Voter unrest, open seats spark deluge of candidates for RI General Assembly

Correction: The Rev. Donnie Anderson, a Democratic candidate for state Senate, is retired as executive minister of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches; the current executive minister is the Rev. Chontell Washington. An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Anderson was still executive minister. 

PROVIDENCE — The mother of a 21-year-old killed in a drive-by shooting.

The leader of the Rhode Island chapter of the anti-gun group Moms Demand Action. A transgender abortion-rights activist.

The president of the Warwick firefighters union.

And a former state senator from Johnston who went to federal prison for bank fraud.

The five are among the hundreds who have filed paperwork to run for state legislative seats in a year raw with emotion after mass shootings, high-controversy legislative gun-control moves and the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision provoked high-pitched controversies at the State House.

A challenging year

The grueling year also led three top-ranked legislators to opt out of running for reelection, including Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey and the House and Senate Minority Leaders, Blake Filippi and Dennis Algiere, respectively.

On Thursday, on the mornng after filing to run,  Sen. Stephen Archambault confirmed rumors that he is not running for re-election.

His explanation: I lost three older dogs in the past few months. Those dogs were like our children, and it has been a very difficult time for me and my family. That certainly impacted my decision. Ultimately, I decided that time is too fleeting, and quality family moments too precious. I need to spend more quality time with my family and find other ways to give back to my community.”

Democrat Archambault has not yet publicly endorsed anyone to replace him, but those running include Smithfield Councilman - and former R.I.State Police Trooper - David Tikoian. Past primary challenger Melanie Dupont is also runnng again for the seat, as is Republican Paul Santucci. ,

Others  face opposing candidates for the first time in years and, in House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi's case, for the first time since he first ran for a legislative seat in Warwick in 2012.

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio is being challenged by progressive Lenny Cioe, a  nurse at the Blackstone Valley Community Health Center who came within 341 votes of beating him in his Providence-North Providence Senate district in 2020, and also by former Capitol Police Chief Stephen Tocco. (An earlier version of this story said Cioe was still working at Fatima Hospital.)

The candidate filing deadline was 4 p.m. Wednesday, and it appears at least 15 incumbents in the 75-member House are running unopposed – and there is only one candidate (Democrat Alex Finkelman) for the seat Jamestown Democrat Deborah Ruggiero is leaving to run for lieutenant governor.

On the Senate side, it appears only three of 38 seats are going unchallenged.

Put another way: many fewer incumbents are going unopposed than in past years, and there is a big uptick in Republican candidates: And the online list - with more than 280 names - is not yet final.

Election 2022 Updates: The latest news in the highest-profile races in Rhode Island

The City of Newport is still fighting a computer virus that led the secretary of state to cut it off from the state-run election system, including the Central Voter Registration System, in mid-June. So there have been some delays.

Races to watch

But here's a look at some of the races, and candidates, worth watching:

• Shekarchi is facing challenges from Republican Dana James Traversie and fellow Democrat Jacqueline M. Anderson.

• Diana Garlington, who lost her daughter Esscence Christal in a shooting on Broad Street in Providence in 2011 – and has since emerged as a fervent advocate for gun-control efforts at the State House – is one of at least a half-dozen Democrats running for Rep. Marcia Ranglin-Vassell's open Providence seat.

The others are independents Stacey Jana Caoizzano and Corey Vecchiarino and Democrats Albert Forte, Raphael Olawale Okelola, Raymond Harold McCauley, Steven Carrera, Torlo Kormasa Amos and Anthony DeSimone.

(Ranglin-Vassell – who beat then-House Majority Leader John DeSimone in 2016 – is not seeking reelection.)

• Democrat Jennifer Boylan, the volunteer leader of the Rhode Island chapter of Moms Demand Action, and Republican Steven E. Santos are competing for Rep. Liana Cassar's open Barrington-East Providence seat.

Cassar, the lead sponsor of legislation to repeal the ban on abortion coverage for state employees and Medicaid recipients, is not running for reelection.

Santos opposes taxpayer-funded abortions.

• Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin is facing a Democratic primary challenge from Dthe Rev. Donnie Anderson, retired executive minister of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, who has proudly recounted her transition to a woman.

• Former Sen. Christopher B. Maselli, who pleaded guilty in 2010 to filing false applications for $1.7 million in mortgage loans between 2007 and 2009 to buy four properties and a Lexus, is challenging Sen. Frank Lombardo, a fellow Democrat in Johnston.

Maselli has since written a book about his experience in prison and had his law license restored.

In a statement issued on Wednesday night, he "acknowledged that, when he was previously in elected office, he made mistakes and would have to earn back the trust of Johnston voters."

• Former Sen. Gregory Acciardo – who has also had legal troubles – is also seeking a comeback, running as an independent against incumbent Democrat Bridget Valverde in East Greenwich.

• Warring Cranston Democrats Charlene Lima and Brandon Potter are both facing challengers.

Lima suspects, but has no proof, that Potter had a hand in recruiting her first primary challenger in House District 14: Giona Picheco, a 32-year-old transgender woman who describes herself as an engineering tech, Navy veteran and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. A second Democrat has also filed to run against her: Shawndell Burney-Speaks.

Lima, the deputy House speaker, took out a newspaper ad seeking opponents to run against Potter.

In the "candidates wanted" ad that appeared in the Cranston Herald, she asked: "Are you against schools teaching sex for pleasure in 6th grade?  Are you against defunding our police ... Are you angry they cut up your neighborhood [in redistricting] to protect local politicians?"

Potter faces a Republican, Jason John Klas, and a Democratic primary challenge in House District 16 from Natalya (Natasha) DelSanto, the owner of a grocery store specializing in Russian and Ukrainian items who echoed Lima's talking points in her candidate announcement.

"Sexual morals of any proclivity are taught in our school’s classrooms even in the 5th and 6th grades," the announcement says. "Parents being told they should have no say in what our schools are instructing their children. Indoctrination of children was and is a common practice in Russia."

Did Lima's newspaper ad convince her to run?

"I never saw the ad. Rep. Lima does come into my store and we have several mutual friends," Delsanto told The Journal in an email. "We have had many conversations on the problems we are facing as a society today."

But "my decision to run for office stems from my experiences in Russia that allows me to see the destructive path, both socially and economically, that our country seems to be traveling," she said. "So the decision to run was my own. I listened to everyone, but the final decision was my own and influenced by no one."

• Elsewhere in Cranston, Republican Rep. Barbara Fenton-Fung, the wife of congressional candidate and former Mayor Allan Fung, is facing a GOP primary challenge from Suzanne Michelle Downing.

"Clearly not a Republican," wrote Downing, in an opinion piece about Fenton-Fung that ran in the Cranston Herald in April 2021 after Fenton-Fung broke ranks with her fellow legislative Republicans to vote for the Act on Climate.

Explaining her vote on the timetable to reduce reliance on fossil fuels in an on-air interview with The Public's Radio, Fenton-Fung said: "You know, it's interesting, I was the only Republican in the House to vote for the Act on Climate. ... I look at a big picture. ... What is our vision for the next 20 and 30 years? And we know we're going to move towards more towards a more green economy."

Fenton-Fung, of course, was the House District 15 Republican who ousted then-House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello from his home district seat in 2020.

Little is known so far about the politics of Michael Carreiro, the president of the Warwick firefighters union, who is one of four candidates so far to file to run for outgoing Majority Leader McCaffrey's Senate District 29 seat.

Carreiro will face Jennifer Rourke, the co-chair of the Rhode Island Political Cooperative, in the Democratic primary. Anthony DeLuca will face Christopher Barker in the Republican primary.

Meanwhile, a number of former legislators are seeking comebacks, including former Rep. Joseph Almeida, who filed paperwork to challenge freshman Sen. Tiara Mack, a fellow Democrat. Republican Adriana Bonilla is also running for the Providence seat,

All of these faceoffs are dependent on the candidates' turning in their nominating papers with the required number of signatures by July 15.

With reports from Patrick Anderson

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Who's running for RI General Assembly in 2022 election