RI DEM Party Chair McNamara Rescinds Endorsements, Brown Calls for his Resignation

GoLocalProv Political Team

RI DEM Party Chair McNamara Rescinds Endorsements, Brown Calls for his Resignation

Democratic Party Chair Joseph McNamara
Rhode Island Democratic Party Chair Joseph McNamara submitted a letter to the RI Secretary of State to rescind the endorsements in House District 3 and Senate District 35.

 “Today, in the best interests of the Rhode Island Democratic Party, I submitted a letter to the Rhode Island Secretary of State rescinding the endorsements previously made in House District 3 and Senate District 35.  As a policy matter, the people in each district should decide who gets chosen when no district committee exists, because they’re the people closest to the candidates and have more information about those candidates than the state party could ever have. In practice, what we’ve learned over the last few days only reinforces my belief that this is the right policy going forward.

“Over the last four years as chair, I’ve worked really hard to make sure our Party is more open and transparent and is a place where all Democrats can feel they can have a voice and make a difference. I regret that these endorsements are inconsistent with that work and believe the actions we have taken today brings us closer to where we aspire to be,” McNamara said in a statement.

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This announcement follows GoLocalProv’s report that “the RI Chapter of the National Organization for Women and Democratic candidate for Governor Matt Brown took aim on the hierarchy of the Democratic Party for failed leadership and anti-women bias.”

“On June 28th the Chair of the Rhode Island Democratic Party endorsed Michael Earnheart, a known supporter of Donald Trump, against an incumbent female, Moira Walsh, for state representative in House District 3,” said Hilary Levey Friedman, President, RI NOW in a statement.

Brown Calling for McNamara to Step Down

Matt Brown calls for McNamara to step down
Despite the endorsements being rescinded, Brown is still calling for McNamara to step down.

“The Rhode Island Democratic Party’s decision to rescind the endorsements of Michael Earnheart and Greg Acciardo because of a torrent of bad press does not solve the problem. It is a sign of the chaos within the party establishment. The establishment in the last few weeks has conducted sham roll-call votes, canceled legitimate endorsement votes because they didn’t like the results and endorsed a Trump supporter over a strong incumbent woman who fights for core Democratic values. The days of this kind of backroom establishment politics is over. The party urgently needs new leadership. Party Chairman McNamara should resign.  Change is coming,” said Brown in a statement.

Raimondo & Mattiello

As GoLocal reported on Wednesday, Raimondo refused to call for the rescission of the endorsement of Earnheart.

McNamara is a Democratic State Representative and a close ally of Speaker of the House Nick Mattiello. Historically, the chair serves at the pleasure of both the Speaker and the Governor.

Neither Raimondo or Mattiello’s offices would respond to questions about McNamara’s future.


GoLocal Statewide Poll - Conducted by Harvard's Della Volpe - June, 2018

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