ELECTION RESULTS: GOP Makes Modest Gains in General Assembly

ELECTION RESULTS: GOP Makes Modest Gains in General Assembly

Republicans gained only eight seats in the General Assembly, despite a major effort by the state party to change the makeup of both the House and the Senate. The Republicans now hold a total of 18 seats in the General Assembly, according to a GoLocalProv review of the vote tallies in all the races. That’s a modest improvement from the 10 seats the GOP had before the election.

The Republicans had launched a major campaign to cut into the Democratic hold on the General Assembly. The campaign, known as the Rhode Island Clean Slate, raised just over $100,000 to help get a coalition of more than 80 Republicans, independents, and Moderate Party candidates get elected.

State Democratic Chairman Ed Pacheco said the GOP was able to knock out only four incumbents—three in the House and one in the Senate. Of the remaining races they won, he said the rest were for open seats.

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Pacheco criticized the Clean Slate campaign, accusing Republicans of running away from their party’s name. “I think Republicans need to look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves why they had to rebrand themselves and not even talk about themselves being Republicans,” Pacheco told GoLocalProv.

State Republican Chairman Gio Cicione could not be reached for comment in time for publication.