Does a Republican Candidate Have the Edge Over Raimondo?
GoLocal Political Team
Does a Republican Candidate Have the Edge Over Raimondo?
The Republican ranks in Governors offices swelled to 33 and Democratic Governors dropped to 16 — a 95-year low for the Democrats. Of the 16 remaining Democratic Governors is Rhode Island’s Gina Raimondo.
Democrat Raimondo, who won the Governor’s office in 2014 and is expected to seek re-election in 2018, has more than $1.8 million cash on hand -- a stark contrast to the GOP’s candidate in 2014 and present Cranston Mayor, Allan Fung.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFung did have a re-election campaign for Mayor in 2016, but now only has $55,000 cash on hand.
While Raimondo is an aggressive fundraiser, her advantage may be greatly muted by the fundraising capacity of the Republican Governors Association (RGA).
“After President Donald Trump’s upset win last November, the RGA more than doubled DGA’s fundraising effort, $5.1 million to $2.1 million in the final weeks of 2016,” according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of IRS fundraising records.
GOP Governors in RI
In the past 30 years in Rhode Island, the Governor’s office has been held by a Republican 20 of those years (Ed DiPrete 4, Lincoln Almond 8, and Don Carcieri 8), Democrats six (Bruce Sundlun 4, Raimondo 2), and independents four (Lincoln Chafee). While RI is a Democratic state, voters for the past three decades have supported GOP gubernatorial candidates, in part, to balance the overwhelming Democratic legislature.
The most popular Governor in the United States is Massachusetts’ Charlie Baker — Republican. According to Morning Consult’s most recent poll, Baker has an approval rating of 72 percent — 31-point higher than Raimondo.
Can the combination of RGA’s money coupled with a Baker game plan be a factor in 2018 in RI? Stay tuned.
Potential 2018 Candidates for RI Governor
GOP/Moderate
Ken Block
The founder of Rhode Island's Moderate Party ran as a GOP candidate for Governor in 2014, but was beat by Cranston Mayor Allan Fung in the primary, 55% to 45%.
The two never made amends and could face each other again. A Block third-party run would almost assuredly mean a Raimondo repeat win.
Block was the champion of eliminating the master lever, but that proved to be a bit of a false god -- the GOP made no gains in the legislature and in fact lost seats. Now, he is calling for line-item veto which may not be the ethics messiah that it is advertised to be.
GOP
Giovanni Feroce
Everyone knows Feroce as a high profile CEO -- first as head of Alex and Ani and now as the CEO of BENRUS. He is a retired combat Army Major, former State Senator and one of the most high profile Rhode Islanders.
His recent open letter to Brown President Christina Paxson this week went viral, and forced a statement from the Ivy League President after students trashed American flags on campus for Veterans Day.
He would bring government, military and business experience to the job.
GOP
Allan Fung
The Mayor of Cranston has a run under his belt, and is widely considered to be making another bid.
In 2014, Raimondo won 40% of the general election vote, Fung garnered 36%, and the late Bob Healey running under the Moderate Party flag collected 21% of the vote.
Many believe that Block put Healey up to run and cost Fung the Governorship.
In his re-election effort this fall, Fung racked up nearly 70% of the vote against long-time Democrat politician Mike Sepe.
GOP
Bobby Nardolillo
The Coventry GOP representative has aspirations of higher office. His family owns one of the largest funeral home companies in Rhode Island, and Nardolillo isn't shy about calling the current Governor out.
He is an outspoken critic of Raimondo and pounds social medial on hot-button issues that he disagrees with her on daily. He is a traditional Republican with a strong base in Coventry - West Warwick - Warwick - Cranston. Those are good places to have a base in a Republican Primary.
GOP
Anthony Giarrusso
He is the one of the legislature's leading advocates for small business - not a bad message for a Republican primary.
An interesting bio -- grew up in Providence and attended Mount Pleasant High School and CCRI. Today, he represents East Greenwich in the House and is the President of a jewelry company in Johnston.
DEM
Gina Raimondo
The first two years has been anything but smooth. She won the Democratic primary with just 42% of the vote and then won the general election with just 40% of the vote.
Her administration has stumbled on staffing, the ill-fated tourism campaign, failure to land GE's headquarters, technology implementation, and most importantly, the lack of economic development. No cranes. She has a fundraising advantage, but as 2016 proved (Clinton outspent Trump 4 to 1 on TV ads) the old rules no longer apply.
The big question today is - just who is her base?
DEM
Clay Pell
The grandson of one of Rhode Island's most beloved political families finished a reasonable third in the 2014 Democratic three-way primary garnering 27% of the vote.
His wife was a top Hillary Clinton campaign staffer and with the tough loss, living in RI must look a lot more attractive. As we know, his skating superstar wife Michelle Kwan coupled with deep pockets makes a Pell run very viable in a Democratic primary.
DEM
Brendan Doherty
Former Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police Doherty may be in the mix against sitting Governor Gina Raimondo as well. He ran as a Republican against David Cicilline in 2012 and raised $1.47 million. However, the moderate Doherty can't be ruled out for a Democratic run.
A one-on-one with Raimondo could be interesting as Doherty could argue he knows how to effectively manage an organization. In a three-way with Pell, he could be take the center candidate. If Pell, Raimondo and Doherty were to all go for it, it could be a primary that rivals Bruce Sundlun, Joe Paolino and Frank Flaherty's mega-spend back in 1990.
