RI's congressional candidates took part in first in-person forum Monday night. What they said.

EAST PROVIDENCE – All but one of the Democratic congressional candidates taking turns at the microphone Monday night at the first in-person forum of the season agreed on term limits, Medicare for all, some version of a Green New Deal and the travesty of U.S. Supreme Court decisions on abortion rights and affirmative action.

Some are well-known names, others not. Some have legislative track records, others not.

But they each had at least one moment that either set them apart or simply made the audience smile, nod in agreement or stifle a groan at the Weaver Library in a forum hosted by the Rhode Island Democratic Women's Caucus.

And for Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos, the livestreamed forum provided 75 minutes in public without a single mention of the fake-signature controversy that erupted around her last week. (The moderator, the Rev. Donnie Anderson, told the candidates ahead of time that this would be "a forum, not a debate," and their microphones would be cut off if they so much as named another candidate.)

The candidates who took part included Gabe Amo, Stephanie Beauté, Walter Berbrick, Sandra Cano, Don Carlson, Spencer Dickinson, John Goncalves, Sabina Matos, Ana Quezada and Aaron Regunberg.

What did the candidates say?

Dickinson, a onetime state legislator, stood apart as the one candidate saying "every abortion is a tragedy" (while the others backed "bodily autonomy" for women), and term limits are "not going to solve any of your problems," though he recalled how new leadership ushered in a run of reforms when he was at the Rhode Island State House in the 1970s.

A relative political newcomer, Beauté, a Black woman, opted to turn a question from the moderator about the candidates' views on "the role of affirmative action in addressing historical disparities'' into a test of who walks the walk.

"I've heard a lot about [educational opportunities] and ... equity and inclusion, and I've heard a little bit of blame on the Republican side, when this is a person issue. It's not a party issue. It's a person issue and I think we need to be honest about that.

"We don't have equity in the current seat,'' she said of the opening created by the mid-term resignation of U.S. Rep. David Cicilline. "The essence of affirmative action would say that any one of these candidates that's already checked that box would support another candidate of color."

Providence City Councilman Goncalves, a Black man, called "the Supreme Court ruling absolutely despicable" and said, "You know what? It's my story. Growing up in the city of Providence, it was [Cicilline] who helped me get into the gifted program in the Nathanael Greene Middle School ... which allowed me to go to Wheeler and eventually allowed me to go to Brown."

Several of the candidates revealed a bit about themselves − or at least, how they hope to be seen − when asked their favorite fictional character. Among their answers:

Amo, a former Raimondo-era staffer who last worked in the Biden White House, said "Josh Lyman," the character played by Bradley Whitford on the television series "The West Wing."

State Sen. Cano, of Pawtucket, said "Wonder Woman."

Goncalves, an elementary school teacher, said he had to say "'Harry Potter' or my 4th graders will kill me."

And Carlson, a Yale professor, investor and legislative director to former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy of Massachusetts, said "I'll go with Tom Sawyer because he was clever enough to let other people have things his way."

How they tried to distinguish themselves

"This might be a good moment to talk about how Congress works. I'm the only one on this panel who has worked in the House of Representatives, which is the job we are interviewing for today," said Carlson, in his turn to answer a question about potential actions to thwart climate change. "And the way Congress works, the majority party rules.

"Right now, we don't have a majority so, yes, a high priority is for Democrats to take back the majority and maybe we can implement some of these dreamy ideas ... but first get to work sending money into Rhode Island to build resiliency ... infrastructure, and to build [renewable] jobs."

Former Naval War College Prof. Walter Berbrick got to introduce himself and his shared views on the "existential threat" of climate change, a woman's right to choose what's right for her body and the need for some form of guaranteed health care.

Aaron Regunberg, the former legislator who nearly beat then-Lieutenant Governor − and current Governor − Dan McKee in 2018, recounted his wins at the State House including paid sick leave, and his thwarted attempts to enact "Medicare for all," and his reasons for running: "I've got a 2-year-old at home and I worry about the future."

For the candidates currently in office − Matos, the state's current lieutenant governor, and state Senators Cano and Quezada − the forum provided an opportunity to talk about their own experiences immigrating to America, learning a new language and going to school to better themselves.

"From the welfare office to the state office ... from the factory floor to the Senate floor," said Quezada. "I'm a woman who went to the State House to pass the minimum wage, as somebody who passed the 'Doula' for women to have when they [are] having a baby ... I passed legislation for women to have the right to choose."

Matos also talked about how far she's come.

"I came to this country when I was 20 years old. I came from the Dominican Republic. When I came here, I did not speak the language," said Matos, who subsequently rose to president of the Providence City Council before McKee chose her to replace him as lieutenant governor when he moved up, mid-term. (She subsequently won the 2022 election for the office.)

Cano hailed herself as the only candidate with "the experience from the local level to the state level" − including stints on the Pawtucket School Committee and City Council before her election to the state Senate − to go to Washington. She too listed bills she espoused, from "right to choose" to gun-safety laws to Medicaid coverage for all children.

The forum was livestreamed on the group's Facebook page.

More on the candidates: There are a lot of CD1 candidates. Where do they stand on the issues? Here's what we found.

Two candidates did not take part

The two not taking part were Rep. Stephen Casey and Republican-turned-Democratic candidate Allen Waters. All were invited, according to Anderson.

Waters sent the caucus an open letter on June 12 that said he would not participate in the forum because "I do not recognize Reverend Donnie Anderson, a biological male, as a woman ... As a dedicated father of two beloved, Black teenage daughters, I do not want biological males to compete with them as women in traditional biological female spaces."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Where do RI's CD1 candidates stand on issues? Candidates attend forum.