Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo's political star is rising. What's her next move?

Patrick Anderson, Providence Journal
Updated ·2 min read
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Name: Gina Raimondo

Age: 52

Hometown: Smithfield

Position: U.S. secretary of commerce

Gina Raimondo is not running for president next year.

But that doesn't mean the Rhode Island governor-turned U.S. commerce secretary isn't worth watching as she tries to bring computer-chip manufacturing back to the United States, fix pandemic-knotted supply chains, help grow offshore wind farms and run a sprawling federal bureaucracy that, among other things, predicts the weather.

After all, there's always the presidential election in 2028.

Raimondo no longer lives here, but even as she outgrows the Rhode Island political spotlight, she still divides opinion like few others in her home state.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo testifies at a February 2022 Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on expanding broadband access.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo testifies at a February 2022 Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on expanding broadband access.

Many Republicans here see her as a leader of a new liberal elite.

Leftists see her as a neo-liberal corporate conservative.

And truckers upset over highway tolls and retirees upset over her 2011 pension cuts see her as a forever enemy.

But if anything, in the years since she traded Smith Hill for Capitol Hill, Raimondo's influence has grown.

Her successor as Rhode Island treasurer, Seth Magaziner, now occupies one of the state's two congressional seats, and as of last month, former staffer Gabe Amo occupies the other.

Former campaign manager K. Joseph Shekarchi is Rhode Island House speaker and friend Helena Foulkes a likely candidate for governor again.

The question now: What does Raimondo, 52, do next?

If President Joe Biden loses his reelection bid next year, Raimondo would be free to return to Providence or, more likely, to the business world. (She's said she doesn't see herself in Congress.)

If Biden wins, a departure is also possible, since few Cabinet secretaries serve out two full presidential terms.

Either way, she'll be on the short list of Washington Democratic kingmakers and White House hopefuls in the years ahead.

Those Bulova watch factory anecdotes have life in them yet.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Commerce Secretary Raimondo gains political ground in D.C., eyeing 2028