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BOSTON — Republican candidate for lieutenant governor Shawn Oliver is cruising along the campaign trail while his opponent faces the fallout of getting knocked off the primary ballot.
Oliver held a lightly attended press conference at the State House Monday to outline a plan to coordinate with municipalities that he dubbed the “Municipal Partnership Initiative.” If elected, Oliver said he plans to meet with leaders from all of the state’s 351 municipalities within his first year in office. The New Bedford city councilor also said he plans to hold regular meetings with mayors, city councilors, select board members and town managers so he can hear from them and not “the bureaucrats on Beacon Hill.”
Under Democrats and Republicans, lieutenant governors over the years have often acted as liaisons to municipalities.
“Together, we’ll identify costly state mandates that are driving up property taxes and forcing communities to choose between rising taxes or a cutting of services while fighting to increase local aid, so cities and towns can invest in schools, police, fire, public works without consistently going to the taxpayer or the record numbers of Proposition 2½ overrides,” Oliver said. “Most importantly, local officials will finally have a direct line into the governor’s office.”
Oliver this month successfully lodged a complaint with the State Ballot Law Commission to get his competitor Anne Manning Martin scrubbed from September’s primary ballot over allegedly fraudulent nomination signatures.
Manning Martin said she plans to appeal the decision. But if the ruling is upheld, that would mean Oliver stands as the sole Republican candidate for lieutenant governor and he could be sharing a ticket with the GOP-endorsed candidate Mike Minogue if his running mate Brian Shortsleeve loses the primary.
Oliver has been campaigning as Shortsleeve’s running mate since entering the race. Asked about the possibility of Manning Martin’s appeal and running alongside Minogue, Oliver said he would “respect the will of the voters” and he is “focused on the mission with Brian, and I trust the process of the ballot law commission and the appeal process.”
Oliver and Shortsleeve in May unveiled a “Local Aid and Property Tax Relief Plan.”
The plan includes doubling Unrestricted General Government Aid, or UGGA, for municipalities and tying future increases to inflation. UGGA accounted for about $1.323 billion in the state’s $60.9 billion fiscal 2026 budget. Lawmakers are hashing out the final details of the state’s fiscal 2027 budget and proposed UGGA allocations range from the Senate’s $1.376 billion to the House’s $1.33 billion.
Also, Shortsleeve said he would “protect” Proposition 2½ and oppose “efforts to weaken taxpayer protections through overrides and higher local taxes.” Other pieces of the plan include: repealing the MBTA Communities Act; creating a Public Safety Building Authority meant to help municipalities fund and build police stations, fire stations and other public safety complexes; and updating municipal operations through “simplifying procurement rules” and allowing legal notices to be published on municipal websites.
Oliver also plans to advocate for the commercial fishing industry, which he said has been “buried in regulations and ignored for far too long.” Oliver said he and Shortsleeve plan to “partner with the fishing communities and help fight for this industry to grow once again.”
A corrections officer, Oliver said he would support police officers, firefighters, sheriffs and emergency first responders with the “tools and training necessary, and the support that they need for their communities, and to keep it safe.” He plans to boost recruitment and retention as well as coordination between state and local agencies and “crack down” on violent crimes and drug trafficking.
“We’ll make the abbreviation of Massachusetts, MA, have new meaning and it will be for more affordability and more accountability, so families and businesses can succeed in this commonwealth once again,” he said.
