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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Packed State House greets assault weapons ban bill
Nearly 500 people packed the Rhode Island State House rotunda Tuesday for a rally celebrating the introduction of a bill banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines. They filled the stairs and the second-floor hallways, dangled banners over railings, and cheered the legislators and high school students who urged the general assembly to take action. […]
Sam Bell declares for Paul Jabour’s Senate seat
Sam Bell is running for state Senate. The occasional RI Future contributor (and supporter) filed papers to run for the seat currently held by Sen Paul Jabour. The Providence Journal reports there could be a three-way Democratic primary for the seat. “We need to take on the fight to resist the Trump agenda right here […]
Bridget Valverde will run for Mark Gee’s Senate seat, Bob Walsh might too
The Senate seat currently held by East Greenwich Republican Mark Gee could see an all-progressive primary to determine the Democratic challenger. Bridget Valverde, of North Kingstown, has already filed papers to run for the seat and NEARI Executive Director Bob Walsh, of East Greenwich, says he’s considering running as well. “I think she would be […]
Guilty or innocent, Nick Kettle needs to resign
Long before Senator Nick Kettle was arrested for extorting sex from a teen-aged boy interning at the State House, his tenure as an elected official has been punctuated by poor decisions and bad conduct. Early in his career, the young Republican from Coventry mocked the homeless in an email, and implored his conservative supporters to […]
Terri Cortvriend vies for Portsmouth/Middletown House seat
Terri Cortvriend, a Democrat and the chair of the Portsmouth School Committee since 2014, is running for House District 72, currently held by Republican Ken Mendonca. I am running for State Representative of District 72 because I believe that the people of Middletown and Portsmouth deserve an engaged, compassionate, authentic, hard worker who has personal […]
Liana Cassar is running for Joy Hearn’s seat in state legislature
Liana Cassar, the co-chair of the Barrington Democratic Town Committee, is running for House District 66, which represents most of Barrington and a portion of southern East Providence. The seat is currently held by Joy Hearn, who announced earlier this year she isn’t running for reelection. “I am running for State Representative of District 66 […]
Raimondo to RI: ‘Let’s keep going’
“Let’s keep going,” Governor Gina Raimondo said, at least eight times, in her 2018 State of the State speech. A tailor-made message for an incumbent governor facing re-election, it was clearly the theme of her speech – she even highlighted every utterance of the phrase in the public text of her speech in the House […]
Delorenzo dismisses Tanzi’s allegations of sexual harassment at State House
After a group of mostly female Democrats called on former state Representative Joe Delorenzo to resign from his post as Second Vice Chair of the state Democratic Party yesterday, Delorenzo took to the airwaves and belittled one of the letter writer’s allegations that she was sexually harassed at the State House, which came to light […]
Rhode Islanders invited to participate in PawSox hearings
Put another way, it would be a net loss to Rhode Island should the team decide to relocate to another state, because we earn more revenue from the team than it would cost state taxpayers in subsidies.
Dawn Euer wins Senate seat, progressive caucus continues to grow
There will soon be one more progressive woman in the state Senate as Democrat Dawn Euer beat Republican Mike Smith in a special summer election to represent Jamestown and Newport as the senator from District 13. “Tonight’s win is a win for everyone who believes that we need to do more to create good paying […]
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