Is #PINKWAVE letter fake? The person it purports to support says yes.
“The #PINKWAVE is here!” says a campaign letter that was mailed to East Greenwich voters last week. It purports to be from a feminist and in support of Justine Caldwell, a Democrat running to represent East Greenwich at the State House. But the House District 30 candidate – who has made #MeToo and reproductive freedom […]
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 […]
Laufton Ascencao on how progressives can win campaigns
He may not have the Democratic Party’s endorsement, but Laufton Ascencao, running for state representative in District 68 (Bristol, Warren), knows exactly how to win races despite tall odds. He told me one of his first political litmus tests was during his time in Pittsburgh in 2013. There, while doing college organizing for the Obama […]
Matt Brown and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are both Justice Democrats
Matt Brown, Democratic candidate for governor of Rhode Island, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, overnight political superstar from the Bronx, have a lot in common. They both want America to make a major investment in renewable energy. They both think $15 an hour is a fairer minimum wage. They both believe in Medicare For All. And neither […]
RI Democratic Party doesn’t want to endorse Trump voter after all
The Rhode Island Democratic Party wants to take back two of four controversial legislative endorsements that lit a fire under the local progressive movement and drew the attention of national media. If successful, Michael Earnheart, a Trump voter challenging incumbent Rep. Moira Walsh, and Greg Accairdo, a former Johnston state Senator who has twice been arrested […]
RI Dem Party doesn’t endorse three progressive female legislators
Being a progressive woman may be beneficial at the ballot box in the 2018 election but it doesn’t seem to help with respect to endorsements from the Rhode Island Democratic Party. Three female legislators learned this the hard way when the state Party endorsed their more-conservative primary opponents. Reps. Moira Walsh and Marcia Ranglin-Vassell, both […]
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 […]
No LNG in PVD floods the State House amid CRMC reappointments
Protesters supporting the No LNG in PVD coalition poured into the State House rotunda Wednesday afternoon three hours before the Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture moved to reappoint three members of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC). Much of the committee’s proceedings were predicated on the premise that its appointments required consideration […]
Gov. Raimondo signs red flag and bump stock bills
At a state house rotunda ceremony this morning, surrounded by scores of Moms Demand Action and RI Coalition Against Gun Violence activists wearing orange t-shirts, Gov. Gina Raimondo signed into law two new pieces of gun safety legislation. The first, sponsored in the Senate by Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin and in the House by […]
Foreclosure protection law set to expire July 1, a bill would keep it in place
Nearly 10,000 homes went into foreclosure during the mortgage crisis in Rhode Island. Then, in 2013, the General Assembly passed the Foreclosure Reduction Act, which mandated banks to work with homeowners before repossessing property. Since then, the law helped some 600 Rhode Islanders avoid losing their homes. But the Foreclosure Reduction Act is set to […]
Henrietta White-Holder, Linda Finn Receive Red Bandana Awards
The Red Bandana Fund is pleased to announce two local advocates, Henrietta White-Holder and Linda Finn, as the 2018 recipients of the Red Bandana Award! The Award, the sixth annual, honors individuals and groups whose work embodies the spirit and work of Richard Walton, a longtime Rhode Island activist who died in 2012. The awards […]
Lifelong activist Matt Brown challenges Raimondo on progressive issues
Matt Brown, the former secretary of state who is running for governor, doesn’t describe himself an ex-politician. Instead, he describes a lifelong activist who did a stint as an elected official. “I’ve spent most of my life starting and running non-profit organizations,” he said. “I was literally born into activism.” His mom went into labor […]
Bipartisan rebuke of Chippendale’s ‘dummy’ tweet to Emma Gonzalez
Mike Chippendale, a Foster legislator, has managed to raise an issue that Governor Gina Raimondo and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, the two leading candidates for governor, can agree on. The issue being that he was wrong to call gun safety activist and Parkland shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez a “dummy” in a tweet yesterday that he eventually […]
Giarrusso missed vote on bump stock bill
When East Greenwich legislator Anthony Giarrusso was asked about a ban on assault weapons, he talked about a bill banning bump stocks. But when it came time to vote for the bill that bans bump stocks, Giarrusso wasn’t there. “This is my sixth session and the first time any major bill was considered on the […]
Giarrusso, Caldwell hold impromptu debate over gun legislation via email
The first debate of the campaign to represent East Greenwich in the state House of Representatives happened via email. It was between Republican Anthony Giarrusso, the current occupant of the District 30 seat, and Democratic challenger Justine Caldwell. It largely concerned gun legislation at the State House, but also touched on the so-called War on […]
Island legislators tackle issues at forum
Six local legislators fielded questions from the public during a two-hour forum at the CCRI Newport auditorium Thursday morning. Hosted by executive director John Shea of the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission, the event featured questions submitted beforehand as well as a robust Q&A period. Senators Lou DiPalma (D-12), Jim Seveney (D-11), and Dawn Euer (D-13), […]
Help RI pass net neutrality on Tuesday
On Tuesday, net neutrality bills are getting a public hearing at the State House, and it’s a good opportunity for members of the public to speak or show support for an effort that could preserve net neutrality in Rhode Island. You can also sign an online petition in support, here. Net neutrality is the excellent […]
Matt Brown is running for governor on publicly-owned wind farms and a state bank
Former Secretary of State Matt Brown is running for governor as an independent. And he’s campaigning on a bold plan that would necessarily mean a new era for Rhode Island – expanding the public sector. “The Ocean State could be the Saudi Arabia of wind power,” Brown wrote in an open letter announcing his campaign, […]
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 […]
19 legislative Democrats represent districts Trump won
Of the 114 legislative districts in Rhode Island, President Donald Trump carried 28 of them. But only nine of those districts sent Republicans to the General Assembly. That means there are 19 Democratic legislators who represent districts that voted for Trump in 2016. The most famous example is House Speaker Nick Mattiello, whose Cranston district […]
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