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NEW BEDFORD — Republican candidate for lieutenant governor and New Bedford City Councilor Shawn Oliver was arrested on a charge of operating under the influence of alcohol and has since suspended his campaign for the statewide office.
The crash, which occurred Saturday around 11:40 p.m., damaged five vehicles and created a political firestorm for Oliver, with his own running mate calling on him to discontinue his campaign.
“After careful reflection, I have made the decision to suspend my campaign for Lieutenant Governor. This election is too important to be overshadowed by personal matters,” Oliver said in a post on his Facebook page. “I want to sincerely thank everyone who has supported me throughout this journey and ask that my family’s privacy be respected during this difficult time.”
Late Saturday evening, officers responded to Dartmouth Street for a motor vehicle crash involving an overturned car that struck multiple parked cars. Five cars were involved in the crash, spokesperson Holly Huntoon said, and two sustained “extensive damage.”
Oliver, 42, was taken to St. Luke’s for treatment of injuries and then placed under arrest. He was also charged with negligent operation of a motor vehicle, speeding and a marked lanes violation.
Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux told The Light that Oliver was held at Ash Street Jail after being booked at around 6:45 a.m. A Light reporter was standing outside the jail when Oliver exited just after 9 a.m. on Sunday.
Oliver told the reporter he was in a crash on Dartmouth Street. He declined to comment further and did not answer questions about why he was taken into custody.
Oliver did not have a ride and walked away from the jail in a plain white T-shirt with his belongings in a plastic bag. It was 44 degrees outside. He had no visible injuries.
Glass, plastic and tire skidmarks were all present in front of the apartment complex across from the Stop & Shop on Dartmouth Street. A portion of the complex’s lawn was littered with fragments of clear plastic and what looked like pieces of a car’s front grille.
The former candidate did not respond to questions left on his voicemail about whether he planned to continue serving on the New Bedford City Council and how he would address his criminal charges. No one answered the door when The Light tried to reach him at his home minutes after he announced he was ending his campaign.
Mayor Jon Mitchell posted his reaction on his Facebook page.
“This morning, I was made aware that City Councilor Shawn Oliver was involved in a car accident in the South End and taken into custody,” he said. “I’m grateful to the New Bedford Police Department for their prompt response and relieved that no one was seriously injured. The allegations against Councilor Oliver are deeply concerning, and the public deserves to hear his explanation of what happened.”
Oliver has been campaigning across the state, including with his running mate, gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue.
Minogue posted on social media that he spoke to Oliver and asked him to immediately suspend his campaign. He said “…when elected, I will formally ask for his resignation.”
“I am extremely disappointed. Shawn is lucky to be alive and lucky that no one innocent was hurt,” Minogue said in the post. “Shawn is a father and grandfather, and he needs to put his family first. He needs to do the work to ensure this never happens again. If he needs help with that, I will help him.”
Amy Carnevale, chairwoman for the Massachusetts Republican Party, issued a statement on social media supporting Oliver’s decision to step aside and recognizing that he is “holding himself accountable for his actions and facing the consequences of this situation.”
“The MassGOP supports the decision of Shawn Oliver to suspend his campaign for Lieutenant Governor. Lives were put at risk and that is never acceptable,” Carnevale said. “We now stand to assist Shawn in getting any help he needs to ensure he never puts himself or others in harm’s way again.”
Oliver ran with Brian Shortsleeve on the Republican ticket until Shortsleeve’s defeat in the primary. Since Oliver was the only GOP lieutenant governor candidate, he was tapped as Minogue’s running mate.
The Shortsleeve campaign didn’t immediately have a comment on Oliver’s arrest.
“This is news to us, so I will have to get back to you,” said campaign spokesperson Holly Robichaud when she was reached by a reporter early Sunday.
Gov. Maura Healey’s office did not answer an email or texts seeking comment.
Oliver’s last public appearance was at an event for candidates in Newton with conservative influencer and podcast host Mike Urban. Urban told a Light reporter on Sunday morning that Oliver left the event around 4:30 or 5 p.m., when the restaurant venue was still closed and no alcohol had been served.
Oliver is not the first New Bedford city councilor to face criminal charges over alleged drinking and driving. Hugh Dunn, who also represented Ward 3, was charged with OUI in 2021 while a sitting city councilor after hitting cars in a parking lot in downtown New Bedford.
Minogue in April had endorsed Anne Brensley for the lieutenant governor post, but she failed to hit the signature threshold to appear on the ballot after a fraudulent signature-gathering debacle. In a Facebook post, Brensley backed Minogue’s calls for Oliver to end his candidacy.
“Driving under the influence is reckless, dangerous, and completely unacceptable,” Brensley wrote. “These are serious allegations, and the legal process must take its course. But let me be clear: this kind of behavior should never be tolerated, regardless of someone’s political affiliation or position.”
Anne Manning Martin, another Republican lieutenant governor hopeful, was also disqualified from the ballot over fraudulent signatures following a complaint lodged by Oliver. Minogue called Oliver’s action “shameful,” prompting Shortsleeve to demand an apology for his running mate. The Manning Martin campaign did not respond to The Light’s email seeking comment on Sunday.
On primary night, Oliver spoke about aligning with Minogue as part of the GOP’s larger quest in the general election cycle.
“I’d also like to take a moment to congratulate Mike Minogue in winning the Republican nomination for governor,” Oliver told supporters gathered at the Sheraton Boston Hotel with the Shortsleeve campaign Sept. 1. “But now, with the primary behind us, we must truly unite to continue the mission for Massachusetts and defeat Maura Healey and Kim Driscoll this November because there is so much at stake.”
Oliver, a longtime corrections officer, was born and raised in New Bedford. He was elected to the Ward 3 City Council seat in February 2023. If elected lieutenant governor, Oliver said, he intended to meet with leaders from all 351 municipalities within his first year. He also planned to advocate for the commercial fishing industry.
Local Republicans react
Some South Coast Republicans shared concerns about Oliver’s intense campaign schedule as news of the candidate’s arrest spread.
Bob McConnell, a member of the state Republican committee from Fairhaven who’s running against State Sen. Mark Montigny, said he was “just overwhelmed with worry, and guilt too.” McConnell said Oliver had asked him to carpool to the Newton gathering, but he turned Oliver down because he was attending a different event.
“He’s just working so hard, going without sleep and trying to manage not only the campaign but his job,” he said. Oliver is a corrections officer for the state Department of Corrections.
McConnell said he prayed for Oliver in church on Sunday morning. He said “the timing is just so horribly bad,” but he declined to comment any further on the political implications for Oliver’s lieutenant governor campaign, saying that to do so “would just be foolish speculation” right now.
Henry Bousquet, a former New Bedford city councilor who lost the Republican primary for the 9th Bristol Statehouse district this fall, said he didn’t have much to say because he was still waiting for more information to come out about the crash.
“What I do know is Shawn has been working and campaigning statewide, and likely burning the candle at both ends,” he said.
Seth Aitken, the Republican running for Bristol County District Attorney, said Oliver has been “a good friend and an incredibly helpful colleague.”
The charges aren’t a good look for Oliver this close to Election Day, Aitken said. But he added that there’s “a lot more to know” about the situation, and more evidence could come out through the criminal process. He said he was withholding judgment until he knew more and didn’t want Oliver to be “characterized by one bad choice.”
“There’s a tremendous amount of pressure on candidates, especially running for statewide office,” Aitken said. “I’m just glad he wasn’t hurt.”
Chester Tam, the Republican nominee in the Bristol 9th Statehouse race, said Sunday afternoon that he was shocked as he watched the news about Oliver roll in over the course of the day.
“If Shawn was driving under the influence, that’s definitely not acceptable,” Tam said.
The candidate said Oliver’s decision to suspend his campaign left him concerned about the governor’s race. He said he hoped it wouldn’t reflect on Republican Statehouse candidates like him, “but you just never know.”
Oliver also serves as the chair of New Bedford’s Republican City Committee. Other committee officers listed in state filings did not immediately respond to The Light’s voicemails seeking comment on Sunday.
Nathan Collins contributed to this report.
Driving drunk shows an incredible lack of concern for the community Shawn says he serves. We cannot have people like this leading.
Only Republican candidate not making lame hedging excuses for him is Minogue. There’s no excuse. If running for office is too hard to do sober, then don’t run for office.
I haven’t seen anyone making excuses or not holding him accountable.
I have seen concern, disappointment, and offers to help him get his life back in order.
I hope those offers are genuine and that he takes them.
I also hope that people realise Mike Minogue did not choose him as a running mate, it’s the way our current voting system works.
We shall see what happens.
This simply proves that he was not ready for prime time. It isn’t as though he got the spot cleanly. Two others had to fall for him to simply become the default nominee. And in my decades of experience once you are the CANDIDATE you have someone else drive you.
Standing with and sending prayers of support to Shawn and his family. One mistake will never define a person, take some time to heal, come back smarter, stronger, and continue to do the good work for the city.
One mistake will never define a person?
Wow. OK. Guess we give every felon in jail on a first offense a free pass.
Pretty sure from these comments, this person would give him a pass if a death occured here. They said, “one mistake doesn’t define a person” I didn’t say it
It will and should define him. He’s not a child but rather a 40-something year old man who felt so on top of his game that he felt he was ready to be second in command of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Does anyone care about the damage done and the people involved? Making excuses for a candidate breaking the law is in such poor taste.
If your one mistake is drunk driving you can easily define another person’s life, or ending of. No excuse.
It is believed that the average driver who is arrested for OUI has driven drunk 80 times before getting caught. This is not a “one mistake” situation and shows a blatant disregard for his constituents and the people of the Commonwealth.
Well stated. Shawn is a good guy. No one has said otherwise.
There were local cameras that caught the whole event. I’ve heard rumors.
What is wrong with you people, look at the comments, majority are filled with hate, everyone in this city loves to jump on the bandwagon and hate, it’s truly disgusting.
Et tu, Brute?
Thank goodness no one was hurt. Oliver has a lot to offer. With successful rehab, lots of meetings, and a boatload of introspection, this could be one of the best things to ever happen to him. He won’t be the first person to get sober, stay sober, and go on to live a productive life, and continue to make contributions.
Thank You, Sean Oliver campaign manager.
LUCKILY – NO. ONE. WAS. KILLED.
Amen
This article begs the question what kind of people would he seek to help Mass government if elected?
Obviously Mr Oliver has some personal problems to address that precludes him from being able to run for office and everyone should hope that from this experience he finds his way to a better life.
What did catch my attention besides the obvious storyline was the fact that not One but TWO candidates for Lt governor were “ disqualified from the ballot over fraudulent signatures”. Seriously this shows a lack of oversight at the very least but also a clear lack of accountability and character by the candidates themselves.
No wonder why they voters are so down on candidates and politicans in general.
Anyone who takes the wheel of a car after drinking is reckless and shows poor judgement. It is NEVER acceptable regardless of circumstances.
Please, sir, get help soon. You made the right decision, dropping out of the election.
I’m devastated that someone running for office would act so inappropriate by driving drunk! There is no excuse for this behaviour and how it will impact the voters, either Republicans or Independents who had decided to vote for Minogue. Living in a DEM state with NO REPRESENTATION in Congress infuriates me. How inexcusable a decision to DUI!
MA under the constant DEM leadership is a joke with Healey, Markey and Warren. We need term limits and smarter voters in MA to rid us of these people currently in office. PERIOD!!!
I would definitely vote against Healy if the GOP hadn’t chosen a maga crazy for their candidate. Im tired of her forcing migrants on us, her ideas of housing and blackmailing towns regarding the T.
How did you make a stupid decision like that soo close to the Election
Just curious- was he a frat boy? So many of our elected officials were. And lately that is not an asset.