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My weekly “One on One” interviews are now available as an Apple podcast. As Rhode Island approaches the general election, you won’t want to miss in-depth interviews with candidates in some of the most consequential races. Plus this week we dropped the full forum during which I quizzed two top candidates on what they want to do if they’re elected governor. Please consider following the feed!
1. STORY OF THE WEEK
Timing is a big part of electoral politics. So is math – candidates’ ability to add or deduct support and the composition of the field in any given race. The two-way matchup in the September Democratic primary between Gov. Dan McKee and Helena Foulkes worked to Foulkes’ advantage, just as the array of five candidates in the 2022 primary gave McKee an edge.
To bring things into the present, independent candidate Ken Block this week released a poll suggesting he could beat Foulkes if Republican Aaron Guckian dropped out of the race. The poll showed Guckian’s level of support at 19%. “Mr. Guckian can be a true leader by shifting his support and encouraging voters to vote for Block,” Arlene Violet, who disclosed her longtime friendship with Block, wrote in a column for GoLocalProv. Ashley Kalus, the 2022 GOP candidate for governor, is a Block fan, too, and she continues to criticize Guckian via X. RI GOP Chairman Allyn Meyers told me he shares the concern about Block and Guckian splitting the vote, but said it’s up to Guckian to make his own choices about his campaign.
For his part, Guckian reiterated Friday that he’s committed to staying in the race. “The last few weeks have not been easy,” he said in a statement after an attempt to chase Trump support in Florida. “We went through a recount. We had a very short turnaround. But I came out of that process more determined than ever to represent the Republican Party and, more importantly, to fight for Rhode Islanders who are tired of watching the same problems get worse.” Playing on his statuesque 6’7” frame, the East Greenwich Republican added, “We need to think bigger than we have been thinking. Rhode Island needs a giant voice for common sense.”
But there are only 32 days until the general election ends Nov. 3 – and the Rhode Island GOP hasn’t won a statewide race in 20 years.
Foulkes’ momentum after her big primary win is being amplified by such allies as EMILY’s List and the Democratic Governors Association. She appears focused on avoiding unforced errors. She was on the mic this week at a forum I hosted (see No. 3), and TV debates are coming up on WJAR on Oct. 6 and on WPRI on Oct. 20.
Guckian’s effort to gain backing from the Trump crowd could step on his self-description as being a bit distanced from MAGA. And while Block is an articulate, energetic advocate for his campaign, the focus this week on the shape of the field is boosting Guckian’s name recognition.
2. UNDER THE RADAR
The November general election could usher in a new era and higher profile for women in Rhode Island politics. If Helena Foulkes, Sabina Matos, and Kim Ahern each win their respective races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, it will mark the first time that women have held three of the state’s five general offices. The fact that this hasn’t been widely discussed or sparked more visible bits of chauvinism suggests a certain maturation in our politics.
At the General Assembly, the number of women lawmakers has climbed since 2013, when they held just 30 of 113 seats. As of the 2025 session, women represented 30 of 75 seats, or 40% of the chamber, in the House of Representatives. Women represented 17 of 38 seats, just under 45%, in the Senate. The number of GOP women in the legislature has doubled, to four, since 2013. A smart observer once noted how women usually win when they run for public office in Rhode Island. Maybe the RI GOP should take a note on that, given that five of the first six women elected statewide in Rhode Island, led by the late Susan Farmer, were Republicans
3. AT THE FORUM
We covered a wide array of issues, from affordability and the state budget to domestic violence, artificial intelligence, Flock cameras and more, during a candidate forum featuring independent Ken Block and Democrat Helena Foulkes at Roger Williams University Law School on Wednesday. Republican Aaron Guckian agreed to participate but withdrew on the day of the event because of his fundraising trip to Florida. The event was sponsored by the Women’s Fund of RI and the League of Women Voters Rhode Island, and yours truly was the moderator.
You can listen to the full audio for the forum via a link in coverage by my colleague Jeremy Bernfeld. Thanks, too, for coverage by Kathy Gregg in the ProJo, Nancy Lavin in the Rhode Island Current, and Lauren Brill on WPRI.
4. THE MORE THINGS CHANGE
When Ryan Pearson challenged Val Lawson for the Rhode Island Senate presidency in April 2025, the big electronic boards on both sides of the chamber listing the names of the senators made the outcome easy to predict. Lawson won the presidency with overwhelming support – 24 to 8 – and socially conservative Democrats in the Senate assured her victory.
Two things make this particularly noteworthy:
1) The center of gravity remains largely unchanged in the Senate even though a TGIF analysis shows that a whopping 79% of the chamber turned over during the 10 years from 2015-2016 to 2025-26.
2) The continued predominance of centrist and socially conservative Democrats in the Senate stands in sharp contrast to how the RI House of Representatives has moved in a more progressive direction over the same period, as I reported in the lead item in last week’s column.
Just eight incumbent senators remain from 2015-16. Here’s a look at how the other seats have changed during that time.
- From Edward O’Neill to Sen. Thomas Paolino (R-Lincoln), first elected in 2016.
- From Juan Pichardo to Sen. Ana Quezada (D-Providence), first elected in 2016.
- From Teresa Paiva Weed to Sen. Dawn Euer (D-Newport), first elected in 2017.
- From Mark Cote to Sen. Melissa Murray (D-Woonsocket), first elected in 2018.
- From Dan Da Ponte to Senate President Val Lawson (D-East Providence), first elected in 2018.
- From Paul Fogarty (D) to RI Senate GOP Leader Jessica de la Cruz (R-North Smithfield), first elected in 2018.
- From Mark Gee (R) to Sen. Bridget Valverde (D-North Kingstown), first elected in 2018.
- From Paul Jabour to Sen. Sam Bell (D-Providence), first elected in 2018.
- From Nicholas Kettle to Senate GOP Whip Gordon Rogers (R-Foster), first elected in 2018.
- From William Walaska to Sen. Mark McKenney (D-Warwick), first elected in 2018, defeated in 2020, and re-elected in 2022.
- From Elizabeth Crowley to Jonathon Acosta (D-Central Falls), first elected in 2020.
- From Harold Metts to Sen. Tiara Mack (D-Providence), first elected in 2020.
- From Donna Nesselbush to Sen. Meghan Kallman (D-Pawtucket), first elected in 2020.
- From Adam Satchell to Sen. John Burke (D-West Warwick), first elected in 2020.
- From James Sheehan to Sen. Alana DiMario (D-Narragansett), first elected in 2020.
- From Gayle Goldin to Sam Zurier (D-Providence), first elected in 2021.
- From Dennis Algiere (R) to Sen. Victoria Gu (D-Charlestown), first elected in 2022.
- From Stephen Archambault to Democratic Whip David Tikoian, (D-Smithfield), first elected in 2022
- From Billy Conley to Sen. Robert Britto (D-East Providence), first elected in 2022.
- From Erin Lynch Prata to Sen. Judiciary Chair Matthew LaMountain (D-Warwick), first elected in 2022.
- From Cynthia Coyne to Sen. Pamela Lauria (D-Barrington), first elected in 2022.
- From Christopher Ottiano (R) to Sen. Linda Ujifusa (D-Portsmouth), first elected in 2022.
- From Maryellen Goodwin to Sen. Jake Bissaillon (D-Providence), first elected in 2023.
- From Jamie Doyle to Sen. Lori Urso (D-Pawtucket), first elected in 2024.
- From Frank Lombardi to Sen. Todd Patalano (D-Cranston), first elected in 2024.
- From Josh Miller to Sen. Lammis Vargas (D-Cranston), first elected in 2024.
- From Michael McCaffrey to Sen. Peter Appollonio Jr. (D-Warwick), first elected in 2024.
- From Roger Picard to Sen. Brian Thompson (D-Woonsocket), first elected in 2024.
- From Frank Lombardo III to Sen. Andrew Dimitri (D-Johnston), first elected in 2025
- From Domenick Ruggerio to Sen. Stefano Famiglietti (D-North Providence), first elected in 2025.
Of course, the Rhode Island Political Cooperative shocked the establishment by targeting the Senate and winning a number of seats in 2020. And there has been a shift over time from Republicans to progressive Democrats (Sens. Gu, Valverde and Ujfusa), and from conservative or centrist Dems to progressives (Sens. Lauria, Euer, DiMario, Bell and Mack). But Senate leadership struck back in 2022; the Co-op has faded away; the addition of Sens. Patalano, Appollonio and Dimitri buttressed the social conservatives; and changes in various districts over time have largely replicated the existing views in the chamber.
5. GENERAL MATTERS
Democrat Kim Ahern is the favorite in the race to become Rhode Island’s next attorney general. She faces Republican Alan Gordon, who previously ran for AG as a Compassion Party candidate. Ahern joined me on One on One this week to discuss her priorities, open records, her record at the Cannabis Control Commission and more. One case bound to land on Ahern’s desk, if she wins in November, is the state’s lawsuit over the failure of the Washington Bridge. While the vast majority of civil suits are settled out of court, she declined to say if that is likely, citing how she hasn’t worked at the AG’s office since 2019.
6. FALLING BEHIND I
Rhode Island House Republicans this week unveiled a 17-page online report about the 2026 session. The document said it examined what was passed by Democrats, the cost, and the alternative proposed by Republicans. According to the summary, “In the 2026 session of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the Democratic supermajority had the power to make the state more affordable, more accountable, and easier to live in. Too often, they chose a different path: higher spending, new taxes and fees, expanded mandates, and policies that will make life more expensive for families, seniors, small businesses, and taxpayers. Supporters described these measures as progress. House Republicans asked the harder questions: What will they cost? Who will pay? And will they actually solve the problem?”
7. FALLING BEHIND II
Nonprofits around the state are seeing a spike in demand for food, housing and health assistance, but the federal funding they have relied on to provide this help is drying up, as my colleague Paul Singer reports: “In June 2024, 3,500 people called the Rhode Island 211 helpline, the free phone line that connects people to organizations that can help them with urgent needs like housing, meals and energy bills. In June 2025, 211 again received about 3,500 calls. But this June, 6,169 people called the 211 helpline — the highest monthly number in years. Through August, every month of 2026 so far has seen more calls to 2-1-1 than the same months in 2024 or 2025, according to data provided by United Way. The numbers starkly confirm the story told by service providers around the Ocean State: The demand for social services is skyrocketing as more and more people discover they can no longer afford to live in Rhode Island.”
8. RI POLI-MEDIA PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
Kudos and congrats to Nancy Cook, the better half of ProJo alum/NYT reporter Christopher Rowland and a former reporter for us when we were known as WRNI, on her move to the Washington Post …. House Speaker Chris Blazejewski announced this week the addition of Michael W. Field and Jason Natareno to his legal team. Field, a veteran of the AG’s office, was most recently senior judicial law clerk to Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg. Natareno was a law clerk to Justice Erin Lynch Prata, and he served in the McKee and Raimondo administrations …. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, whose two wins as a Democrat in a red state were piloted by Foulkes’ Louisville-based strategist Eric Hyers, has a new book, as chatter continues about him as a possible presidential candidate in 2028 …. Allison Bittl and Arthur T. DeFelice have joined the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office in Rhode Island.
9. HEALTHCARE BLUES
** Ahead of pending and more widespread federal changes to Medicaid, about 9,000 non-U.S. citizens in Rhode Island were expected to lose their healthcare this week. Erin Fuse Brown, a professor of health policy at Brown University’s School of Public Health, told my colleague Luis Hernandez that many of those affected “are refugees or asylees or victims of domestic abuse or trafficking …. And what happens to the healthcare system when all these people are uninsured is that they still need healthcare, and when they show up to the emergency department, they're not going to be able to pay those bills.”
** Attorney General Peter Neronha criticized how the Office of Health Insurance Commissioner approved final average rate increases of nearly 5% for Blue Cross Blue Shield and nearly 16% for Neighborhood Health Plan of RI for plans sold in the individual market: “While these increases are slightly lower than those sought by the insurers,” Neronha said in a statement, “they remain unsustainable for Rhode Islanders struggling to afford basic goods like food, housing, and energy – all of which are more expensive than ever. Rhode Islanders deserve better than a system that consistently requires consumers to shoulder the financial burden of policy shortcomings while insurers enjoy their ever-increasing profits. Rhode Islanders deserve innovative strategies to provide accessible, affordable, and high-quality care for all, and the only way to achieve this is through bold, collaborative reform of our health care system.”
10. CHANGE IN PAWTUCKET
Adam Greenman, who has a clear path to be the next mayor of Pawtucket, unveiled details this week about his transition committee. Neil Steinberg will lead the effort, aided by Jillian Arkles, his deputy campaign manager, and Alan Tenreiro, president of Mount Saint Charles Academy in Woonsocket. According to Greenman’s team, the committee “will conduct deep operational reviews, identify talent for city boards and departments and set measurable benchmarks across 12 strategic subcommittees” encompassing such areas as education, public safety, housing, fiscal stability and commerce and economic development. You can listen here to my recent interview with Greenman about how he’s preparing to be mayor. In related news, the Pawtucket City Council is slated to hold its first meeting Wednesday in the Pawtucket Municipal Annex at 100 Freight St. According to a spokesman for the city, the availability of the annex will offer more time to assess the condition and needs of City Hall, which needs considerable repairs.
11. KICKER
How could the Red Sox look like the world’s greatest baseball team, going 32-5 for part of the summer, collectively raising the spirits of many New Englanders, only to more closely resemble a bag of wet kittens during their fast ejection from the post-season? Life – and baseball – are full of mystery. For most of the season, though, it was clear the 2026 Sox had significant holes. Our attention turns now to reading Bart Giamatti’s wonderful ode to the green fields of the mind – and yearning for better things next year.
Editor’s note: This column has been updated with a comment from RI GOP Chairman Allyn Meyers.
