Trump Campaign Taps Bristol Sheriff Hodgson As Honorary Chair

Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, who has been one of President Trump's most high-profile supporters in Massachusetts, particularly on immigration, on Thursday was named an honorary chairman of the president's Massachusetts re-election effort.

Hodgson has visited Trump at the White House on several occasions, including most recently in late September when he presented the president with a plaque on behalf of sheriffs around the country in "appreciation for your strong leadership, unwavering efforts to stop illegal immigration and the burden it places on our citizens, families, neighborhoods in our nation."

The Republican sheriff has been particularly vocal in his support for Trump's views on immigration. He has supported the detention of immigrants at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and his suggestion that he would be open to sending inmates to the southern border to help build Trump's proposed border wall prompted House lawmakers to pass a bill last session banning the use of inmates for out-of-state labor.

Hodgson fills a role that was held during the 2016 campaign cycle by attorney Vincent DeVito, who went to work as counselor for energy policy in the Department of Interior after Trump's victory.

DeVito, who also worked in the U.S. Department of Energy under President George W. Bush, left the Trump administration in August 2018 and took a job at Cox Oil Offshore as executive vice president and general counsel.

Trump won the Republican primary in Massachusetts in 2016, topping a 12-person field with 49% of the vote. He would go on to lose the state in the general election 60% to 33% to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The Republican National Committee's team in Massachusetts also includes Trump campaign regional political director Elissa Voccola, who has also worked in Republican politics in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Wyoming.