Providence Councilman John Goncalves is sixth candidate in CD1 race to succeed Cicilline

Providence City Council member John Goncalves is the latest candidate to enter the race to succeed David Cicilline in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Goncalves, a fourth-grade teacher and diversity, equity and inclusion coordinator at the Wheeler School in Providence, announced his 1st Congressional District campaign in a video Monday morning.

"I grew up as a son of immigrants on the East Side of Providence in CD1, hoping that I could find a way to make a meaningful impact on our community," Goncalves said in the video, which includes images of the candidate shaking hands with Gov. Dan McKee and President Joe Biden. "I see the world through the eyes of the most vulnerable people in Rhode Island because I've lived it."

A Brown University graduate, Goncalves is the sixth Democrat to declare for the 1st Congressional District special election.

The others are Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, state Sen. Sandra Cano, former state Commerce Corporation staffer Nicholas Autiello, former Republican congressional candidate Allen Waters and state Rep. Nathan Biah.

More are expected to follow in the coming days.

Former State Rep. Aaron Regunberg on Monday said he resigned a federal judicial clerkship to "so that I could begin to actually explore a run."

Regunberg, who became a lawyer and climate activist since leaving the General Assembly, would be the first progressive candidate to join the race.

"Congressman Cicilline led the charge on a number of critical progressive issues, and I think there's a ton of people in our district who want to make sure our next representative will be that same kind of progressive fighter – someone who we know will take on excessive corporate power and fight for urgent climate action," Regunberg wrote in an email. "There's a lot of work to do to see if a run makes sense, but we built a broad coalition in 2018, and I'm looking forward to having a bunch of conversations to see if there's excitement for a strong progressive campaign for this seat."

Regunberg ran for lieutenant governor in 2018 and lost to McKee by 2 percentage points.

Although a crowded field could open the door for a candidate to win the Democratic primary with a relatively low share of the total electorate, the Rhode Island left remains somewhat divided.

Cicilline last month announced that he will resign from Congress June 1 to become president of the Rhode Island Foundation.

Dates for the special election to replace him have not been set.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence Councilman Golcalves enters race to replace Rep. Cicilline