Rhode Island Democratic Party

The Rhode Island Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Rhode Island. Joseph McNamara is the chairman of the Party. For the past five decades, the Democratic Party has dominated politics in Rhode Island. The article further discusses the Democratic Party's dominance in Rhode Island politics as well as the elected officials, party leadership and staff, past election results, legislation, and also issue stance.

Rhode Island Democratic Party
ChairpersonJoseph McNamara
Governor of Rhode IslandGina Raimondo
Lieutenant Governor of Rhode IslandDaniel McKee
Senate PresidentDominick J. Ruggerio
House SpeakerNicholas Mattiello
HeadquartersWarwick, RI
IdeologyModern liberalism
Progressivism
Centrism
Social liberalism
Political positionCenter to center-left
National affiliationDemocratic Party
Colors     Blue
Seats in the U.S. Senate
2 / 2
Seats in the U.S. House
2 / 2
Statewide Executive Offices
5 / 5
Seats in the State Senate
33 / 38
Seats in the State House
66 / 75
Website
www.ridemocrats.org

Democratic Party dominance in Rhode Island

For nearly five decades, Rhode Island has been one of the nation's most solidly Democratic states. Since 1928, it has voted for the Republican presidential candidate only four times (Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, Richard Nixon in 1972 and Ronald Reagan in 1984) and it has elected only two Republicans (former Governor John H. Chafee and later his son, Lincoln Chafee, though the younger Chafee eventually became a Democrat during his later governorship) to the U.S. Senate since 1934. Rhode Island also sent no Republicans to the U.S. House from 1940 until 1980, when one Republican and one Democrat were elected. Also in 1980, Rhode Island was one of only six states to be won by Jimmy Carter. However, in 1984, Republican Edward DiPrete was elected governor and Ronald Reagan narrowly carried the state in the presidential election. In the 2000 presidential election, Democrat Al Gore won 61% of the popular vote.[1] Although, an analysis of Gallup polling data shows the Democratic advantage over the Republican Party in Rhode Island voters has plunged over the last two years.[2] The Democratic advantage over the Republican Party in Rhode Island slid from 37 percentage points in 2008 to 16 points this year, according to Gallup. Rhode Island has gone from being the most Democratic state in the country in 2008 to the 7th most Democratic now.[3]

Elected officials

U.S. Senate

Democrats have controlled both of Rhode Island's seats in the U.S. Senate since 2006:

U.S. House of Representatives

Out of the 2 seats Rhode Island is apportioned in the U.S. House of Representatives, both are held by Democrats:

Statewide officials

Democrats control all five of the elected statewide offices:

State Legislature

Party leadership and staff

The Rhode Island Democratic Party leadership as of 2018 is as follows.[4]

State committee officers
  • Chairman: Joseph McNamara
  • Vice Chairman: Rep. Grace Diaz
  • 2nd Vice Chairman: Hon. James Diossa, Mayor
  • 3rd Vice Chairman: Lisa Tomasso
  • Secretary: Rep. Arthur Corvese
  • Corresponding Secretary: Allene Maynard
  • Recording Secretary: presumed vacant[5]
  • Treasurer: Jeff Padwa
  • Assistant Treasurer: Marcia Reback

National Committee Persons
  • National Committeeman: Hon. Joseph R. Paolino, Jr.
  • National Committeewomen: Edna O'Neill Mattson

Staff
  • Executive Director: Tolulope Kevin Olasanoye
  • Communications Director: Ann S. Gooding
  • R.I. Dem Party Finance: Susann Della Rosa
  • Field Organizer: Michelle Arias

Previous election results

2016 General Election http://wpri.com/election-results/

President

Hillary Clinton (D) 227,062 54% vote

Donald Trump (R) 166,454 39% vote

Representative in Congress District 1
  • David N. Cicilline (Dem) 64%
  • Russell Taub (Rep.) 36%

Representative in Congress District 2
  • James R. Langevin (Dem) 58%
  • Rhue Reis (Rep) 31%

2014 General Election[6]

U.S. Senator
  • John F. Reed (D) 223,675 70.6%
  • Mark S. Zaccaria (R) 92,684 29.2%
  • Write-In 539 0.2%

Representative in Congress District 1
  • David N. Cicilline (D) 87,060 59.5%
  • Cormick B. Lynch (R) 58,877 40.2%
  • Write-In 416 0.3%

Representative in Congress District 2

  • James R. Langevin (D) 105,716 62.2%'
  • Rhue R. Reis (R) 63,844 37.6%
  • Write-In 344 0.2%

2008 general election

President

Senator in Congress
  • John F. Reed (Dem) 73.4%
  • Robert G. Tingle (Rep) 26.6%

Representative in Congress District 1
  • Patrick J. Kennedy (Dem) 68.6%
  • Jonathon P. Scott (Rep) 24.3%

Representative in Congress District 2
  • James R. Langevin (Dem) 70.1%
  • Mark S. Zaccaria (Rep) 29.9%

2004 general election

President

Representative in Congress District 1
  • Patrick J. Kennedy (Dem) 64.1%
  • David W. Rogers (Rep) 35.8%

Representative in Congress District 2
  • James R. Langevin (Dem) 74.5%
  • Arthur Chuck Barton III (Rep) 20.8%

[7]

Issues

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

On August 1, 2017, Rhode Island Democratic Party Chairman Joseph M. McNamara issued the following statement regarding President Trump's plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals nationally, effective March 5, 2018:

"This is a nation built on the strength of its immigrants," said Chair McNamara. "Every sector of our economy, every part of our culture has benefited by welcoming folks from across the globe. Turning our backs now on the children and young people who have made America their home would be heartless and cruel, and it would cause unnecessary pain to families, neighborhoods and our economy," he said. "This is not who we are. I applaud the actions of Attorney General Kilmartin and our nation's Attorney Generals and our Democratic Congress in urging the President to preserve DACA."[8]

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References
  1. "Rhode Island - Political parties". city-data.com.
  2. "Gallup: Democrats' dominance drops by half in Rhode Island". WPRI 12 Eyewitness News.
  3. Gallup, Inc. (2018). "State Partisanship Shifts Toward Democratic Party in 2017". gallup.com.
  4. "RI Democratic Party: Party Leadership and Staff". Rhode Island Democratic Party. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  5. @RIDemParty (September 10, 2018). "Tweet from RI Democratic Party". Twitter. Retrieved 10 September 2018. We are saddened to learn of the passing of Milton H. Bronstein, Recording Secretary to the RI Democratic State Committee. Milton was a stalwart Democrat, who championed the causes of union workers and helped make our party better in every conceivable way.
  6. https://www.ri.gov/election/results/general_election/
  7. "Rhode Island Board of Elections". ri.gov.
  8. http://ridemocrats.org/cms-assets/documents/
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