This, he said, could help some defendants get the medical attention they need sooner, instead of racking up charges.
Since criminals use artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency to carry out financial scams, prosecutors need to keep up, the candidates said. Aitken called for more staff in the DA’s office trained in financial crime investigations. Markey said he would focus on prevention by continuing the current DA’s efforts: providing seminars for elders. Markey said he would also lobby communities to ban “crypto kiosks,” scam-enabling devices (often found in convenience stores) that function like cryptocurrency ATMs.
Both candidates committed to improving transparency in the district attorney’s office and agreed that the press plays an important role in holding the DA and courts accountable. Journalists currently have no way to reach a DA representative by phone, and the office doesn’t consistently answer questions via email. The agency has also been found in court to have violated the state public records law.
Markey said he has cultivated relationships with local journalists during his time as a state representative. He said he would continue having open conversations with reporters, floating the idea of monthly press conferences.
Aitken said the DA’s office needs to have someone responsible for answering journalists’ questions.
“Transparency encourages accountability,” he said.
In his closing statement, Markey said a DA needs to make tough decisions every day. He reiterated his experience of rising through the ranks of the DA’s office, from a victim advocate to a supervising role.
“That knowledge, that judgment, comes from the experience of having been there before,” he said.
Aitken concluded with a more foreboding message, warning that he was concerned for his three sons when he thinks of Bristol County’s future.
“I don’t see it as having the peace of mind in our homes or our workplaces that we had 10 years ago,” he said.
Email Grace Ferguson at gferguson@newbedfordlight.org.
Email Eleonora Bianchi at ebianchi@newbedfordlight.org.
