A Westborough patrol officer is trading her badge for a sash this weekend, becoming the first active-duty law enforcement officer ever crowned Miss Massachusetts and now the first to compete on the Miss America stage. Ashlyn Mercier, 26, will represent Massachusetts in the national Miss America competition Sunday at 7 p.m. in West Palm Beach, Florida, stepping into a spotlight that blends two careers rarely seen together on the same résumé.
Mercier has served as an officer with the Westborough Police Department since 2022, and her department made sure everyone knew about her win the moment it happened. According to MassLive, the Westborough Police Department published a congratulatory post on June 21, celebrating a moment Mercier herself has described as fully backed by her fellow officers, who she said supported her “100 percent.” The Massachusetts Association for Women in Law Enforcement went further, calling her an inspiration to young women everywhere and saying she demonstrates that women can pursue all their dreams, per the group's own statement carried by MassLive.
Mercier's path to the crown wasn't a straight line. She finished as a runner-up in previous Miss Massachusetts competitions before claiming the title this year, and in 2025 she temporarily stepped away from pageant competition altogether to attend the police academy, according to Fox News Digital. She graduated from the 6th ROC MPTC Lynnfield Academy and became a sworn Westborough patrol officer before returning to competition in 2026, sequencing her law enforcement training around her pageant ambitions rather than choosing one path over the other.
A State Crown Decades in the Making
Mercier won the Miss Massachusetts title on June 20, at The Hanover Theatre in Worcester, beating out 22 other state finalists while representing the local title of Miss Bay State 2026, according to the Fall River Reporter. For the talent portion of that competition, she performed a self-choreographed contemporary lyrical dance to Lady Gaga's “Hold My Hand,” a scored segment that carries significant weight in the overall Miss America judging format, the outlet noted.
The stakes for Massachusetts run deeper than one titleholder's résumé. The state has never produced a national Miss America winner in the pageant's century-long history, with its best national finishes limited to three first runner-up placements, in 1944, 1969 and 2002, per Wikipedia. The Miss Massachusetts Scholarship Foundation has fielded state delegates since 1922, making Mercier's bid part of a long, still-unbroken drought heading into Sunday's final.
Balancing the Badge and the Sash
Mercier holds a bachelor's degree in national security from the University of New Haven and a master's degree in criminal justice, focused on cybercrime investigation and cybersecurity, from Boston University, according to MassLive. She began her career as a dispatcher in Westborough after graduating from college, and she has said she was inspired to pursue law enforcement by her father's community service; she is the daughter of Oxford Police Cpl. Kevin Mercier, per the same report. In 2023, she won the Miss Collegiate Area title, adding another line to a competitive record built well before her state win.
Mercier has drawn direct comparisons between her two roles, telling the Worcester Guardian that both policing and pageantry require performing under pressure, maintaining a strong command presence, and communicating effectively with the public. She has also pushed back on the idea that women must pick a single defining pursuit, saying publicly that women do not have to make one pursuit their entire identity and can chase multiple dreams simultaneously, and she has said there is no single required appearance for a female police officer, according to MassLive. Female officers make up approximately 14 percent of law enforcement in the United States, MassLive reports, a figure that frames the underrepresentation Mercier's dual career touches on.
A Personal Cause Behind the Crown
Beyond law enforcement, Mercier's competition platform is titled “Nick's Courage: One Smile Goes a Mile,” created in honor of her younger brother Nicholas, a two-time pediatric cancer survivor, according to the Westwood Minute. She developed the platform after watching the emotional toll of childhood illness on families while her brother underwent treatment, the outlet reported. She is also serving as an official state ambassador for the American Heart Association's “Go Red for Women” health initiative during her year as titleholder, the Fall River Reporter noted.
Mercier's crossover into pageantry echoes a broader shift already underway nationally. U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Madison Marsh set a national precedent in January 2024 when she became the first active-duty military service member to win the Miss America title, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Marsh's win challenged traditional public perceptions surrounding service members stepping into public leadership roles, a dynamic Mercier's own candidacy now extends into local policing.
What's at Stake Sunday Night
Sunday's final takes place at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, featuring a field of 52 contestants representing all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, according to Business Insider. The competition includes interview, talent and evening wear segments before concluding with the crowning of a national winner, and it traces its roots to a 1921 pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey, MassLive reports. The previous year's winner received a $50,000 tuition scholarship, and the Miss America Scholarship Foundation Inc. awards the largest amount of scholarships to women in America, per People magazine as cited by MassLive. The competition can be watched for free on the official Miss America YouTube channel.
Back in Westborough, led by Chief Todd C. Minardi, the department has rallied around one of its own, according to PoliceApp. According to the Town of Westborough's Community Profile, the Police Department added one additional position in FY2021, funded for the entire FY2022 fiscal year. Colleagues have supported Mercier through send-off parties, fundraising efforts and good-luck messages as she prepares to step onto the national stage, MassLive reports, carrying both a badge and a crown into Sunday night's final.
