Jon Fetherston, a former emergency shelter director and Ashland selectman, endorsed Republican candidate for governor Mike Kennealy, a signal that Kennealy’s campaign is looking to local conservatives who have amassed large followings on social media to boost their message.

Fetherston’s decision to back Kennealy is the first official endorsement in the 2026 gubernatorial race and makes clear that Republicans running for higher office plan to lean into Gov. Maura Healey’s decision to spend billions on state-run shelters for local families and migrants.

In a video Fetherston was expected to post to social media Friday morning, he pointed to his time as an operations director for Eliot Community Human Services running an emergency assistance shelter in Marlborough.

“I served as the director of one of Maura Healey’s migrant shelters, and I blew the whistle on the atrocities happening on the inside. I witnessed criminal acts with my own eyes. I did everything I could to report them, first to the Healy administration, and then to the public. And what did the governor do? Nothing. Mike Keneally understands the gravity of this crisis,” Fetherston said in the video.

After a trove of reports were published that detailed disturbing incidents inside state shelters, the Healey administration and Beacon Hill lawmakers put in place a series of restrictions on who could access services and instituted background check requirements.

Shelter caseloads have steadily dropped this year from a peak in July 2024 in part because of the strict requirements to receive emergency assistance benefits. Healey has pledged to close all hotels and motels serving as shelters by the end of the year.

Kennealy said he “proudly accepted” Fetherston’s endorsement, calling the former shelter director a “pivotal figure in exposing the truth behind the state-sponsored humanitarian disaster that continues to unfold in Massachusetts.”

“His courage and relentless advocacy on the migrant crisis are among the key reasons the public is aware of what’s really happening. I am deeply honored to have the endorsement of Jon — a conservative champion and a tireless fighter for the people of Massachusetts,” Kennealy said in a statement.

Fetherston earned national and international media attention in 2024 after the Maine Wire, a conservative media outlet, published incident reports alleging domestic abuse and child sexual assault inside the Marlborough shelter.

The Daily Wire later picked up the story, and Fetherston has since appeared on national media outlets like Fox News. His X account — “All Politics is Local with Jon Fetherston” — has also seen a boost in popularity, according to data he previously shared with the Herald.

Fetherston was awarded the Lincoln-Reagan Award Thursday night, which the Kennealy campaign described as the “highest honor in Massachusetts Republican politics.” An event was held at the Lenox Hotel that featured former Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito.

In his endorsement video, Fetherston pointed to Kennealy’s claim that he warned Healey of rising shelter caseloads in 2022.

“I’ve seen firsthand his integrity, his discipline, and his deep commitment to conservative, common-sense values. He’s a fiscal watchdog, a public servant, and a real leader ready to fix what’s broken in Massachusetts. If we want to defeat Maura Healey in 2026, Mike Kennealy is the only candidate that can get it done and actually govern on day one,” Fetherstone said.

Democrats have slammed Kennealy for what they argued was his failure to reform state-run shelters when he was secretary of housing and economic development under Baker.