General Assembly leaders Ruggerio and Shekarchi win primaries

The General Assembly's top Democratic leaders, House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, fended off primary challenges from the left Tuesday, according to unofficial results.

Shekarchi, facing his first-ever primary challenge since being elected in 2012, was reelected in his Warwick district Tuesday night, taking 67% of the in-person vote against delivery nurse Jackie Anderson, who had 33% as of press time.

(Although mail ballots were not yet reported by the Board of Elections, his lead appeared insurmountable.)

By the numbers: Election results broken down by city and town

Ruggerio, who has been in the General Assembly for four decades, had a 59% to 35% lead over nurse Lenny Cioe with 90% of the precincts in their North Providence district counted. Stephen Tocco had 6% of the vote.

The Ruggerio campaign declared victory Tuesday night and said the margin would be similar when mail ballots were counted.

Cioe challenged Ruggerio two years ago and, with the incumbent not campaigning in person during the pandemic, took 45% of the vote.

Since then, lawmakers approved new district lines that cut out neighborhoods in Providence that Cioe won in 2020.

There is no Republican on the ballot in the general election in Ruggerio's district.

Both Cioe and Anderson were members of the progressive Rhode Island Political Cooperative, which ran on opposition to corporate influence and called Democratic leadership corrupt.

Anderson, a newcomer to politics, was recruited by the Cooperative to challenge Shekarchi, whose position as speaker is often considered the most powerful in Rhode Island government.

After the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Anderson criticized the pro-choice Shekarchi for not changing state law to allow state health insurance policies to cover abortion. Shekarchi said he supports allowing Medicaid to cover abortion in concept and will consider the legislation next year.

Shekarchi, who was elected speaker last year, ran on economic issues, including eliminating the car tax.

Shekarchi faces Republican Dana Traversie in the general election.

panderson@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7384

On Twitter: @PatrickAnderso_

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI Primary: K. Joseph Shekarchi and Dominick Ruggerio beat challengers