Republican · Massachusetts's 4th District · 2026
Thomas Stalcup
Stalcup is a physicist whose electronics company makes environmental monitoring equipment used from the Arctic to Antarctica.
Biography
Tom Stalcup's electronics business makes environmental monitoring systems used in places as far apart as the Arctic and Antarctica.1 He has also described going without health insurance after college because he could not afford it, an experience he connects to his campaign's emphasis on medical costs.1
A physicist and company president, Stalcup previously conducted research at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, studying materials under extreme conditions.1 His public advocacy has included litigation seeking FBI and Navy records about the investigation of the 1996 TWA Flight 800 crash.2 He describes his political journey as moving from support for Bernie Sanders to running as a Republican.3
Stalcup proposes broader prescription drug price negotiation, more competition from equivalent generic medicines and conditions linking publicly funded research to affordable prices.4 He also wants cannabis and vaping industry funds used for youth prevention campaigns, restrictions on advertising and disincentives for social media promotion of those products.4
On foreign policy, he favors strong defensive capabilities while treating war as a last resort, with defined objectives and congressional authorization.5 He proposes limiting the role of parties with financial interests in war to technical and advisory work, rather than policymaking.5 He faces Democratic incumbent Jake Auchincloss in November.6
Record and controversies
TWA Flight 800 claims
Stalcup helped petition the NTSB to reconsider its findings on the 1996 TWA Flight 800 disaster.7 In July 2014, the agency denied that petition in its entirety, retaining its official account of the aircraft's destruction.8 In a letter before that decision, Stalcup had argued that officials had blocked the petitioners and failed to examine important evidence; these were his allegations, rather than an official finding of government misconduct.9