The best Halloween costumes are homemade and the chocolate and peanut butter oligopoly has few rivals for top treat. Thanks for stopping by. You can follow me through the week on Bluesky, Threads and X.
*** Want to get my column in your inbox every Friday? Sign up right here ***
My weekly “One on One” interviews are now available as an Apple podcast. As the Rhode Island general election races to a finish, you won’t want to miss in-depth interviews on key issues and top races. Please consider following the feed!
1. STORY OF THE WEEK
Will Rhode Island voters continue an era of Democratic rule in the governor’s office or go marching off in a decidedly different direction? That’s the overarching question as the 2026 election season races to a conclusion on Tuesday night.
Recent polls depicted Democrat Helena Foulkes as the frontrunner, with WPRI showing a double-digit lead for her among likely voters over independent Ken Block. But more than three weeks have passed since that poll was in the field, so it’s impossible to know how views may have shifted (or not) in the final stage of the race. Block is pressing his case as the would-be problem-solver-in-chief, while Foulkes remains the dominant power in the TV ad wars, with her campaign using a mix of spots to tout her as a change agent while trying to link Block’s past criticism of the Affordable Care Act with our unpopular president. Block staged a news conference outside the Statehouse this week to call out that linkage – and he outlined 17 different priorities that he said he would pursue in his first 100 days if elected. With Republican Aaron Guckian still struggling to gain traction in the race and many voters dissatisfied with the state’s direction, the question is, how much change do Rhode Islanders want – and what kind of change?
Either Block or Foulkes is certain to mark a sharp contrast from Gov. Dan McKee, who has led the state since 2021, losing support since the emergency closing of the Washington Bridge in December 2023. Both candidates are accomplished Ivy League graduates. Foulkes argues that her background in leadership at CVS Health, an $80 billion company based in our backyard, gives her the organizational chops to do a better job leading the state. Bolstered by momentum from a big primary win, she’s pledged a close focus on affordability and housing. Block, on his third run for the state’s top job, relishes his role as the outsider, asserting that his distance from politics as usual gives him greater capability as a change agent. What happens when the rubber meets the road in terms of their working relationship with the General Assembly is a story yet to be written.
There’s a bit of a 2010 feel to the final weeks of the race, in that Block would probably welcome more time to press his case – and election day can’t come soon enough for Foulkes. Sixteen years ago, Republican John Robitaille gained support as the campaign was closing; he wound up losing to Lincoln Chafee, an independent at the time, by just 2.5 points. The line at the time was that if the race had gone on for another week, the outcome would have been different.
2. SEEING RED IN RI POLITICS
With David Morales likely to win election as the next mayor of Providence, the influence of progressive politics in Rhode Island remains a broader subtext this election season. One person concerned about the outlook is state Rep. Gregory Costantino of Lincoln, a conservative Democrat, who used a letter sent on his legislative letterhead, obtained by TGIF, to explain why he’s supporting Rep. Paul Santucci (R-Smithfield) over Democratic challenger Suzy Alba. “I do not ordinarily get involved in elections outside my district,” Costantino wrote. “But I believe Smithfield and Glocester are at a crossroads, and this election is too important to remain silent.” Costantino added, “I am deeply concerned about Rhode Island’s direction under the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and the influence of leadership and political powerbrokers in Providence. Tax increases, high-density housing policies, and green energy mandates that put additional pressure on electricity costs raise serious questions about affordability, local control and our communities’ future.”
Alba spent 10 years on the Smithfield Town Council, including four years as president. She was repeatedly a top vote-getter in Smithfield. Those supporting her include U.S. Sen. Jack Reed. This is how Alba, who works as director of civic education for Secretary of State Gregg Amore, described her priorities on her campaign website: “I want (the) cost of living to be more affordable, stronger schools for our kids, and a state government that represents the people who elected it.”
3. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
With legislative races marked by a lack of competition, campaign-watchers are keeping an eye on a few House races:
Republican Jasmin Roy’s challenge to state Rep. Megan Cotter (D-Exeter); Democrat Edward Stravato’s run against freshman Rep. Richard Fascia (R-Johnston); and the three-way fight in District 15 in Cranston between incumbent Republican Rep. Chris Paplauskas, independent challenger Allan Fung, and Democrat Colleen Crudele.
Across the rotunda, voters could possibly elect the exact same senators who served in the previous term – an outcome that hasn’t happened since at least 1843, reports Patrick Anderson.
4. HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY I
Attorney General Peter Neronha has focused more attention on Rhode Island’s healthcare crisis than any other elected official in recent years. So with time running out on his tenure as AG, Neronha staged a lengthy and detailed news conference this week to offer his fix: replace the sprawling state Executive Office of Health and Human Services with two other offices that would oversee a series of sub-agencies. “There is a certain level of dysfunction in the way that our current healthcare regulatory scheme is organized,” Neronha said. He also called for the creation of a public insurance option, in part to cover the tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders facing the loss of Medicaid due to Trump administration cuts. It will take money and considerable political will to make these changes. Asked about that, Neronha said problems – financial strain for hospitals, a lack of primary care doctors and other staff, rising costs for healthcare, prescriptions and insurance – will only get worse unless the state takes action.
“The reality is that the system is broken and it’s coming to a head,” he said. Neronha said the day “is inevitably coming” when hospital systems will ask the General Assembly for the money to avoid service cuts or closure. “It is all manifesting itself in a way that I believe leaders in the next 12 to 18 months are not going to have a choice.”
**Neronha also joined me this week for a wide-ranging exit interview on One on One. We discussed healthcare and other aspects of his tenure, his support for Helena Foulkes, his outspokenness on social media and much more.
5. HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY II
In related news, Neronha met Thursday with management from CharterCARE, parent of Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, to discuss their strategic plan. The AG has long warned of the uncertain outlook for the hospitals – in an interview this week, he put their chance for survival at “maybe 50-50” – even with the acquisition of its parent by the Centurion Foundation.
CharterCARE spokesman Otis Brown said the talk with Neronha “included consistent positive progress with volume, actual cash collections and forecasted collections, recruitment of physicians and surgeons, acquisition of new equipment and technology, physical plant improvements, the arrival of a new ceo, and a tentative agreement with the union representing more than 1,100 employees across the system.”
Via statement, Neronha said, “CharterCARE demonstrated concrete progress with respect to the implementation of their initiatives to turn these hospitals around. That said, this office, the governor, and other state leaders will need to remain vigilant over the coming months. We will continue to closely monitor their financials and press for a robust strategic plan, which we have not yet approved.”
6. COSTCO
Is the possibility of Costco coming to Smithfield more of a fanciful election-year concept than anything else? FWIW, the possibility of Costco coming to northern Rhode Island is concerning to Nicholas Fede Jr., executive director of the Rhode Island Liquor Operators Collaborative, who told GoLocalProv he sees the company as a threat to small business. That’s because the superstore uses the availability of beer and wine less for sales and more to get customers in the building. And while liquor licenses are a scarce community statewide, a bill that became law in 2020 gave Smithfield the ability to award five additional liquor store licenses.
7. MELLOR VS. MAGAZINER
Can CD2 Republican Vic Mellor surpass the 41.8% of the vote that Donald Trump received in Rhode Island in 2024? That figure is the RI-highest in Trump’s three presidential runs. Mellor has thrown everything against the wall in his attempt to oust Democratic U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner: millions in spending, a spot with AI-generated imagery of Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, a radio ad in which his former wife testifies to his bona fides. Magaziner has responded with a website entitled “the real Vic Mellor” and ads criticizing Mellor’s participation in the J6 rally and touting his own legislation to ban stock-trading by members of Congress. In one of the latest twists in the campaign, Magaziner posted a video earlier this week of his conversation with the treasurer of an out-of-town super PAC supporting Mellor and then deleted it “out of an abundance of caution” about laws governing recorded calls, as Chris Shea reported.
8. PVD AND ISRAEL
Providence voters will decide Tuesday whether their city should pull its money from “countries and companies profiting from genocide, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and prolonged military occupation,” as my colleague David Wright reported this week. The clear subtext is Israel. Supporters like Zack Kligler of the group Providence for Palestine say Q7 would send an important message. Mayor Brett Smiley, a convert to Judaism, counters by saying a yes vote would harm the city’s investment portfolio and “something targeting Israel will, in effect, target our Jewish community here in Providence.”
9. THE PRESS AND POLITICS
“Some of our candidates, they don’t want to be pigeonholed by the media,” Dave Levesque, founder of conservative business group The League of RI Businesses, told Nancy Lavin for her profile of the House District 39 race in the Rhode Island Current. He was referring to how LORIB candidate Jasmin Roy ultimately “failed to return more than a dozen phone calls, emails and social media messages over a monthlong period” for the story by Lavin, a scrupulously fair reporter whose outlet is known for its extensively detailed stories. Similarly, while Lavin reported lengthy profiles of Ken Block and Helena Foulkes, “Republican Aaron Guckian was unavailable for a sit-down interview despite multiple requests.” And though Guckian joined me for an interview ahead of the September primary, GOP rival Elaine Pelino canceled a day before she was scheduled to talk with me. (She cited recovery from an illness, although she did do an interview with a different outlet that week.) With Republicans still struggling to gain more representation in Rhode Island politics, talking with reporters is a fundamental step.
10. AI IN RI AND BEYOND
Gina Raimondo hasn’t lost any of the zip on her old fundraising fastball since co-founding RAISE US, the group meant to help aid American workers in the transition to an AI-dominated economy. Axios reports that the organization has raised more than $735 million from such corporate heavyweights as Apple, Google, the Bezos family, and Walmart. Meanwhile, Sen. Jack Reed said via news release he secured a $1.6 million federal earmark for a program to strengthen AI capabilities at Bryant University and establish new training programs for local employers.
11. COMING ATTRACTION
“Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me!”, the Peabody Award-winning news quiz-comedy show on NPR, is returning to PPAC on Thursday, Dec. 10 in partnership with Ocean State Media. Get tickets here. WWDTM last came to Rhode Island in 2016, when Gina Raimondo was a special guest.
12. KICKER
Master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe had connections with various places – Baltimore, Philadelphia, the Bronx and so on. But it’s here in Providence where Poe had a whirlwind romance with Sarah Helen Whitman after he spotted her during his first PVD visit in 1845. You can learn the twists of what later happened via “A Walking Tour of Poe’s Providence,” led by Poe enthusiast Levi Lionel Leland, who became fascinated with the writer as a boy. As my colleague James Baumgartner reports, the tour is on offer on Oct. 31, as well as Nov. 7 and Nov. 14. Happy Halloween!
