Steve Kerrigan, the chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party and a former lieutenant governor nominee, was arrested on a drunk driving charge last month after police caught him straddling lanes on a state highway, and he has already admitted there was enough evidence to convict him.
Kerrigan was pulled over around midnight on June 13 while driving his BMW SUV westbound on Route 9 in Southborough, Massachusetts. An officer observed the vehicle "driving in the middle of both lanes... directly on top of the dotted white line," WBZ-TV reported, citing the police report from the traffic stop.
When the officer approached, Kerrigan's eyes "appeared to be glassy and bloodshot red," and his speech was "slow, thick tongued, and slurred." A breathalyzer test registered a blood alcohol content of 0.089 percent, just above the state's 0.08 percent legal limit. Kerrigan told the officer he had consumed two beers around 6 p.m. before heading to dinner and was driving home to Lancaster.
One detail from the police report stood out. The arresting officer wrote that he "was unable to detect an odor of alcoholic beverage due to an overwhelming odor of cologne." The officer relied instead on Kerrigan's glassy eyes, slurred speech, and erratic driving to proceed with the stop.
Kerrigan was charged with operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and a marked lanes violation. At Westborough Court, he entered a plea of "admission to facts sufficient for a finding of guilty", a legal mechanism in Massachusetts that stops short of a formal guilty plea but acknowledges the prosecution's evidence was strong enough for a conviction.
The court placed Kerrigan on probation, ordered him to complete an impaired driving program, and suspended his license for 45 days. Fox News reported that the probation term was set at one year.
Through his attorney, Kerrigan released a statement acknowledging the arrest:
"In June I was pulled over for a marked lane violation and blew a.089 on the breathalyzer. I regret and take full responsibility for my actions and their consequences and appreciate the Southborough PD and Westborough Court for their professionalism and service."
The statement framed the stop as a "marked lane violation" and listed the breathalyzer number, but did not mention the OUI charge, the negligent operation charge, or the officer's observations about slurred speech and bloodshot eyes. Kerrigan's attorney was not named in the reporting.
WBZ-TV reached out to the Massachusetts Democratic Party for comment and had not received a response at the time of publication. Whether Kerrigan intends to remain as party chair, a post he has held since 2023, is unclear. He previously ran as the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 2014.
The arrest adds Kerrigan's name to a growing list of Democratic figures facing criminal charges in recent months. Voters and party members are left to weigh whether the man responsible for steering the state party's message and strategy should keep that role after admitting there was enough evidence to find him guilty of driving drunk.
The timeline raises its own questions. Kerrigan said he drank two beers around 6 p.m. He was stopped around midnight, roughly six hours later. Yet his BAC still registered above the legal limit, his eyes were glassy and bloodshot, and his speech was slurred enough for an officer to note it in a formal report. Those details do not square neatly with a claim of two beers consumed hours earlier.
Kerrigan was not the first prominent political figure to find himself in handcuffs this year, but the circumstances here carry a particular weight. A state party chairman is supposed to be the face of discipline, organization, and public trust for his side. Straddling the center line on a state highway at midnight, reeking of cologne and registering over the legal limit, is not that.
Meanwhile, the case moved through the court system quietly. No public announcement came from Kerrigan or the party. The arrest occurred on June 13, and the disposition, probation, the impaired driving program, the 45-day license suspension, was already settled before the story became public. Had WBZ-TV not reported the arrest, it is fair to ask whether Massachusetts voters would have learned about it at all.
The episode also landed just weeks after Kerrigan appeared publicly at the Massachusetts Democratic Party convention on May 30, where he spoke in a leadership capacity. Within two weeks of that appearance, he was in the back of a police cruiser on Route 9.
Incidents like this one, and other legal troubles involving prominent Massachusetts Democrats, test the party's willingness to hold its own leaders accountable. The state party's silence so far suggests the answer is not encouraging.
Kerrigan's statement thanked the Southborough police and Westborough Court for their "professionalism and service." That is a polite way to close the book on an embarrassing night. But professionalism from law enforcement is not the issue. The issue is whether a man who leads a major state party can credibly demand accountability from anyone else when he drove drunk, got caught, and said nothing until a reporter came calling.
Accountability is easy to preach and hard to practice. Kerrigan's party talks about it constantly, right up until the cologne wears off.