RI Primary Election 2020: Mail Ballots Results Are In

Rachel Nunes
Updated ·3 min read

PROVIDENCE, RI — Two days after Primary Day, Rhode Island's full election results are in. On Thursday evening, the Board of Elections posted results, broken down by mail, in-person and emergency ballot.

Find the full results for the state and by community on the department's website. As of Thursday night, results were still considered unofficial, and had not yet been certified.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, many Rhode Island voters chose to vote from home using a mail ballot, instead of going to the polls in person on Tuesday. According to Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea's office, 43,627 mail ballots in total were sent to voters across the state for Tuesday's primary. By comparison, the Rhode Island Board of Elections reported 44,386 ballots cast at polls Tuesday.

This increase in mail ballots meant a delay in final tallies, since each had to be returned to the Board of Elections, counted and certified. Mail ballots dropped into secure drop boxes around the state on Tuesday were brought to the board's headquarters on Wednesday morning to be counted.

Overall, results weren't too different from those of election night, which reflected ballots cast in-person at polling places. While Senator Jack Reed and Congressman David Cicilline ran unopposed, Congressman Jim Langevin, who represents District Two, had one Democratic challenger and two opponents vying to face him in the general election in November. The results are listed below.

  • D — James Langevin (incumbent): 31,472 votes, 70.1 percent

  • D — Dylan Conley: 13,404 votes, 29.9 percent

  • R — Robert Lancia: 7,460 votes, 73.5 percent

  • R — Donald Robbio: 2,695 votes, 26.7 percent

When it came to State House races, incumbents on the whole held commanding leads on election night, outstripping challengers in Senate District 37 and House of Representatives districts 34, 72 and 35. In Providence's House District 3, Moira Walsh conceded to Nathan Biah on Tuesday night.

Contested Patch town house and senate race results are below. Incumbents are marked with an (i), and (RIPC) denotes that the candidate is supported by the Rhode Island Political Cooperative.

State Senate District 37 (South Kingstown, Block Island)

  • (i) Virginia Sosnowski — 2,507 votes, 60.6%

  • Maggie Kain (RIPC) — 1,633 votes, 39.4%

State House District 3 (Providence)

  • Nathan W. Biah — 476 votes, 65%

  • (i) Moira J. Walsh — 256 votes, 35%

State House District 27 (Coventry)

  • (i) Patricia Serpa — 920 votes, 70.1%

  • Nicholas Delmenico (RIPC) — 393 votes, 29.9%

State House District 71 (Portsmouth, Little Compton, Tiverton)

  • Michelle McGaw (RIPC)— 1,230 votes, 79.8%

  • (i) John Edwards V— 311 votes, 20.2%

State House District 34 (Narragansett, South Kingstown)

  • (i) Teresa Tanzi — 1,564 votes, 70.9%

  • Gina Giramma — 642 votes, 29.1%

State House District 72 (Portsmouth, Middletown)

  • (i) Terri-Denise Cortvriend — 1,193 votes, 80.7%

  • Christopher Semonelli — 285 votes, 19.3%

State House District 35 (South Kingstown)

  • (i) Kathleen Fogarty — 1,174 votes, 75.6%

  • Spencer Dickinson — 378 votes, 24.4%

Patch editor Neal McNamara contributed to this report.

Correction: a previous version of this article incorrectly listed the results for House District 71.

This article originally appeared on the Cranston Patch