Flanders, Whitehouse now agree on Kavanaugh accusation
The accusation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh tried to rape a 15-year-old girl as a drunken high school student has captured the beltway’s and the nation’s attention. Here in Rhode Island, it’s also shed some light on the campaign between Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the incumbent Democrat, and Bob Flanders, a Republican and himself a […]
It was a good night to be an incumbent in Rhode Island
While the trend nationally has been to oust the incumbents, and the local pundits and politicos seemed braced for an upset, Rhode Islanders stuck by the status quo in the 2018 primary election Wednesday. Democrats roundly rejected Matt Brown’s upstart challenge to Governor Gina Raimondo, the more moderate incumbent. And they narrowly stuck by Lt. Governor […]
Incumbent Democrats face two-front campaigns
Politics makes for strange bedfellows, observed Charles Dudley Warner in 1850, and it seems true enough this campaign season in Rhode Island as the highest-profile incumbent Democrats are each taking fire from not only Republicans, but also the progressive left. Sometimes even on the same issues. Governor Raimondo Governor Gina Raimondo faces the most-obvious two-front […]
Providence DSA co-chair on electoral strategy and the movement’s rising star
After what might be considered a 35-year slow burn for the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the past year—and especially the last month—has seen the DSA’s flame burn fast and bright. The group gained almost 17,000 dues-paying members in the first 10 months of the Trump presidency. In New York City, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an outspoken […]
Jewelry District garage gets public funding for private parking spaces
Construction is underway on a new parking garage in downtown Providence, Providence Business News reports, and while the project is publicly-funded most of the parking spaces will be for private use. 900 of the structure’s proposed 1250 spaces will be dedicated to tenants at Wexford Science & Technology’s innovation center under construction in the neighborhood. […]
Stage set for progressives to take over Rhode Island
As the deadline to run for elected office came and went Wednesday afternoon, there are more than a few political newcomers—many young, and many centered around social justice—that could constitute the makings of a progressive wave in Rhode Island. Governor Most notable might be the governor’s race, where Matt Brown promises to give incumbent Governor […]
One last plea to Raimondo to veto Kristen’s Law
At 4pm on Monday evening, where one would usually find state representatives milling about before their floor sessions, demonstrators gathered inside the State House to make one last plea to Governor Raimondo to veto Kristen’s Law, a statute which mandates a life sentence for individuals involved in the exchange of controlled substance in the case […]
Nika Lomazzo reflects on activism, Pride after stepping down from District 8 race
Those who attended Nika Lomazzo‘s first stand-up show at AS220 were met with a bit of an apt misnomer: the show was titled “Imposter Syndrome,” but it was clear that Lomazzo, an outspoken figure in her neighborhood of Federal Hill in Providence, was nothing but the real deal. Her trenchant critiques of local politics, delivered […]
Paul Roselli drops out to run for state Senate, help Matt Brown
Saying Gina Raimondo won’t win in the general election even if she prevails in the Democratic primary, her underdog rival Paul Roselli ended his outsider campaign for governor to support fellow progressive outsider Matt Brown instead. “If Gina Raimondo wins the primary, Raimondo will lose the general election,” he said in a prepared statement released […]
Compassion center cuts in House budget benefit monopolies over patients
Buried under mounds of drama surrounding the House budget proposal, up for a vote on the floor Friday afternoon, those considering opening a medical marijuana dispensary in the state can find bad news and a rate hike to make your head spin. The House has stubbornly rebuked Gov. Raimondo’s previous proposal to increase the number […]
John Lewis’ blunder shows off Brown’s naivete
Matt Brown, the upstart progressive challenging Governor Gina Raimondo in the Democratic primary this year, was quick to namedrop U.S. Rep. John Lewis when I interviewed him last month. Early on, we had digressed into discussing how Nelson Mandela and African National Congress managed to defeat apartheid in South Africa and by way of redirecting […]
Reed, Whitehouse counter forced separation of undocumented families
Sen. Jack Reed and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse renounced the Trump administration’s separation of immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border during a meeting of immigration advocates, community leaders, and pediatricians at Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island on Monday. Both senators have announced their support for the Keep Families Together Act, introduced by California Senator Dianne […]
Caleb Chadsey bequeathed a library, NK Town Council wants a restaurant
When Caleb Chadsey died, in 1894, he left $10,000 and a parcel of property in the heart of Wickford to the town of North Kingstown for the purposes of creating a community library. And there, at 55 Brown St., is where the local library stood until 1975, when a bigger one was built a few […]
Can Cool Moose’s ghost posthumously swing RI governor’s election?
It’s deja vu all over again in the race to be the next governor of Rhode Island. Governor Gina Raimondo, the incumbent Democrat, leads her Republican rival, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, by just two points, 38 percent to 36 percent, according to a new WPRI/Roger Williams University poll that revealed eerily similar results as last […]
Are Democrats too concerned with Russian election meddling?
There are many people on the left who think “Russiagate” merits wall-to-wall news coverage and MSNBC’s near-singular focus. I’m not one of them. In fact, I’m beginning to find the rhetoric coming out of the Democratic Party on Russia, with its comparisons to the deadly attacks of 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, more than misplaced. They’re […]
The RI Democratic Party isn’t very democratic
As a member of the RI Democratic State Committee, a Bernie Sanders delegate, and a member of the Women’s Caucus and nominating committee, I’ve tried to be the good Democrat and change the party from within. But it’s been difficult from the get-go for me to get information, to feel included and respected. This also […]
If Regunberg runs for lt. gov, District 4 must remain solidly progressive
State Representative Aaron Regunberg is expected to announce his intention to run for Lieutenant Governor tomorrow. That’s an important development for progressives and all of those who seek a change in the status quo in state government…
Whitehouse talks war, Trump’s competency, and the state of national politics
“In my lifetime, even back to Nixon, I have never seen a White House so riven with conflicts and leaks,” said the Senator.
Trump’s moves against reproductive rights renew calls for state level action
“I don’t care what my employer believes,” wrote Mel DuPont, from the Committee to Pass RHCA in RI. “I need the insurance I work for to cover my needs. Not theirs.”
The governor’s gaffe about the local media landscape
Over the course of nearly an hour-long talk given by Governor Gina Raimondo at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, you might’ve assumed that the headlines coming out it would be the moment where she questioned whether President Donald Trump was fit to serve as President of the United States, considering Trump’s effect […]
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