Thomas M. Hodgson

Thomas M. Hodgson is an American politician who served as Sheriff of Bristol County, Massachusetts from 1997 to 2022.

Early life Hodgson was born about 1954 and grew up in a large Catholic family in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He graduated from a Catholic military high school in Washington and attended Xavier University in Ohio for one year studying accounting. Hodgson worked as a police detective in Ocean City, Maryland, for six years until he resigned in the early-1980's to work for his brother's landscaping business. He moved to Massachusetts in 1985 and worked in an office supply company in Quincy, Massachusetts. He left to work in another brother's accounting firm.

Outgoing Governor Charlie Baker supported Hodgson in his 2022 reelection campaign. Hodgson conceded the election to his opponent, Attleboro Mayor Paul Heroux.

Immigration In 2017, Hodgson offered to send detainees from Bristol County as forced laborers to build President Donald Trump's proposed border wall. When he was later invited to speak to a U.S. House of Representatives committee about sanctuary cities, he recommended that elected officials in such jurisdictions should be arrested.

Controversies In Thomas Hodgson's official Bristol County Sheriff portrait from 2003, he is wearing a tie that resembles the Confederate flag. In 2020, community groups called for his resignation over his ties to white supremacy. Hodgson denied the tie was connected to the Confederacy and said he would continue to wear the necktie. Senator Ed Markey tweeted, "No one, especially someone in law enforcement, should be wearing confederate symbols and doubling down on them when called out about it."

In 2014, Hodgson's daughter was taken into custody by New Bedford police for interfering with an investigation of a shooting, claiming "Do you know that my father's the sheriff?" The case against the 29-year-old was later dropped, the prosecutor stating to the judge that he was "nol prossing" the charge.

In August 2017, Hodgson was photographed at New Bedford's Feast of the Blessed Sacrament holding a cup of Madeira wine and carrying a firearm while wearing a Bristol County Sheriff's Office shirt. Community members called for Hodgson to be fined for carrying a firearm while drinking alcohol. Hodgson claimed he did not break any laws because he was not under the influence of alcohol after drinking Madeira wine.

In February 2019, the Massachusetts State Auditor, Suzanne Bump, released a report finding that under Hodgson's leadership, the Bristol County Sheriff's Office did not transfer in reimbursements from Immigration and Customs Enforcement back to the state treasurer.

Hodgson is on the advisory board of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a hate group for its white supremacist and anti-immigrant stances.