Wanted: Rhode Island legislative candidates

A second floor hallway at the Rhode Island State House outside the Senate Chamber looking toward Smith Street is shown. (Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)

Advisors attempted to dissuade Sam Bell from challenging longtime state senator Paul Jabour in the 2018 Democratic primary.

Despite his political activism as former leader of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats, Bell was a first-time candidate. Jabour was a Smith Hill veteran, with three decades in the General Assembly. Another challenger, former Rhode Island Commerce employee Nick Autiello, had already proven his fundraising capacity with $50,000 in the bank by the time Bell announced his candidacy.

“So many people told me, ‘Sam, this is not going to work out,’” Bell recalled. “I was very much seen as a candidate people thought would not be serious.”

Not afraid to go against the grain, Bell ran anyway, and won, besting Jabour with a 6-percentage point margin in the 2018 primary , which cemented his seat since he was unopposed in the 2018 general election.

Now preparing for his fourth run for office, Bell is one of a growing number of examples in state primaries in which progressive organizers challenge, and defeat, long-term legislative incumbents. Yet, change is slow to take hold, especially in a solidly blue state where baked-in structural advantages for incumbents and under-resourced state parties perpetuate a cycle of noncompetitive legislative primaries and general election races.

Indeed, initial candidate filings with the Rhode Island Department of State suggest that nearly half of the Rhode Island General Assembly races — 54 — feature an incumbent running unopposed in both primary and general elections. The number of uncontested races may increase after the July 12 deadline to collect signatures to qualify for the ballot, which can weed out unsure or unprepared candidates.

Incumbents are unopposed in nearly half of General Assembly races

Hardly the kind of close competition that inspires voters to sit up and pay attention, let alone cast a ballot.

“The mechanism for accountability in democracy is the ability to vote an incumbent out of office because you don’t like their performance in office,” John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, said. “If there’s no choice, the mechanism doesn’t exist.”

It’s not a new problem in Rhode Island.

Nearly three-quarters of state legislative races were uncontested by major parties in 2014 general elections — the high water mark over the last 12 years, according to information with Ballotpedia. State legislative primaries have been similarly devoid of challengers, with a peak of 90% of primaries going uncontested in 2014.

The 2022 primary and general election cycles saw an ever-so-slight increase in competition in primary and general legislative races. But it’s far too soon to tell if that uptick in contested races is the start of a trend, or just a blip, said Marion.

Role of pre-primary endorsements

One structural barrier working against more competitive primaries is the emphasis given to pre-primary party endorsements in Rhode Island. Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey are the only three states where pre-primary endorsements show up on the ballot, according to information collected by Common Cause Rhode Island. Earlier this year, a federal judge barred New Jersey from using its contested “county line” ballot structure in its June 2024 Democratic primary.

In the Ocean State, however, endorsements by town, district and state committees still determine which candidate gets top positioning on a primary ballot. And with the endorsement almost always awarded to the incumbent, challengers are even more of a disadvantage.

In his first term in office, Bell pitched legislation that would have ended this practice, letting the Rhode Island Secretary of State determine ballot placement of candidates with no regard to party endorsement. He never introduced the failed bill in subsequent years, but still thinks the existing structure is unfair to challengers.

The mechanism for accountability in democracy is the ability to vote an incumbent out of office because you don’t like their performance in office. If there’s no choice, the mechanism doesn’t exist.

– John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island

Adam Myers, an associate professor of political science at Providence College, agreed that top ballot placement and the accompanying asterisk signaling party endorsement might make a difference, but only “on the margins.”

On the flip side, Rhode Island’s small geographic size makes shoe leather campaigning manageable, and with a dedicated volunteer staff, a newcomer can make a splash for relatively little money.

Many political scientists and strategists emphasize the importance of “serious” candidates when considering competition in elections — meaning candidates with some combination of money, experience, name recognition and the intangible “it” factor.

Not Myers. At least in Rhode Island politics, the political demographics of voters matters far more than the qualifications of the candidate, he said.

“Statistically speaking, you can predict a vast majority of the outcomes just by looking at the partisanship of the districts,” Myers said.

In other words, a conservative legislative district that voted for Trump in 2016 is unlikely to elect a Democratic state lawmaker over a Republican, no matter who that Republican is.

Which means, hypothetically, the state GOP could pick up a few legislative wins by putting a warm body with an “R” next to their name up against a Democratic candidate. Yet party leaders have, in recent years, opted against this approach, preferring instead to devote time and energy to finding a few “quality” candidates, said Joe Powers, Rhode Island GOP chairman.

‘It’s definitely gotten harder’

“We’re not going to throw someone into the race just for the sake of having someone,” Powers said.

Part of the problem is resources; the state GOP relies on a volunteer staff with a limited donor pool compared with states awash in Republican support. It’s also hard to find candidates willing to invest the time, money and emotions into running, especially knowing that if they win, they will be virtually powerless against the Democratic majority on Smith Hill.

“It was never easy to find candidates for either party, but it’s definitely gotten harder,” said Rep. Brian Newberry, a North Smithfield Republican and former House Minority Leader.

In Newberry’s eyes, the 1999 death of John Chafee, a former U.S. Senator and Republican governor, marked the beginning of the end for the state GOP.

“He was a one-man builder of the GOP,” Newberry said. “When he was alive, the Rhode Island Republican Party had some stature beyond its raw numbers. And when he passed away, the party, coupled with national trends, just kind of wilted.”

Over the last seven election cycles, the percentage of uncontested, general election legislative races in Rhode Island automatically awarded to a Republican has hovered around 3%, according to Ballotpedia. By contrast, general legislative races handed to Democratic candidates who ran unopposed ranged from 33% to nearly 70% within that same time frame.

Thirty Republicans signaled their intent to run for state office this year, not including the 11 incumbents‚ six in the House and five in the Senate, seeking reelection, according to a Rhode Island Current analysis of candidate filings with the Department of State.

That’s not drastically different than the 36 Democratic challengers vying for a legislative seat, but the Democratic advantage is significantly strengthened by strong incumbent numbers. Over 90 incumbent Democratic lawmakers are seeking reelection this year.

What’s happening within the Democratic party?

Rhode Island’s solidly Democratic base has assured the party control of the 113-seat state legislature for nearly 90 years. But long-existing factions within the Democratic majority are starting to widen, evidenced by a slight uptick in Democratic primary challengers.

Bell’s win over Jabour in 2018 was part of a wave of progressive victories that year. The first signal of change came in the prior election, in 2016, when Working Families Party-backed challenger Marcia Ranglin-Vassell ousted House Majority Leader John DeSimone in the Democratic primary, beating the 24-year legislative veteran by fewer than two dozen votes.

“That was the moment when it was like, we have arrived,” said Zack Mezera, Rhode Island organizing director for the Working Families Party. Since putting down roots in Rhode Island in 2015, the national progressive group has tried to grow its local presence and hone its strategy of propping up candidates whose views offer a different — and perhaps more accurate — reflection of district voters.

“It’s not about taking on the Democratic Party so much as it is pushing the values through candidates that we think would actually match the needs and desires of each district,” Mezera said.

He described the group’s relationship with the Rhode Island Democratic Party as frequently collaborative, rarely antagonistic, in part because state party leaders have perhaps not viewed the progressive group as a serious threat. Indeed, a June 26 “Build the Bench” election kickoff event hosted by the state party featured party leaders and elected officials across the ideological spectrum.

Statistically speaking, you can predict a vast majority of the outcomes just by looking at the partisanship of the districts.

– Adam Myers, an associate professor of political science at Providence College

Yet, the Democratic Party also appears to suffer some of the resource and organizational shortcomings of its GOP counterpart, Mezera said. There’s no clear policy platform uniting state Democrats, nor have they attempted to rally various factions of the party around a single candidate in multi-candidate primaries, Mezera added.

Liz Beretta-Perik, state party chairwoman, did not respond to multiple inquiries for comment.

Nineteen state races this year feature a primary between one or more Democratic candidates. Six Democratic contenders have lined up to compete for the open seat left by Cranston Sen. Josh Miller, who announced his plans to not seek reelection earlier this month. Meanwhile, Rep. Enrique Sanchez of Providence, a Working Families Party-backed incumbent, will have to defeat three other candidates in his primary, including Anastasia Williams, who he toppled for the same seat in the 2022 primary.

By contrast, there is only one legislative Republican primary. Former chairman of the Johnston Republican Town Committee Frank Ricci will face off against Peter Trementozzi for the seat held by Democrat Gregory Costantino. Costantino is also running for reelection with no primary opponent.

Candidates have until July 12 to turn in signatures of registered voters – at least 50 for representatives and 100 for senators – to their local boards of canvassers to secure a ballot spot. The state primary is Sept. 10 with a Nov. 5 general election.

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