BOSTON — Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve has announced that New Bedford City Councilor Shawn Oliver will be his running mate as candidate for Lt. Governor in the 2026 election, becoming the first person from the Whaling City to join a gubernatorial ticket since the early 20th century. Making the announcement at Merrill’s On the Waterfront, located in the heart of the ...

Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve.

Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald/TNS

BOSTON — Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve has announced that New Bedford City Councilor Shawn Oliver will be his running mate as candidate for Lt. Governor in the 2026 election, becoming the first person from the Whaling City to join a gubernatorial ticket since the early 20th century.

Making the announcement at Merrill’s On the Waterfront, located in the heart of the Whaling City, Shortsleeve described Oliver as a man of “conviction, common sense, and service,” while highlighting his lack of a connection to what Shortsleeve calls the elite political establishment on Beacon Hill.

“When I set out to choose a running mate, I was not looking for someone with a famous last name or someone from the political establishment. I was looking for a partner in this fight to make Massachusetts affordable again for working people. I wanted someone with backbone, someone grounded in community and shaped by hard work, someone who understands that public service is about results, not rhetoric,” Shortsleeve said to a crowd of supporters.

“Shawn Oliver is that person, and I am proud to have him by my side in this Mission for Massachusetts,” he said.

In a notable change in party affiliation, Oliver became the first of two New Bedford city councilors to switch his resignation to Republican, joining the GOP in August after initially being unenrolled. Fellow City Councilor Leo Choquette followed Oliver just months later, leaving the Democratic Party and switching his resignation to Republican back in December.

Oliver, a longtime corrections officer and first-generation American, was elected on his platform of “fiscal responsibility, transparency, accountability, and the rule of law.” Born in a small Portuguese village on the island of Pico, Oliver brings the experience of an immigrant in America as the topic of illegal immigration, as well as the legal immigration process, permeate from the national all the way down to the local stage.

“Like so many families in Massachusetts, my family’s story is one of sacrifice, responsibility and the pursuit of a better life. I know what it means to work hard, raise a family, and live with the consequences of bad decisions made by politicians far removed from the people they govern. I joined this ticket because Brian Shortsleeve has the experience, the vision, and the character to turn this state around,” Oliver said. “He is a Marine, successful businessman and entrepreneur, and a proven government reformer, and together we are going to fight for working families, restore accountability.”

According to the Shortsleeve campaign, Oliver set aside lifelong dreams of studying architecture to work full-time after he became a young first-time father at the age of 17. The campaign says he held a handful of different jobs before entering law enforcement, graduating from the state Corrections Academy and serving a 15-year career as a corrections officer before being elected Ward Three City Councilor in New Bedford in 2022.

The Shortsleeve campaign will promote Oliver as a Beacon Hill outsider and working-class family man “who understands daily life in the Commonwealth not as an abstract policy discussion, but as a real life experience.” Shortsleeve said that Oliver will help carry the campaign’s message to “every corner of the state.”

He joins the race as the second Republican candidate to declare candidacy for Lt. Gov. after Mike Kennealy announced longtime Peabody City Councilor and police officer Anne Manning-Martin as his running mate earlier this month. The Minogue campaign has yet to announce a Lt. Gov. candidate. Shortsleeve, Kennealy and Minogue will all face each other in the September primary for a chance to run against incumbent Gov. Maura Healey in the general election in November.

Oliver is a husband, father, and grandfather, and is a lifelong New Bedford resident.

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