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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. Please consider following the feed!
1. STORY OF THE WEEK
Will Rhode Island voters’ desire for change carry from the primary to the general election on Nov. 3? That’s the overarching question with a bit more than two weeks to go.
Democrat Helena Foulkes remains the frontrunner in the race for governor, and various allies will lend a push to incumbent Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos as she tries to close the deal on a second term. But a WPRI-TV/Emerson College poll out this week raised the possibility of upsets in the two top-tier state races. It showed independent Ken Block nine points behind Foulkes – considerably closer than indicated in his own poll in September. Republican LG challenger John Loughlin was one point ahead of Matos (more about this matchup in item #3). On some level, these findings are not surprising. Voters are frustrated about the high cost of living, Democrats have long ruled the state, Block has built his reformer image for many years, and Loughlin is a good talker with better-than-average recognition.
Block’s favorability ranks higher than that of Foulkes; as WPRI analyst Joe Fleming noted, the Barrington independent might want to send Gov. Dan McKee a fruit basket as thanks for raising Foulkes’ negatives through months of attack ads during the primary.
But Democrats, including past supporters of McKee, have closed ranks around Foulkes – and they’re going all out to get her over the finish line. Two cases in point: a Wednesday fundraiser at Capriccio hosted by real estate titan Jerry Sahagian brought in more than $30,000. On Wednesday, former Gov. Gina Raimondo and Mass. Gov. Maura Healey are co-hosting a Boston fundraiser for Foulkes and Maine candidate for governor Hannah Pingree. Meanwhile, the RI Democratic Party and the Democratic Governors Association are criticizing Block on issues including the Affordable Care Act and RI’s new surtax on income over $1 million, suggesting he’s a Republican in independent clothing. Block has countered with new ads touting his credentials as a defender of democracy and calling on Rhode Islanders to vote for a different choice if they want different results on key issues. Updated campaign finance reports are due Oct. 27, and that will shed light on the top two candidates’ ability to go head-to-head in the TV air war over the home stretch of the campaign.
A key event looms at 7 p.m. Tuesday, when WPRI hosts a debate with the top three candidates.
Republican Aaron Guckian continues to lag behind in the race. His support was at 10% in the WPRI-Emerson poll. In a statement Friday, Guckian reiterated that he is not leaving the race and called for more scrutiny of Foulkes on issues, including her work at CVS at the height of the opioid crisis.
2. OPIOID SETTLEMENT
For Foulkes, the timing of a $315 million settlement by CVS this week with the U.S. Justice Department renewed the issue in the waning weeks of the campaign.
“Not only does this settlement hold bad actors accountable for their fraudulent activities, but Americans are safer because of it,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement.
CVS did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement, and it disagreed with the government’s allegations. In a statement, Foulkes’ spokeswoman Angelika Pellegrino said that as president of CVS Pharmacy, “Helena took on the opioid crisis and reduced opioid dispensing by nearly 40 percent by cutting off more than 600 pill mill doctors and running the biggest drug take-back program in the country. She hopes the resources from (this week’s) settlement will go to supporting families who have been affected by this crisis.”
In his own statement, Block called for Foulkes to provide more details: “Rhode Islanders deserve more than a short statement from her campaign spokesperson. The federal complaint says, among other things, that pharmacists faced pressure to fill prescriptions and CVS failed to respond adequately to warnings. Given the devastating toll of the opioid crisis on families across Rhode Island, she owes the public more transparency and it should come directly from her.”
3. THE FIGHT FOR LG
It has been a long time – 20 years – since a Republican was elected statewide in Rhode Island. That fact alone could put wind in the sails of GOP candidate for lieutenant governor John Loughlin. He served as a state rep, made a competitive run in CD1 in 2010, boosted his recognition as a weekend host on WPRO and claims some pride of authorship for the state’s emerging office of inspector general, since he proposed the concept shortly before House Speaker Chris Blazejewski embraced it. But Loughlin had a modest $22,813 campaign balance as of the last filing, depriving him of the resources to push his case more aggressively through TV advertising. With a $43,000 balance, Democratic incumbent Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos isn’t a fundraising powerhouse, but she seems likely to get support from such groups as the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association down the stretch. Both candidates joined me this week on One on One. Loughlin said he would make the LG’s office more muscular on behalf of Rhode Islanders, while Matos touted her connection with communities across the state.
4. INDEPENDENTS’ DAY
Most voters in Rhode Island (and Massachusetts) are independents. But the lack of party infrastructure (and fundraising) can pose a challenge for independent candidates like Ken Block. Writing recently in the New York Times, emeritus professor at University of California Berkeley David Kirp argued that the time is right for a movement of independents. “Politicians on both sides of the aisle have reached the same conclusion: The two-party structure is broken,” Kirp wrote. He acknowledged, though, that “while a third party is attractive in principle, it isn’t going to fly anytime soon. Our political system, with its winner-take-all rule and crazy-quilt requirements for getting on the ballot, makes it nearly impossible to be more than just a spoiler.”
5. TALE OF TWO PARTIES
John Loughlin is the RI GOP’s big hope this election season, but the outlook appears less promising in other state and federal races. Compare that with the energy propelling the left flank of the Democratic Party in Providence, where David Morales is likely to be the next mayor and another Democratic socialist, Miguel Sanchez, appears on track to be council president. For a dissection of how this happened, listen to Daniel Denvir’s lengthy podcast with Morales’ campaign manager, Ben Shanahan. As Shanahan explains it, he was initially skeptical about Morales’ chances to unseat an incumbent. His perspective changed after discovering how Providence’s electorate was young, heavily composed of renters, struggling with the cost of living, and capable of expanding the vote. At the same time, the housing activist group Reclaim RI, of which Denvir is a leader, promoted a like-minded slate of City Council candidates, making for a symbiotic approach to changing local governance.
6. HEALTHCARE
With ongoing uncertainty about the fate of Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence, Richard Charest is shifting to CEO of their parent organization, CharterCARE Health of RI, from his previous role as secretary of the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services. Charest will succeed Jeffrey Liebman, whose retirement is effective Nov. 1. Attorney General Peter Neronha was sharply critical of Charest last December when Charest, a former head of Landmark Hospital in Woonsocket, helped elicit potential interest in buying the troubled CharterCARE hospitals by Landmark’s parent, California-based Prime Healthcare. “I don’t think I’ve even seen in my 30 years of public service a situation where a public servant is quoted in a press release by a private party when it is a yet-to-be-concluded transaction,” Neronha said at the time. “It is remarkable and I think it tells us everything we need to know.” EOHHS spokesman Ashley G. O’Shea defended Charest, saying in part that talks with Prime “centered upon contingency planning to protect these hospitals and were not negotiations with Prime attorneys or principals.”
7. PAWTUCKET
One of the top challenges for Adam Greenman when he takes office as mayor is finding a new use for a venerable office complex. Nearly 600 workers at Pawtucket-based Hasbro must report to work in Boston in January or lose their jobs, according to a notice filed with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, via my colleague Joe Tasca. The iconic toymaker, home of Mr. Potato Head, Monopoly, Nerf and Play-Doh, announced last year that it would move its longtime headquarters from Pawtucket to Boston’s Seaport District.
8. THE VIEW FROM DC
U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse were among 12 senators joining a letter calling on President Trump to cancel his deal to buy diesel from Russia. Excerpt: “Granting Moscow the ability to sell Russian diesel freely in global markets damages American security interests and is a betrayal of the people of Ukraine, who continue to defend themselves from Putin’s murderous, illegal war. This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded.”
9. HOMELESS IN WEST WARWICK
West Warwick banned homeless encampments, and there’s a shortage of nearby shelters, so the unhoused are left with few alternatives as winter approaches. Via my colleague Isabella Jibilian: “Roughly 40-60 people sleep outside in West Warwick, according to Katie Shappy, director of Transitional Services at Westbay Community Action, a local nonprofit that provides services to people experiencing homelessness and others in Kent County. That figure doesn’t include people couch surfing, sleeping in their cars, or those not in contact with an outreach organization, she explains. ‘I’m sure there’s more than we know,’ Shappy added. In Kent County, the homeless population is growing. Outreach workers for Thrive Behavioral Health, a nonprofit that provides mental healthcare, housing services, and other programs in Kent County, have seen their caseload double over the past year, to approximately 130 people. But despite this growth, Kent County has no year-round walk-in homeless shelters. And in West Warwick, camping on public property was banned in 2024. ‘You see people talking about, ’Not in my city, not in my neighborhood.’ And it's like, but then where? You know, where are people expected to go?’ said Kim French, an outreach worker at Thrive Behavioral Health.”
10. KICKER
Want to buy the lighthouse at Warwick Neck? The high bid has climbed past $1.1 million – too dear for the city to pay, as Mayor Frank Picozzi recently told the Warwick Neck Improvement Association. Bidding ends Nov. 18.
According to the U.S. General Services Administration, this is “an extraordinary opportunity to acquire the iconic Warwick Neck Lighthouse and its surrounding 1.3-acre estate via online public auction. Located on Warwick Neck Ave, a residential street, just a mile away from the Warwick Country Club, the neighborhood is full of New England history and charm. This waterfront property features the 51-foot-tall Warwick Neck Lighthouse, a beacon guiding mariners since 1827. The lighthouse is capped with its classic cast iron lantern and modern beacon. Alongside the lighthouse is a charming 1626 sf, two-story, four-bedroom, one and a half bathroom, single-family historic home which was once used as the Lighthouse keeper’s quarters, as well as an oversized two-car garage.”
