As Rhode Island’s primary election comes to a close on Wednesday, Democrats will pick a likely successor to state Attorney General Peter Neronha, who elevated the AG’s role during two terms as the state’s top prosecutor.
Polls show two frontrunners in the four-way Democratic race: Kim Ahern, who has a range of state government experience, and Keith Hoffmann, who most recently served as policy director in the AG’s office and is Neronha’s preferred successor.
Two outgoing state representatives are also in the hunt: Jason Knight of Barrington and Joseph Solomon Jr. of Warwick.
Polls also show that many voters remain undecided as voting nears its end.
Rhode Island and Delaware are the only two states without county-based district attorneys. In Rhode Island, the state attorney general’s office prosecutes all felony criminal cases and misdemeanor appeals.
Other functions of the AG’s office include defending civil rights, protecting the environment, fighting public corruption and protecting workers.
Neronha also joined fellow attorneys general in repeatedly suing the Trump administration, and he insisted on an escrow fund that helped preserve Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital.
The winner of the Democratic primary will be a heavy favorite heading into the November general election.
The Republican candidate for attorney general, Alan Gordon, had $25 in his campaign account as of his last filing. He was arrested by State Police in 2018 after police said they seized 48 pounds of marijuana at his West Greenwich home. The case was later dismissed. According to Gordon’s website, he has never taken the oath required for admission to the Rhode Island Bar.
The AG’s race moves into the spotlight
Although the race to succeed Neronha was slow to develop, the competition has grown more intense in recent weeks, as candidates make their cases to voters and air competing television ads.
Four polls in August, including one from WPRI/Emerson, showed Ahern leading the race. That finding showed Ahern with 24% of the backing, Hoffmann with 18%, Solomon at 14%, Knight at 9% and 35% undecided. A University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll in late August showed Hoffmann with 20% of the support, Ahern with 16%, Solomon with 12% and Knight with 7%.
If Ahern is elected, she would be the second woman – and the first woman Democrat – to be attorney general in Rhode Island.
She’s emphasized her work as a prosecutor under three separate AGs – Neronha, Peter Kilmartin and Patrick Lynch. Ahern also worked as an adviser to former Gov. Gina Raimondo and Gov. Dan McKee, and she most recently served as head of the state Cannabis Control Commission.
In one campaign message, Ahern’s team wrote: “Our message is simple: Kim is the only qualified candidate for the job.”
Hoffmann has raised his profile through a blitz of TV ads in which he vows to stand up to President Trump, protect access to healthcare, keep Rhode Island families safe and take on powerful corporations.
In a statement backing Hoffmann, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said, “I’m endorsing Keith for Rhode Island AG because he’s a fighter who has a strong track record of standing up to corporate interests and will always put working people first.”
During a WPRI debate, Hoffmann acknowledged he has not prosecuted major criminal cases. He cited Kilmartin as a former AG who came into the office without experience prosecuting criminal cases.
Hoffmann has criticized Ahern’s leadership of the Cannabis Control Commission, pointing to how no new pot shops have been licensed since marijuana was legalized in the state in 2022.
Ahern, who made almost $200,000 as Rhode Island’s top cannabis regulator, defended her tenure, as The Boston Globe reported, by saying she served as a firewall against special interests, lobbyists, and “know-a-guy corruption.”
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy endorsed Ahern, and Raimondo staged a fundraiser for her.
Neronha has stepped up his support for Hoffmann, campaigning with him and appearing in an ad. The candidate has been endorsed by groups including Climate Action RI.
Solomon was first elected as a state representative in 2014. With a somewhat more moderate, even conservative, profile than his three fellow candidates, Solomon has pointed to his experience as a prosecutor in the Warwick solicitor’s office and as a court-appointed bail commissioner for more than a decade.
“I’m not running for this job to learn on the fly,” Solomon said on his website. “I’m running because I already have the experience, the relationships and the track record to do the work from day one.”
Solomon has won endorsements from groups including the Rhode Island State Association of Fire Fighters and Rhode Island Deputy Sheriffs, Local 2409, Council 94, AFSCME.
Knight, a Navy veteran and former state prosecutor who now works as a criminal-defense lawyer, first won election to the House of Representatives in 2016.
“As attorney general, I will be the people’s lawyer,” Knight said on his website, “and use the power of my office to protect all Rhode Islanders from criminals – whether they are on a street corner, in a boardroom, or in the White House.
He is known for supporting a series of bills related to guns, including a 2015 law to ban the sale in Rhode Island of certain semiautomatic rifles commonly called assault weapons. Knight has been endorsed by groups including the Everytown for Gun Safety Fund and the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence.
