State Rep. Joseph J. Solomon Jr. (D-Warwick) announced his candidacy for attorney general Tuesday, becoming the fourth Democrat seeking to succeed Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha.
“I’m not running to learn on the job,” Solomon, 42, said in a news release. “I’ve spent my career in the courtroom, making the tough calls as a bail commissioner, and writing laws that protect Rhode Island families. I’ve already been doing this work, and Rhode Island deserves an Attorney General who shows up ready on day one.”
Solomon first won election to the House of Representatives in 2014 and he chairs the House Corporations Committee, which considers legislation related to businesses.
The six-term rep comes from a political family. His father, Joseph Solomon, who died in 2021, was a former mayor of Warwick, and Solomon is related to former Providence City Council President Michael Solomon.
Term limits preclude Neronha from seeking re-election.
If elected, Solomon said his priorities would be consumer protection, prosecuting violent criminals and guarding the state from federal overreach.
A four-way Democrat primary is the largest field for attorney general in many years. The candidates are all lawyers.
The other people running are Kim Ahern, a former prosecutor in the AG’s office who chaired the state Cannabis Control Commission; Keith Hoffmann, who worked in a series of different roles in the AG’s office; and state Rep. Jason Knight (D-Barrington), a criminal-defense lawyer and former state prosecutor.
The primary election is Sept. 8.
