The progressive revolution in Rhode Island politics continues beyond Bernie Sanders as no less than seven progressive Democrats won primaries against conservative, often incumbent, opponents in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
The biggest win for the progressive left was Marcia Ranglin Vassell toppling House Majority Leader John DeSimone in District 5, Providence. She won by just 17 votes, 677 to 660.
But across the state, progressive candidates bested more-conservative candidates. In Narragansett/South Kingstown, incumbent Teresa Tanzi fended off an opponent who had the backing of Mike Stenhouse, a conservative Koch-aligned activist, and the Republican she beat last election. In Portsmouth/Middletown, former legislator Linda Finn handily beat a candidate backed by House leadership. In Bristol/Warren, newcomer Jason Knight knocked out incumbent Jan Malik. And in Warwick, relatively unknown Jeanine Calkin, a Berniecrat, beat Senator William Walaska, a former ALEC member.
Also in Providence, first-time candidate Moira Walsh defeated incumbent Tom Palangio by 21 votes, 299 to 278. All told, five new progressives seem poised for seats in the state legislature. It seems guaranteed there will be more progressive legislators than Republican legislators next session.
But it wasn’t all good news.
In District 13, Providence, community activist Lisa Scorpio lost to house leadership-backed Ramon Perez by a wide margin. He won 512 votes, or 56 percent and she won 352 votes, or 38.5 percent. Anastasia Williams, an incumbent with a checkered past and close ties to leadership, beat Michael Gazdacko, who may have suffered after being pegged as a gentrifying developer. David Norton, whose campaign was often fueled by criticism of house leadership, lost to David Coughlin by 46 votes, 489 to 443. Bill DeWare, who became sick during the campaign, lost handily to William O’Brien.
On the Senate side, incumbent Juan Pichardo lost by about 100 votes to Ana Quezada. Doris de Los Santos, backed by many progressive Democrats, lost to Senator Frank Ciccone, a friend to labor but not so much the rest of the left. In a three-way race in Pawtucket, incumbent Jaime Doyle beat Matt Fecteau 40.3 percent to 37.4 percent.
Of the 12 legislative candidates the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats endorsed (as of mid-August), six won. The Working Families Party endorsed 10 candidates and eight of them won. Incumbent Eileen Naughton lost to Camile Vella-Wilkinson in Warwick/West Warwick and Dennis Lavallee lost to Jena Petrarca-Karampetsos.
“Voters are clearly hungry for bold progressive policy,” said Georgia Hollister Isman, Working Families Party Rhode Island state director. “These victories send a clear message to the legislature—it is time for some big changes.”
]]>Today, September 13, is our first major test of how our RI post Bernie efforts will play out. RI Progressives had an amazing victory in April with the Presidential primary going to Senator Bernie Sanders by a staggering 12% and we need that energy to carry through today. We encourage everyone to vote for our endorsed candidates so we can keep the momentum up to create a new culture in our state. There are too many democrats who are unresponsive to the needs of their constituents and there are too many democrats who are entrenched in the corruption that has tarnished the General Assembly for many years.
The RI General Assembly needs fresh blood. It needs to reflect the progressive movement that was energized by the Bernie Sanders campaign. And the only way that can happen is if the people in this state vote. RI Progressive Democrats as well as like minded candidates and organizations throughout the state have been working tirelessly to spread the word about candidates who will instill a new sense of pride in the General Assembly. It is time to vote out anti-choice, pro-gun candidates. It is time to vote out members of the assembly who are beholden to corporate interests and Wall Street. It is time we have a General Assembly who represents the values and needs of hard working Rhode Islanders across the Ocean State. That has to happen TODAY so in November we can take back the State House and make RI true blue again!
To check out RIPDA Endorsed Candidates please visit our website.
To Find your voting location please visit the Secretary of State Website.
Lauren Niedel
Deputy State Coordinator of RI Progressive Democrats of America.
Democratic Committeewoman -District 40
]]>The RI NOW Political Action Committee (RI NOW PAC) announced their endorsements in anticipation of the state primary elections on September, 13 2016.
The RI NOW PAC is excited to have so many candidates committed to improving the lives of women within the state of Rhode Island. Endorsed candidates have pledged their support on the issues of reproductive freedom, economic equality, ending violence against women, constitutional equality, civil rights for all, affirmative action and moving women out of poverty through empowering, non-punitive welfare policies.
“Currently women hold only 31 out of 113 seats in the RI General Assembly. The RI NOW PAC has endorsed 18 women so far in this election and we are thrilled to throw our support behind these candidates to increase gender parity in the General Assembly,” said Amanda Clarke, Chair of the RI NOW PAC. “We are also pleased so many men are willing to stand with women and fight for policy change to improve social and economic conditions for women in Rhode Island.”
The complete list of RI NOW PAC endorsements is as follows:
Rhode Island State Senate
Rhode Island House of Representatives
Local Races
*Amanda Clarke is the RI NOW PAC Chair, Melanie Carrazzo is a member of the RI NOW PAC Board
]]>I asked 23 people between a beach in Narragansett and a housing project in Pawtucket, with stops at several grocery and hardware stores in between. Each is included on the video below. For comparison, the Brown Taubman Center poll asks just more than 400 Rhode Islanders to get a more scientific estimate.
48 percent said Bernie Sanders, 22 percent said Hillary Clinton and 30 percent were undecided or plan to vote for neither of them.
More on the primary:
A Providence woman was denied the right to vote, according to an ACLU press release which details four incidents in which Rhode Island’s controversial voter ID law caused problems at the polls on primary day.
“An elderly Hispanic woman who did not have identification was turned away from voting in Providence,” says the press release. “According to a poll watcher, the warden wrongly told her ‘even for a provisional ballot, you need an ID.’ The woman left without casting a ballot. The warden confirmed to the poll watcher that this was her understanding of the rules.”
The woman did not give her name, and did not speak with the poll watcher, said Johanna Kaiser, an ACLU spokeswoman. “Under the law, any person without proper ID is supposed to be given a provisional ballot, and if the signature they provide matches the one on their voter registration, the ballot ends up getting counted.” said the ACLU press release.
The ACLU had approximately 12 poll watchers at voting locations in Rhode Island and identified four “problems” – three on election day and one with an early voter.
According to the press release, a man casting an emergency ballot the day before the primary “was initially not given a provisional ballot, but instead was told he was unable to vote because he did not have proper identification. He got to vote only because another person waiting in line, who was familiar with the law’s requirement, forcefully advocated on the voter’s behalf.”
Here’s how the ACLU described the other two incidents:
Said Steve Brown, executive director of the RI ACLU: “The voter ID law was promoted by the Secretary of State as necessary to address an alleged perception of voter fraud. Yet the implementation of this law is in fact, not in perception, denying qualified voters the right to vote. That is where the real concern should be, and why the law should be repealed.”
Kaiser added, “We will again be sending letters to the the Board of Elections raising concerns about poll workers not being given clear enough instructions about their obligations under the law, and urging the Board to address this before the November election. The ACLU and other organizations sent letters to the Board ahead the primary, but to our knowledge the Board took no further action.”
]]>Raimondo won 42 percent of the vote while Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and newcomer Clay Pell split 56.1 percent – Taveras with 29.2 percent and Pell with 26.9 percent.
Raimondo bested Taveras in Providence – 41 percent to his 39.8 percent (Pell took 17.9 percent). And she beat Pell in Newport, where she scored 44.3 percent, Pell took 34.8 percent and Taveras 20 percent. She won 36 of 39 cities and towns – Taveras took Central Falls and Pell won Burrillville and Foster.
Raimondo did particularly well in affluent suburbs: in Barrington she won 59 percent of the vote and in East Greenwich she took 57.9 percent of the vote. Taveras and Pell combined took only 40 percent of the vote in Barrington and 41.3 percent in East Greenwich.
After his concession speech, I asked Mayor Taveras what he would have done differently.
Magaziner was the biggest statewide winner of the evening, trouncing former treasurer Frank Caprio 67 percent to 33 percent. No one with an opponent won by a larger margin and Caprio conceded within minutes of the polls closing. Magaziner now faces off against former Democrat Ernie Almonte in the general election.
The surprise of the evening was Gorbea’s upset over Guillaume de Ramel, who had a slight lead in the polls and a huge advantage in money and endorsements.
The saddest defeat for the left was progressive hero Rep. Maria Cimini losing to Dan McKiernan, who was endorsed by House Speaker Nick Mattiello, RI Right to Life and NEARI. NEARI’s endorsement baffled and angered progressives, who felt betrayed by the state’s largest teacher’s union. Even with such powerful interests backing McKiernan, Cimini’s grassroots campaign still kept it competitive: she lost 46.7 percent to 53.3 percent.
On the other hand, progressive newcomer Lauren Carson beat NEARI-backed incumbent Peter Martin.
Education activist and student organizer Aaron Regunberg won 51.4 percent in Gordon Fox’s former district while Heather Tow-Yick won 33.9 percent and Miriam Ross won 14.7 percent.
]]>Add it all together and it seems like conventional wisdom predicts a big day for progressives. Congressman David Cicilline will prevail over Anthony Gemma and in State House contests progressives are likely to pick up at least a few seats.
Another important aspect to today’s primary: “This will be the biggest test yet of voter ID,” Chris Barnett of the Secretary of State’s office told the Associated Press.
Big time congrats to Chris Young and Kara Russo … nothing better than when two people find their soul mates in each other. I have to guess this is the case with these two!
The Chicago teachers’ strike, as reviewed by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post.
There is no industry more important to Rhode Island’s overall economy than commercial fishing, and it’s quickly going the way of the yellowtail flounder, which is to say extinct.
Pay attention to this trial … it just might get politically interesting.
On this day in 2001, we learned just how vulnerable Americans are in a world that is increasingly moving away from the traditional ground rules of geopolitics. It’s the unfortunate and inevitable result of the United States’ global dominance. But that doesn’t mean the 9-11 attacks were inevitable.
]]>Why a Sunday? State law requires Rhode Islanders to be registered at least 30 days before an election in order to be eligible to vote. In order to register, you must be at least 18 years old by Nov. 6, a resident of Rhode Island and a U.S. citizen.
Even though the deadline falls on a Sunday, our office at 148 West River St. in Providence will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition, every municipality has made arrangements to enable residents to register close to home at the last-minute.
Rhode Islanders can also download a voter registration form. In order to beat the deadline, your original, signed form must be received by us or your local voter-registration location by closing time on Sunday.
September’s primary will include races for the U.S. House of Representatives as well as some General Assembly seats and municipal offices.
]]>In case you hadn’t heard, 3% of potential voters turned out in Rhode Island’s presidential primary on April 24th. Rhode Island runs open primaries, where unaffiliated voters can temporarily affiliate on primary day with the party of their choice, so virtually every voter but those registered as Moderates had the ability to vote. The two primaries were different affairs, though, so each has their own issues.
On the Democratic side, only Barack Obama was available (or no one/write-in). But all the available delegates were pledged to Obama. This means that all delegates were going to vote for Obama anyways. So in this case, why care who goes? Since 1968, Democrats have ensured that they wouldn’t ever have to face the chaos of a brokered convention again, de-emphasizing the importance of the delegates.
On the Republican side, the math has essentially made Mitt Romney the victor this primary season. Though Ron Paul managed to pick up some delegates, even RI GOP chair Mark Zaccaria was worried at the low turnout.
It appears to me that the parties are facing a lack of enthusiasm, though RI Tea Party founder Colleen Conley assures me on Twitter that the Tea Party (not really a political party) will crush the Democrats in November. I’m skeptical.
There’s not much to get excited about this election season. My college broke out into a spontaneous celebration in November 2008, and I remember thinking, finally, we won. Now that just seems naive. Neither base can be truly energized when it’s essentially to go vote against someone. We need to want to vote for something.
I think part of the problem is that parties aren’t really distinct parties anymore. If you register as a Democrat, are you actually involved in the Democrats? Do you get to set the platform of your local party? Do you elect the party leadership? Do you decide who will become Speaker of the House if they’re in the majority? Of course not. Only two types of people make those decisions in a modern American political party; party apparatchiks and political candidates.
So when you register as a Democrat, you’re not actually a member of the Democratic Party, you are a voter affiliated with the Democratic Party. Yes, you can select its candidates (a privilege made less relative by open primaries), but you’re essentially powerless over the operations of the party. This is why organizations like the Progressive Democrats of America exist, to counteract the party establishment. This is also why some states have moved towards the jungle primary, essentially making parties vestigial organs.
Parties don’t have to be organized like this. It would be perfectly possible to make a political party function as a democratic organization; where the chair and the leadership are elected by all of the party’s members. The same thing could happen for legislative delegations; the Rhode Island Democrats could be allowed to select who they want to be Speaker of the House or President of the Senate in an election, choosing between candidates from among the Democratic representatives and senators. Party platforms could likewise be suggested and voted upon by party members in the same way a ballot question appears; “would you like the Democratic Party to include in its values a commitment to the equal rights of LGBTQ citizens, including the right of marriage?”
So yes, the criticism that political parties don’t represent the people is accurate; they don’t even represent the people who are registered as their voters. Because those aren’t their members. Their members are the networkers and the political players who really burrow deep inside of the party. And yes, they get paid poorly and have pretty crappy jobs. They get to inhabit these positions because they step up to the plate.
But at the end of the day, if you want your voters to have enthusiasm for their party, if you want them to turn out to the polls no matter the situation, you have to give them agency. It’s the same reason that the Green Bay Packers have their seats sold out for a century; by making the team owned by the fans, they gave their fans agency in their organization. Political parties need to demand participation, open discussion, and activity from their members. They cannot afford to take them for granted.
]]>Anne Connor, whom we profiled, received more overall votes than former Providence Mayor Joe Paolino, who took out an ad in the ProJo (though he did spell the president’s name wrong in it). She even got more votes than him in his hometown of Providence – and she lives in suburban Barrington.
Conservative, anti-union Democrat Doug Gablinske received the fewest votes in CD1
In CD2, the three progressive members of the General Assembly – Josh Miller, Frank Ferri and Teresa Tanzi netted nearly 1,000 more overall votes than the three Weiner candidates, an affluent family from East Greenwich known for being political insiders and regulars at the party convention.
For a complete list of results, click here.
The winners are below, including total number of votes they garnered and percentage.
UPDATE: RI Future Publisher Emeritus Matt Jerzyk writes that our delegate results isn’t accurate because Democratic rules for the representing candidates at the convention employ a sort of affirmative action in which the top 5 men and top 6 women from each district are chosen. As such, these are the results according to Jerzyk:
The top 5 men and top 6 women in each CD are elected – not just the top 11. That would mean the following won yesterday:
CD-1
CD-2
CD1
Myrth YORK | 2831 | 10.4% | |
Julie E. MEYERS | 2153 | 7.9% | |
Anne W. CONNOR | 2061 | 7.6% | |
Joseph R. PAOLINO, JR. | 1986 | 7.3% | |
Onna A. MONIZ-JOHN | 1880 | 6.9% | |
Mary A. GASBARRO | 1833 | 6.7% | |
June S. SPEAKMAN | 1776 | 6.5% | |
Brett P. SMILEY | 1763 | 6.5% | |
Rebecca Kim MEARS | 1694 | 6.2% | |
Tom CODERRE | 1640 | 6.0% | |
Gerald Pedro CARVALHO | 1369 | 5.0% |
CD2
Joshua MILLER | 1313 | 7.8% | |
Patrick T. FOGARTY | 1272 | 7.6% | |
Teresa TANZI | 1233 | 7.3% | |
Frank G. FERRI | 1137 | 6.8% | |
Elaine PRIOR | 1131 | 6.7% | |
Michael A. SOLOMON | 1109 | 6.6% | |
L. Susan WEINER | 1033 | 6.1% | |
Mark S. WEINER | 1007 | 6.0% | |
Thomas J. IZZO | 990 | 5.9% | |
Ryan Patrick KELLEY | 986 | 5.9% | |
Elisa M. POLLARD | 972 | 5.8% |