Republicans fail to gain ground in RI General Assembly; close races remain
Rhode Island Republicans ran in greater numbers than they have in years, but failed to gain ground in the General Assembly Tuesday, according to unofficial election results.
In fact, pending any changes to the results of some races with razor-thin margins, there will be 14 Republicans in the state legislature instead of the 15 currently in office. The number of Democrats would remain the same, but the Assembly would again have an independent.
In the 38-seat Senate, Democrats flipped one seat and Republicans flipped one seat, leaving the GOP's five-member caucus the same.
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In the House, Democrats flipped two GOP seats and lost two seats, one to a Republican and the other to independent Jon Brien of Woonsocket. That reduces the size of the Republican caucus from 10 representatives to nine.
Brien, who was a Democrat during a previous stint in the House, could not be reached Wednesday about whether he planned to caucus with Democrats, Republicans or neither. He was endorsed by Democratic Rep. Steven Lima, whose decision not to run opened the seat, and neighboring Republican Rep. Brian Newberry.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi invited Brien to the Thursday evening's scheduled House Democratic caucus, House spokesman Larry Berman said, but Brien could not attend because of a previously scheduled West Coast trip to visit family.
Shekarchi has every indication Brien will caucus with the Democrats, Berman said.
Brien beat Democrat Glenn Dusablon by 40 votes.
RI Election Results: County-by-county results, maps, ballot questions
The Republicans' biggest win of the night was in the Senate, where Anthony DeLuca II defeated Democrat Jennifer Rourke by five points for the seat held by retiring Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey.
Rourke was the co-founder of the progressive Rhode Island Political Cooperative and best shot for the group to keep a seat in the Senate after fellow co-founder Jeanine Calkin lost in the Democratic primary. (In the House, Co-op member Brianna Henries won reelection and Jennifer Stewart was elected for the first time to a seat in Pawtucket.)
DeLuca is a political newcomer who works for the Warwick Water Department. He had an assist from a group with links to Democratic leaders who have clashed with the Cooperative, which declared war on a Democratic establishment they called "corrupt."
Also in Warwick, Democratic Rep. Camille Vella-Wilkinson appeared to have survived a challenge from Republican Marie Hopkins by 16 votes.
And that margin was a landslide compared to the apparent four-vote victory by Democrat Megan Cotter over Republican Justin Price in Exeter, Hopkinton and Richmond.
Price was the only member of the General Assembly to have attended Donald Trump's Jan. 6, 2021 rally at the U.S. Capitol.
Candidates have until next Tuesday, Nov. 15 to request a recount. Races decided by 200 votes or less are eligible for a manual refeeding of ballots into the vote tabulation machine.
The Republican House pickup came in Smithfield, where Brian Rea defeated Democratic incumbent Rep. Bernard Hawkins in a rematch.
But the Democrats picked up seats in the two districts where Republican caucus leaders decided not to run for reelection.
In Westerly, Democrat Victoria Gu defeated Republican Westin Place and independent Caswell Cooke Jr. to win the Senate seat being vacated by longtime Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere.
In the House, Tina Spears beat Republican John Pacheco III for the South County seat now represented by former House Minority Leader Blake Filippi.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi easily warded off a challenge from GOP newcomer Dana Traversie.
Senate President Dominick Ruggerio was unopposed.
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI General Assembly election: Republicans fail to gain ground
