State Rep. David Morales faces an uphill battle if he challenges Providence Mayor Brett Smiley next year, although Morales said Tuesday he is not fazed by Smiley’s big advantage in campaign fundraising.
Morales had about $68,000 in his campaign account at the end of June, a fraction of the $1 million in Smiley’s campaign account.
Morales, 26, is serving his third term in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. He remains guarded about whether he will challenge Smiley next year, but his answers during a lengthy interview with The Public’s Radio/Rhode Island PBS suggest that he hopes to replicate Zohran Mamdani’s insurgent win in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary earlier this year.
“When you have a message that resonates with working people, working people will be there to support you,” Morales said, “That comes through the forms of volunteering, that comes through the forms of grassroots fundraising and ultimately building support and earning the votes.
“So I feel confident that if I were to run for mayor,” he added, “we would have a message that delivers around the most pressing issues that Providence neighbors are facing, which is one of affordability around housing, making sure that our neighbors feel safe and supported, and beyond that creating a public school system where all of our students are receiving the social, emotional care that they deserve.”
Smiley, 46, scored a decisive victory in the 2022 Democratic primary, winning the three-way race with 42% of the vote. Gonzalo Cuervo received 37% and Nirva LaFortune got 22%.
The mayor, a former high-level official in city and state government, has a base on the vote-rich East Side and he has not been caught up in any major controversies during his time at City Hall.
In a statement, Josh Block, a spokesman for Smiley’s campaign, said, “The election is more than a year away. Mayor Smiley is focused on governing in Providence and protecting the community from the harmful actions of the Trump administration.”
Morales is a California native. He identifies as a Democratic socialist and is part of the progressive wing of legislative Democrats. He settled in Mount Pleasant after graduate school at Brown University, and maintains the city can do better.
Mamdani’s primary win in New York City was based on how “his message was centered around affordability,” Morales said, “and I think it demonstrated to us that the idea that there’s division within the Democratic Party is not one so much of ideology, but one around how we message and how we fight for the issues that we care most about. Specifically, issues that matter the most to working people and families. And a lot of this comes back down to the question of, ‘Do I have enough money at the end of the month to be able to pay for my rent, to pay for childcare, to pay for my groceries, the utilities and everything in between?’”
