“A lot has been made of the overwhelming support for Bernie among young people,” said Providence Rep. Aaron Regunberg. “And, as one of the youngest members of this General Assembly, I’ve found much of that discourse pretty condescending. You know, I hear ‘these kids, they don’t know how the real world works, they’re naive, when they grow up a little they’ll understand how pie-in-the-sky this Bernie guy is.’ And I don’t know about the young people here today but I am not taking that anymore.”

Regunberg, whose impassioned sermon electrified the crowd, continued:

“As I see it our generation is maybe the most realistic and the least naive of any I can think of. We’re the generation that has grown up with the crushing knowledge that our lives will be shaped in the coming decades by climate catastrophe.

“We’re the generation that graduated to an economy that offered fewer jobs and greater serfdom to our student loans. We’re the first generation that has seen, even under the first African American president, that our black and brown brothers and sisters continue to be disproportionately incarcerated, continued to be mowed down in the streets with their hands up. We’re the first generation that saw in almost 400 years just how much damage an unregulated Wall Street can cause, that has seen how appallingly false the credo that privatization and free trade and austerity are the answers to, rather than the causes of, our appalling levels of inequality.

“And I say this sadly as an elected democrat we’re the generation that ha watched as too often our party gives into and sometimes joins republicans in supporting this toxic agenda. So, no, we’re not naive. But we understand that this system, in many ways, is broken and we need bold change, we need systemic reform, we need – I’ll say it – a political revolution. That’s not unrealistic thinking, that’s our reality.”

North Kingstown state Senator Jim Sheehan, who previously endorsed Sanders, also touched on the topics of youth and revolution.

“You know, it’s been said that politicians look to the next election but statesmen look to the next generation,” Sheehan said. “Take a look around you right now. This is the next generation right here today. And Bernie Sanders represents you.”

Sheehan added, “You could say that Bernie is something of a unicorn in a cesspool of dishonesty. Bernie courageously speaks truth to power, particularly the power of the political and economic establishment. And he is there with us, the people, on important issues. The American dream is our birthright as Americans and if our government is no longer going to fight for the American dream for every American than it must change it’s way and we are going to change it’s leadership to Bernie Sanders.

His support, he said, proves Sanders is appealing to a diverse group of voters.

“I am not known in this building behind me as a progressive Democrat on all issues,” Sheehan said. “So what drew me here today? Well, it’s not a $225,000 speaking fee, I can tell you that right now. I am not getting paid to be here right now, this is a labor of love… My wife said ‘You gotta look past the label.’ People like to label in our country. ‘Democratic Socialist’, they said. ‘Don’t look at Bernie. Democratic Socialist!’ As if it were a four-letter word. Well, when you look past labels, you see the real people behind them. When you get to know them as a person and the issues that Bernie cares about deeply, you come to a quite different conclusion. Bernie is a great man, a good man, an honest man, and as I stand before the Independent Man, he is an independent-minded man.”

During his speech, Regunberg reminded everyone that Bernie Sanders’ political revolution must move forward, even if his candidacy doesn’t.

“The work that we are doing today,” Regunberg said, “the door knocking and canvassing leading up the  leading up to the primary, the votes that we’ll be casting on April 26, that is all an important part of this movement but it can’t be the end of this movement. The presidency is an important position, but whoever has it with Washington the way it is right now if we want real change we need to put in the work to achieve it at the state and the local level. We need your voices in this building. I need your voices in this building.”

The rally featured teachers, Teamsters, feminists, environmentalists, queer and LGBT people – and all sorts of people that are being called to the populist upsurge in this country ignited by Sanders. The imperative after the primary, speakers said, is to implement the Sanders’ agenda.

Growing up, I learned everything I know about resiliency from my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own and made sure we got a great education and had terrific role models. My grandma, who was an executive director of Planned Parenthood in the years before Roe v. Wade, taught me the importance of empowering people to make choices for themselves. And my grandpa, a refugee of the Holocaust, came to America with the deepest appreciation for our democracy, which I carry with me every day.

I came here six years ago for school, and I stayed for Providence, and Rhode Island. I’ve chosen to make my home here because there is no city with as much beauty, character and diversity on every block as we have in Providence.

We live in an amazing place. But we all know our community faces huge challenges. There are too many people out of work, too many young people who aren’t getting the education they deserve. My family always taught me, when there’s a challenge, you roll up your sleeves and bring the folks impacted together to solve it. That’s why, in 2010 I co-founded a youth-led nonprofit that brings high school students together to push for stronger public schools. I’ve seen passionate young people in the Providence Student Union win healthier school lunches, change transportation policy so hundreds of students have a way of getting to school safely, and fight the misuse of standardized testing.

These students inspired me to run for office, because they’ve shown me what can happen when community voices are actually brought to the table. Too often in our state, decisions get made without the people, whether it’s our students or our small business owners or our neighbors.

I know we can do better. We can have smarter, bottom-up economic development. We can transform schools into places of real, authentic learning. We make our government more ethical and transparent. If our voices are heard.

I have been working hard to build a campaign worthy of your support, knocking on doors, listening to questions and ideas. I am humbled to see the energy and excitement around my candidacy, because – together – I know we can start something new in Rhode Island.

That’s why I want to ask you to join my campaign. Please sign up for updates on my website, let us know if you’d like to volunteer, and consider making a contribution to our campaign and an investment in new, progressive leadership for our state. Thank you. Time to get to work!

Does Warwick suffer from a lack of people willing to represent the state’s second largest city in the General Assembly? Or is the citizenry just really happy with the delegation it has? Either way, of the nine seats the city has in the state legislature only three are being contested this campaign season, according to a list compiled by WPRI’s Ted Nesi.

Of the six seats on the House side, none are really contested. Five incumbents are running unopposed and Rep. Bob Flaherty, who has been a legislator since 1990, isn’t running. This means Gina Raimondo campaign manager and payday loan profiteer Joe Shekarchi pretty much gets to run unopposed against relatively unknown Republican John Falkowski.

But there’s some good news for lefties in the lack of local candidates for House seats, as well. Two of the unopposed seats belong to liberal legislators Frank Ferri and David Bennett Ferri, by the way, sponsored the payday loan reform bill (and Raimondo backed it!) making for an interesting point of contention here.

On the Senate side, only one of the three seats held by Warwickians will go unopposed. That one belongs to moderate-to-liberal Democrat Erin Lynch.

There’s some good news for progressives here, too – namely that Senator Michael McCaffrey, a conservative Democrat, isn’t running unopposed. He’s one of the major impediments to marriage equality in the Senate and will have to defend those views against Laura Pisaturo, a pro-choice and equality Democrat who runs the Rhode Island Children’s Advocacy Center and is a former assistant attorney general.

Here’s a bit more about her from a press release from her campaign:

Pisaturo is a former legal instructor at the Rhode Island State Municipal Police Academy and Providence Police Training Academy, and serves as a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association House of Delegates. She is an active member of the Civil Bench/Bar Committee and LGBT Legal Issues sub-Committee and previously served on the Criminal Bench/Bar and ad hocChildren at Risk Committees of the Rhode Island Bar. Pisaturo was recognized by the first Providence Business News “Forty under 40″for her career achievements and community service.  In 2010, she was appointed by Chief Justice Paul Suttell to the RI Supreme Court Disciplinary Board. In June 2011 she was appointed by Mayor Scott Avedisian to the Warwick Planning Board.

This one is a race to watch for progressives as Pisaturo has an excellent political resume.