Public polling is neck-and-neck as Gina Raimondo and Angel Taveras campaign to be Rhode Island’s next governor. But the battle for endorsements tells a different story.
Perhaps the surprise story of the campaign so far has been the amount of union support Raimondo has garnered. She’s been endorsed by 9 labor unions and Taveras only 3.
Gina Raimondo | Angel Taveras | |
Unions | Bricklayers’ and Allied Craftsmen Local 3 | Rhode Island State Association of Firefighters |
Ironworkers’ Local 37 | American Association of University Professors, URI Chapter | |
Plumbers’ & Pipefitters’ Local 51 | United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 328 | |
Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ Local 40 | ||
Roofers’ and Waterproofers’ Local Union No. 33 | ||
Sprinkler Fitters Local 669 | ||
Operating Engineers’ Local 57 | ||
Sheet Metal Workers Local 17 | ||
United Steelworkers Local 12431 |
Given the candidates’ very different reputations on pension reforms one may expect this skew to be the other way around. But the things to keep in mind here is that all of Raimondo’s backing comes from private sector unions and two of Taveras’ endorsements come from public sector unions. While this might not be a clear referendum on pension policy, it goes a long way to refuting the myth of the unified labor movement in the Ocean State.
Here’s a comparison of the city and town committees who have endorsed either Raimondo or Taveras so far:
Gina Raimondo | Angel Taveras | |
Town Committees | Barrington | Providence |
East Greenwich | Pawtucket | |
Foster | Smithfield | |
New Shoreham | North Kingstown | |
North Smithfield | Coventy | |
Scituate | Hopkington | |
Tiverton | Westerly | |
Warren | ||
Cumberland |
Raimondo has captured more city and town Democratic committees than Taveras. But there’s also something interesting about where the endorsements are coming from: Raimondo, who has 8* town committees so far (no cities) seems to be attracting the suburban endorsements while Taveras is attracting more urban support, with 7 cities and towns. There’s a practical difference here: the 9 towns (no cities yet) in the Raimondo column only have a combined population of 102,329. The seven city and town committees that gave their support to Taveras have a total population of 362,468.
On the other hand, a municipal committee endorsement certainly does not guarantee the support of party members. For example, the East Greenwich Dems have about as much political juice as the local animal protection league. And while Taveras may have won the endorsement of the Providence Democratic Committee, three Democrats on the City Council are supporting Raimondo: Davian Sanchez, Louis Aponte and Sabina Matos.
When it comes from endorsements of state legislators, it isn’t even close. With endorsements from 9 of 32 Senate Democrats and 24 of the 69 House Dems, Taveras already has significant chunks of both chambers on lock down. Raimondo only has three legislative endorsements so far.
Gina Raimondo | Angel Taveras | |
State Senators | Donna Nesselbush, Pawtucket | Maryellen Goodwin, Providence |
Juan Pichardo, Providence | ||
Gayle Goldin, Providence | ||
Daniel Da Ponte, East Providence | ||
Elizabeth Crowley, Central Falls | ||
Roger Picard, Woonsocket | ||
James E. Doyle, Pawtucket | ||
Leonidas Raptakis, Coventry | ||
Adam Satchell, West Warwick | ||
State Reps | Grace Diaz, Providence | John DeSimone, Providence |
Anastasia Williams, Providence | Joseph Almeida, Providence | |
Scott Slater, Providence | ||
Tom Palangio, Providence | ||
Helio Melo, East Providence | ||
Gregg Amore, East Providence | ||
Katherine Kazarian, East Providence | ||
Ray Johnston, Pawtucket | ||
Mary Messier, Pawtucket | ||
Frank Ferri, Warwick | ||
David Bennett, Warwick | ||
Stephen Casey, Woonsocket | ||
Michael Morin, Woonsocket | ||
James McLaughlin, Central Falls | ||
Agostinho Silva, Central Falls | ||
Patricia Serpa, West Warwick | ||
Marvin Abney, Newport | ||
Robert Craven, North Kingstown | ||
Scott Guthrie, Coventry | ||
Lisa Tomasso, Coventry | ||
Deborah Fellela, Johnston | ||
John Edwards, Tiverton | ||
Larry Valencia, Richmond/Exeter | ||
Donna Walsh, Charlestown |
Another interesting comparison of former politicians who have endorsed so far. Make of this what you will:
Gina Raimondo | Angel Taveras | |
Former pols | Myrth York, former gov. candidate | U.S. Senator Tom Harkin |
former RI Gov. Philip Noel | former Pawtucket Mayor James E. Doyle | |
former state Senator Rhoda Perry |
* This post has been updated to reflect new information from the Raimondo campaign, namely that the Cumberland Democratic Party has also endorsed her.