With just over two weeks until the November 3 election, the Republican ticket for governor in Massachusetts is in serious trouble. Shawn Oliver, the party’s nominee for lieutenant governor and the running mate of gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue, was arrested on a drunk-driving charge over the weekend and has suspended his campaign.
Oliver, 42, struck five parked cars along Dartmouth Street in New Bedford just before midnight on Saturday, New Bedford police said, and flipped his own vehicle in the crash; two of the parked cars sustained “extensive damage,” according to the department, as reported by the Boston Globe’s Boston.com. He announced the suspension of his campaign in a statement on social media on Sunday morning, after what the Globe described as pressure from political allies.
“This election is too important to be overshadowed by personal matters,” Oliver wrote, according to Boston.com. “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.”
The crash and the charges
According to Boston.com, New Bedford police responded to reports of the crash at 11:40 p.m. Saturday in the city’s South End neighborhood, at 448 Dartmouth Street, department spokesperson Holly Huntoon told Boston.com. Oliver was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford for treatment of his injuries. Police then arrested him and charged him with operating under the influence of liquor and negligent operation of a motor vehicle, along with two traffic offenses, Huntoon said. The charges are allegations; Oliver has not entered a plea or been convicted, and under the law he is presumed innocent.
Oliver is also a New Bedford city councilor, representing Ward 3.
Mayor Jon Mitchell, who is seeking a sixth term, said online that he was “grateful” to police for their response and that there were no serious injuries. “The allegations against Councilor Oliver are deeply concerning, and the public deserves to hear his explanation of what happened,” Mitchell wrote, according to Boston.com.
The response from Oliver’s own ticket was swift. Minogue, who is challenging Governor Maura Healey as she runs for a second term, called on Oliver to step away from the campaign and said he would formally call for Oliver’s resignation if Oliver is elected anyway. In a statement online, Minogue said he was “extremely disappointed,” noting that Oliver is a father and grandfather.
“Shawn is lucky to be alive and lucky that no one innocent was hurt. There is no excuse for driving under the influence,” Minogue wrote, as reported by Boston.com, before pivoting to his campaign message against the governor: “As governor, I will put the Commonwealth first. That starts with accountability, something Massachusetts has not seen from Maura Healey.”
The Massachusetts Republican Party said Sunday afternoon that it supports Oliver’s decision to stop campaigning.
“Lives were put at risk, and that is never acceptable,” party chairwoman Amy Carnevale said in a statement. “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.”
Suspending a campaign this late does not remove a candidate’s name from the ballot, and Minogue’s warning that he would seek Oliver’s resignation “if Oliver is elected anyway” reflects that Oliver’s name is expected to remain before voters on November 3, with early voting already under way.
The timing compounds an already difficult position for the Republican ticket. A late-September poll by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center put the Minogue-Oliver ticket roughly 16 points behind Healey and her running mate, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll — a survey taken before the candidates made their closing arguments in a tense debate last Thursday. In Massachusetts, the governor and lieutenant governor are nominated separately in the primary and then run together as a single ticket in the general election.
Sources: The Boston Globe, Boston.com
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