St. Gelais unseats Rep. Ouellette in unofficial results, flipping the 8th Bristol House seat to Republicans

WESTPORT Updated 5:31 p.m. Nov. 4, 2026.

Republican Jesse W. St. Gelais of Acushnet unseated first-term Democratic Rep. Steven J. Ouellette of Westport in the 8th Bristol District, winning the state House seat, according to unofficial results reported by The New Bedford Light and The Standard-Times.

St. Gelais received 9,006 votes to Ouellette's 8,547 across the district, a 459-vote margin, according to the unofficial totals the Light reported Wednesday morning, after counting in Acushnet and Westport ran past 2:30 a.m. Adding the Light's Acushnet count to the results Westport, Fall River, Freetown and New Bedford released gives the same totals.

If certified, the result gives the seat to a Republican for the first time in the Secretary of the Commonwealth's results database, which lists a Democrat as the winner of every 8th Bristol general election from 1970 through 2024. The district takes in all of Westport and parts of Acushnet, Fall River, Freetown and New Bedford.

How each community voted

Unofficial results, 8th Bristol District state representative

Community	Ouellette (Democrat)	St. Gelais (Republican)	Source
Westport	4,396	3,839	Town clerk, 3:37 a.m. Wednesday
Fall River (part)	1,592	1,149	City Elections Office summary report
Freetown (part)	1,163	1,688	Town results posted 9:02 p.m. Tuesday
New Bedford (part)	360	369	Election Commission
Acushnet (part)	1,036	1,961	The New Bedford Light
District	8,547	9,006	The New Bedford Light

Ouellette carried his hometown, the largest piece of the district, 4,396 to 3,839, in the preliminary tally from Westport Town Clerk Kristin Stinson, which she wrote does "not include provisional ballots, etc." He also won the Fall River precincts in the district, 1,592 to 1,149, according to the city's unofficial summary report issued by Ryan Lyons, its chief elections official.

St. Gelais built his lead in Acushnet, where he lives, winning 1,961 to 1,036, The New Bedford Light reported. He carried the two Freetown precincts in the district, 1,688 to 1,163, in the results the town posted Tuesday night, and won the New Bedford part of the district 369 to 360, according to the city Election Commission's unofficial results.

What the candidates said

"To every voter who checked the box next to my name, thank you," St. Gelais said in a statement to The New Bedford Light. "And to those who supported Rep. Ouellette, I look forward to working just as hard for you and earning your trust and support as well."

"Looks like we came up short," Ouellette told the Light in a text Wednesday morning. He thanked his family and friends in Westport, his peers on Beacon Hill and the labor unions for "all their hard work on my campaign," the Light reported.

The two agreed on many issues, including the high cost of living and a need for more state aid to cities and towns, and differed on state abortion legislation and on a ballot question about guns, according to the Light. St. Gelais, 42, an insurance agent for his family's business, campaigned on an audit of the Legislature and "stopping the climate agenda," and said he would work to repeal a state firearms law that voters upheld Tuesday as Question 9, the Light reported. Ouellette, formerly a licensed plumber, told the Light he might return to Acushnet Public Schools as facilities director. He said some of his Beacon Hill work, including $2 million in bond bills, might fall by the wayside.

How the race took shape

Both men were on the 2024 ballot, too. Ouellette won the seat in 2024 with 7,497 votes, 261 more than Republican Christopher Thrasher, in the certified state results. St. Gelais ran third that year as an unenrolled candidate, with 4,232 votes, in a five-way race. Ouellette succeeded Rep. Paul Schmid III, a Democrat who won every general election for the seat from 2010 through 2022.

This year St. Gelais beat Thrasher, a Westport attorney, for the Republican nomination in September, the Light reported. Ouellette had no opponent in the Democratic primary. The Light also reported that the district voted for President Donald Trump in 2024.

What happens next

The results stay unofficial until the state certifies them. Under state law, the governor and the Governor's Council certify the results for state representatives, and they can do so only after 5 p.m. on the 15th day after the election, which is Wednesday, Nov. 18.

State law allows a district-wide recount only when the gap between the top two candidates is no more than half of 1% of the votes cast for the office. At a 459-vote margin, the race would have needed at least 91,800 votes cast for the office to qualify, by our math. The two candidates received about 17,550. A recount petition would need at least 38 signatures, one-fourth of the 150 a House candidate needs to get on the ballot. It would be due to local registrars by 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, and to the Secretary of the Commonwealth by 5 p.m. Nov. 18. The petition is void if the official margin is wider than that line.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.