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 […]
Raimondo’s pension cuts benefited hedge funds more than RI, says Brown
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Brown attacked pension cuts for state employees dating back to Governor Raimondo’s previous role as state treasurer at a town-hall style “Restore Our Pensions” event at the WaterFire Arts Center in Providence on Monday evening. The event came mere hours after WPRI published polling results showing Brown lagging behind in name […]
Medicare for All would save RI money—and here’s the math
Would health care in Rhode Island cost less if everyone had access to it? The question, brought to the national stage in arguments surrounding Sen. Bernie Sanders’s Medicare for All plan, came to Rhode Island repeatedly this week, whether it was when Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Brown announced his own Medicare for All plan, or in […]
Matt Brown calls for “Medicare for All”
Democratic candidate for Governor Matt Brown announced last Friday that he supports a “Medicare for All” plan for Rhode Island, which will both counter Gov. Raimondo’s Medicaid cuts and “save Rhode Island money every year,” he said in a press release. “If people lose a job, they lose their health care. Small businesses pay so […]
Raimondo says her incentives spur job growth; EPI isn’t so sure
Governor Raimondo’s support for corporate incentives have become a contentious frontline in the race for governor. Both Democratic candidate Matt Brown and Republican candidate Allan Fung have attacked her commerce incentive programs (such as the Rebuild Rhode Island Tax Credit) according to a report in the Providence Journal on Tuesday. The article shows Gov. Raimondo […]
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 […]
‘Real’ Democrats call for McNamara to step down as party chair
A group called Rhode Island Democrats for a Real Democratic Party released a petition Tuesday calling for the revocation of two endorsements and the resignation of Democratic State Committee chair Rep. Joseph McNamara after several progressive female candidates were passed over for party endorsements. “We are outraged and appalled that the Rhode Island Democratic Party […]
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 […]
RI Dems endorse incumbents in fractious state convention
Last night’s RI Democratic State committee meeting offered no surprises in the outcome — incumbent Governor Raimondo and Lt. Gov. McKee received expected endorsements — but the process of getting there provided moments of conflict that illuminated tensions within the Party. The convention of the more than 100 members of the state committee — city […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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