Happy Saturday! Here’s another edition of my weekend column for WPRI.com — as always, send your takes, tips and trial balloons to tnesi@wpri.com and follow me on Twitter , Threads and Facebook .

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Nesi's Notes

1. When the history of the Democratic Party’s current crisis is written, two Rhode Islanders will be prominently featured. One is Providence native Mike Donilon , a trusted adviser to President Biden for decades, and now among the vanishingly few people who are thought to hold any sway with Biden as he faces the biggest decision of his long career. Donilon — who still has a home in Narragansett — will be a central player as the coming days unfold. An example: during a heated call between Biden and Nancy Pelosi , when Biden insisted there were polls showing he could still win, Pelosi reportedly demanded: “Put Donilon on the phone.” The other key Rhode Islander is Sheldon Whitehouse (who 18 years ago entrusted Donilon to handle media for his first U.S. Senate campaign). Whitehouse broke the omertà among Senate Democrats on the Monday after the debate, telling me in an explosive interview , “I think people want to make sure that this is a campaign that’s ready to go and win, that the president and his team are being candid with us about his condition — that this was a real anomaly and not just the way he is these days.” Whitehouse isn’t naive; he had to know such a frank comment would ricochet nationally and help force Democrats to have an honest conversation. And while Whitehouse has steadfastly refused since then to say anything so incendiary, his unwillingness to vouch for Biden has been just as telling. If Biden quits — still an if, though seemingly more likely by the day — Whitehouse is one of many top Democrats in Rhode Island and Massachusetts whose actions will be closely watched once the party looks to chart a path forward. Will they endorse Kamala Harris , or call for an open convention? And bigger picture, how will the region fare if the party’s center of gravity shifts away from Biden, who has deep ties in both states?

2. An elderly veteran of the U.S. Senate, refusing to give up his powerful post despite strong hints from other Democrats that he should pass the baton. Joe Biden ? No — try Claiborne Pell . The late Rhode Island senator was back in the news this week, after former Capitol Hill reporter Tom Galvin alleged that Biden once told him Pell was a “poor son of a bitch” for hanging onto the Foreign Relations Committee gavel when he was too old to be effective. Biden coveted the committee chairmanship, which was no secret at the time; as early as 1987, years before the reputed remark to Galvin, Biden told The New York Times, “There is a feeling on the committee that it has to be more assertive in protecting its jurisdiction.” Only a year after Pell won his final reelection race — in which challenger Claudine Schneider had questioned Pell’s effectiveness — the 72-year-old senator was pressured by Biden and other senators into ceding much of his authority to subcommittee chairs. (In a strange historical twist, a similar chain of events had played out with Pell’s predecessor T.F. Green ; he too had other Democrats — in Green’s case, LBJ — pressuring him to give up the Foreign Relations Committee gavel due to advanced age toward the end of his tenure.)

3. There’s quite a split-screen in the debate over Joe Biden’s future between the top two finishers in last year’s Democratic primary to replace David Cicilline . On the one hand you have Congressman Gabe Amo , who won that primary in part by touting his time as a Biden staffer. Amo hasn’t wavered in his support for the president to date, campaigning for him in New Hampshire just after the June 27 debate and accompanying him to Las Vegas for a campaign swing just this week. Contrast that with second-place finisher Aaron Regunberg , who first used his Twitter feed to rally support for replacing Biden and then got national attention for quickly establishing a “Pass the Torch” advocacy group. That has put Regunberg in direct conflict with his most high-profile endorsers in last year’s race, Bernie Sanders and AOC , both of whom have been pushing to keep Biden on the ticket. Nor has Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos , the early frontrunner in last year’s primary, been shy about her opinions; The Providence Journal took notice of her outspoken advocacy for Biden.

4. In the wake of the assassination attempt against Donald Trump and the national convention, the Republican Party appears more united than it has at any point since Trump first emerged as a candidate in 2015. “It’s been electrifying,” Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz told our team in Milwaukee, adding, “I haven’t been around this many Republicans ever, being from a deep-blue state.” The choice of JD Vance for vice president further solidified the impression that Trump has successfully reshaped the party in his own image. How — and why — has the GOP changed? We tackle that question on this week’s Newsmakers with two people who’ve spent years both observing and participating in Republican politics: state Rep. Brian Newberry and former Republican National Committeeman Steve Frias . They cite a range of factors, from demographic shifts to George W. Bush’s stance on immigration. But Frias acknowledged that while the Trump-era GOP has made gains in some places, it’s lost ground locally. “The trading has been going on for about a generation,” he said. “We won the South; we lost New England. That’s the big picture. And in the Trump era, it’s been magnified.”

5. Rhode Islanders have been down on their governors for most of the last two decades. But there are different levels of unpopularity, and right now Dan McKee is at risk of sinking from the Don Carcieri / Gina Raimondo level all the way down to the Lincoln Chafee level. Last month’s Salve poll had McKee at 36% approval with likely voters — putting him in the same neighborhood as Raimondo in 2018 (37%) or Carcieri in 2010 (40%). But the new UNH survey released this week has McKee down to 29% approval with registered voters — plumbing the depths experienced by Chafee, who regularly polled below 30%. As our political analyst Joe Fleming pointed out, McKee’s biggest problem is his lack of support among his fellow Democrats. Just 42% of self-identified Democrats approve of McKee’s job performance in the UNH poll — down from 71% less than two years ago, when McKee won a full term. Considering McKee barely squeaked out a win over Helena Foulkes in that last gubernatorial primary, and the fact that Foulkes is already fundraising aggressively for a rematch, the survey should be a wake-up call to McKee’s advisers about the need for a reset.

6. Of course, the conversation about Governor McKee’s unpopularity is inseparable from the conversation about how he’s handled the Washington Bridge crisis. The UNH survey was taken shortly after Rhode Islanders learned that no companies had bid to build the new bridge , leaving McKee and his team unable to say how long the project might take or how much it might cost. On Friday, RIDOT issued a quick-turnaround RFI (request for information) that asks construction companies why they didn’t bid . The state is also preparing to borrow $140 million as a down payment on funding the cost of the new bridge. Meanwhile, attorney Max Wistow is readying a lawsuit that may be filed as soon as early next month against whomever he deems responsible for the bridge’s failure.

7. Rhode Island has a new housing secretary: Dan Connors , the former Senate majority leader from Governor McKee’s hometown of Cumberland, who was brought back into the executive branch by McKee last year after Gina Raimondo had sacked him in 2020 over suspected drunk driving. Speaker Shekarchi , the State House’s most important voice on housing matters, gave his blessing to Connors as a “short-term” pick. Meantime, The Globe’s Alexa Gagosz filed a juicy story about how outgoing secretary Stefan Pryor made his exit, obtaining texts that suggested the governor’s staff and department employees were caught off guard. Pryor pushed back on that perception in an interview with Kim Kalunian during his final day in office. “I actually think that’s not a completely accurate characterization,” he said. “I was very pleased with the way in which the conversation with the governor’s office unfolded. It’s always a surprise — it’s never a perfect moment, at some level, depending on the concentric circles of who you’re talking to, who’s finding out.” Gagosz followed up with a story Friday about HR complaints and questionable contracting under Pryor’s leadership.

8. Two insurers have won Rhode Island’s roughly $15 billion state Medicaid contract .

9. National Republicans spent many millions of dollars in Rhode Island in 2022 as they made a close-but-no-cigar effort to win the 2nd Congressional District. But that level of resources is now a distant memory for the state GOP, judging by newly filed campaign-finance reports. Senator Whitehouse is sitting on $3.7 million to seek reelection; his GOP challenger Patricia Morgan has just $137,000 (not to mention problems with the FEC ) and her primary rival Ray McKay has only $16,000. In the 2nd Congressional District, Seth Magaziner has $1 million in the bank, while his opponent Steven Corvi hasn’t even raised enough money to trigger the filing requirement. (Corvi’s campaign told my colleague Ray Baccari the candidate has been more focused “on grassroots efforts.”) And in the 1st District, Gabe Amo has $779,000 against just $4,000 for Republican Allen Waters . Magaziner and Amo are probably also keeping an eye on each other’s war chests, considering someday they could be facing off for a U.S. Senate seat — not that either would ever admit it.

10. Don’t look across the border to Southeastern Massachusetts if you’re hungry for a competitive congressional race, either. In the 9th Congressional District, which includes New Bedford, Bill Keating has about $800,000 in the bank, while his GOP opponent Dan Sullivan mothballed his FEC account in May. And in the 4th District, which includes Fall River and Attleboro, Jake Auchincloss has nearly $4.5 million after raising more than any other member of the Massachusetts House delegation during the last quarter. His GOP rival doesn’t have a dime — because no such person exists. Auchincloss, only in his second term, is currently running unopposed for the second election in a row. (Independents have until July 30 to file.)

11. At the moment it’s hard to imagine the 2024 election ever coming to an end. But starting Nov. 6, attention will inexorably begin to turn to 2026. And in Rhode Island, one of that year’s marquee races will be the open contest for attorney general, since Democrat Peter Neronha is barred by term limits from running again. (The state’s other four general officers are all eligible to seek reelection, and all say they plan to do so.) One name that’s regularly mentioned as a potential AG candidate is state Rep. Jason Knight , a Barrington Democrat and defense lawyer. Asked point blank on last week’s Newsmakers if he’s going to run, Knight told me, “My goal is to serve. And I think I’m uniquely qualified for that job. I would be delighted to serve in it, and I am actively exploring a run.”

12. Someone else to keep your eye on for higher office: Xay Khamsyvoravong , the mayor of Newport (which is the title they give the head of the City Council there). While Khamsyvoravong may not throw his hat into the ring for a statewide run in 2026, it’s not hard to imagine the 40-year-old Democrat being on the ballot by 2030. “I do not think that public government is best-served by people who serve an entire lifetime in an individual role,” Khamsyvoravong told me on Newsmakers . “I think we need to go in, do our jobs in public office, and then move on once the job is done.”

13. FM Global has to rank as one of Rhode Island’s least-known major employers. The insurer, which traces its roots back to 1835, has nearly 1,900 workers and booked $7 billion in revenue last year; CEO Malcolm Roberts also serves on the high-powered board of the Partnership for Rhode Island. The Johnston-based company announced this week it’s getting a (slightly) new name as part of a big brand relaunch .

14. People in the news … U.S. Magistrate Judge Lincoln Almond , son of the late former governor, plans to retire next May … Pam Johnston , former GBH News general manager, will be the first CEO of the newly merged Rhode Island PBS/Public’s Radio (where, full disclosure, I’m a contributor ) … Scott Isaacs is departing as WJAR’s news director to take the same job at Boston 25 (WFXT) … Chris Gavin is joining The Boston Globe’s Rhode Island bureau next month as its newest reporter … Dacia Reed , an alum of Gina Raimondo’s administration, will be the new chief of staff to Brown President Christina Paxson … the New Bedford Light’s Anastasia Lennon has been doing excellent work on the Vineyard Wind turbine mess … Secretary of State Gregg Amore was spotlighted in a national USA Today story tied to the Fourth of July.

15. Do you know a great public servant in Rhode Island? RIPEC wants to know. The public policy group is soliciting nominations for its 48th Annual Public Service Awards, which will be given out at its yearly meeting on Oct. 23. Information about the requirements for honorees is available here , with nominations due by Sept. 9.

16. Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife — the best thing that ever happened to me.

17. Set your DVRs: This week on Newsmakers — state Rep. Brian Newberry and former R.I. Republican National Committeeman Steve Frias . Watch Sunday at 5:30 a.m. on WPRI 12 and 10 a.m. on Fox Providence, or listen on the radio Sunday at 6 p.m. on WPRO. You can also subscribe to Newsmakers as a podcast via Apple , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts. See you back here next Saturday.

Ted Nesi ( tnesi@wpri.com ) is a Target 12 investigative reporter and 12 News politics/business editor. He co-hosts Newsmakers and writes Nesi’s Notes on Saturdays. Connect with him on Twitter , Threads and Facebook .

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