The already crowded road to the 18th Middlesex State Representative seat just opened a new lane, one that includes both an on and off ramp.
Former Lowell Code Inspector and current Dracut Health Director, Dave Ouellette, returned signatures to run for 18th Middlesex State Representative. But in an interesting twist, Ouellette is not running in the Democratic Primary, which already features incumbent Rady Mom, Tara Hong and Andrew Kollar. He instead plans on running as an Unenrolled candidate in the November 5th General Election, with a caveat.
Ouellette tells InsideLowell that if Tara Hong wins the Democratic nomination, he will immediately withdraw from the race and throw his support behind Hong. However, if Mom wins, Ouellette claims he will not only remain in the race, but that Hong and his team will throw their support behind his independent campaign.
“There are two urban myths in Lowell, Massachusetts,” Ouellette said. “The first one is Sasquatch lives in the Lowell-Dracut State Forest, and the second one is that we actually have a state rep in the 18th Middlesex District. There are rumored sightings of both.”
When contacted by InsideLowell about Ouellette’s statement, Hong responded by saying “I can’t speak for my team, but if the primary does not turn out the way I hope, I will find a way to work with Dave and his campaign. But my hope is that we’re going to beat the incumbent and bring change to the community.”
When asked if he will find it in any way awkward to run as a Democrat but potentially end up working against the party’s primary winner, Hong said “at the moment, my main focus is on the campaign I’m running and to win it.”
Ouellette has run against Mom twice previously. In 2014, he finished 4th in the Democratic Primary to replace Kevin Murphy and finished 2nd to Mom in the 2016 primary. He has also run for Lowell City Council in 2019 and 2021.
Ouellette adds that he changed his party affiliation to unenrolled a year and a half ago with an eye toward this race. He does not plan to hold any campaign fundraisers or raise any money until the results of the September 3rd primary are known.
2 responses to “Dave Ouellette Running for State Rep…Conditionally”
This is one messed up story! Sounds like Oulette is a big time “sore loser”. If Tara Hong loses to Rady Mom and then turns around and doesn’t support the Democratic candidate then he shouldn’t call himself a Democrat!
It looks more like Mr Oulette is tired of a state rep who provides next to no constituent services and is inaccessible to residents in his district. He makes this clear when, he says that having “a state rep in the 18th Middlesex District” is an “urban myth” in Lowell, I would say that Mr Oulette is far from being a “sore loser”, but wants to benefit most his fellow citizens and residents.