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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 2h

See, it’s possible to use “big tent” and have it include the left.

Asked by NBC 10 about concern over democratic socialists from some Democrats, Foulkes said, "I think we have to be a big tent party."
"I absolutely think that he and I will have a really good relationship," she said of Morales, if they both win.
"I think it's really easy to get hung up on these differences, but he and I really had a great conversation. And I want to be a governor who is supporting Providence and him because I want Providence to succeed. When it succeeds, the whole state does," Foulkes said.

And asked by NBC 10 if she would endorse Morales, Foulkes replied, "Yes. I'm a Democrat and he is, too."

Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 01/10/2026

And again, Rhode Island is not an island, entire of itself. Ignore national trends at your peril (as some incumbents learned three weeks ago).

While this might be a good year for Democrats nationally, Block said those dynamics are upended in Rhode Island by anger and frustration over closure of the westbound Washington Bridge, which has snarled traffic on a major interstate for years.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 01/10/2026

The strategy of backing Independents in red states seems to be working right now for Dems because the GOP brand is so toxic. That shouldn't work in a less favorable election year. The reverse is true here in RI; if Guckian drops, Block becomes the de facto GOP, and it won't be hard to pin it to him.

“From a strategic perspective, one might argue that it would have been a smart thing for Rhode Island Republicans to follow the example of Nebraska Democrats and not officially nominate a candidate under their party label but rather endorse a Republican-leaning independent like Ken Block,” Myers said.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 01/10/2026

Gotta agree with Adam Myers here (genuinely always inclined to agree with Adam), if you squint this looks like 2010, but that ignores all the other factors in play; like this being a Democratic wave year and extreme anger at the GOP.

He said Chafee won in 2010 amid a political environment that favored Republicans and that nearly swept the GOP candidate, Robitaille, into office. Also, he noted the Democratic candidate that year, Caprio, had said then-President Barack Obama, who remained neutral out of respect for Chafee, could “take his endorsement and really shove it.”

But Myers acknowledged that “all else being equal, an independent without ‘Republican’ next to his name stands a better chance of winning than the official Republican nominee.”

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 30/09/2026

WPRI updated the story from the CEO. Yes, because of the primary win, but claiming it's routine when the host city's mayor loses reelection to avoid burdening the transition.

“By tradition, when a host city’s mayoral leadership changes in the year before our annual meeting, the U.S. Conference of Mayors Executive Committee may choose to relocate the meeting,” Cochran said in a statement. “We believe the mayor serving in the year leading up to the meeting should be closely involved in both the bid and the planning that follows.”

Cochran said hosting the event is a “significant commitment” that can be challenging for any new mayor to manage during a transition.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, also a Democrat, was sworn in for his second four-year term in January.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 30/09/2026

West Warwick (heavily Democrat) was prevented from separating for decades by the GOP's Blind Boss Brayton. After his died, Warwick held a referendum that had four options in an effort to confuse the separation vote. West Warwick managed to overcome this and was formed from three RI House districts.

West Warwick was incorporated in 1913, which makes it the youngest town in Rhode Island, according to the town's website. That's when the General Assembly separated it from Warwick.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 30/09/2026

Samuel Gorton & co. who settled Shawomet got kicked out by Mass' militia at the behest of Benedict Arnold & co. of Pawtuxet. Gorton's extreme Puritanism impressed Richard Rich, who ruled Mass had to let the Gortonites return. This was a dealbreaker for Mass, who abandoned their claims as a result.

Warwick was named after Robert Rich,Earl of Warwick and Governor in Chief for the Colonies, who granted its charter. Because of this, the name of the settlement was changed from Shawomett to Warwick

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 30/09/2026

Scituate realized it could double its representation in the General Assembly by splitting in half. Thus Foster. Theo. Foster donated the town's record books and actually lived in town for a while.

Foster was originally a part of Providence. Foster was then separated from Providence as a part of Scituate until 1781, when Foster was incorporated as its own town, according to the Rhode Island Historical Society. It was named for U.S. Sen. Theodore Foster.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 30/09/2026

What's the Duke of Cumberland famous for? He's the Butcher of Culloden, the 1746 battle where the Scottish Jacobites were defeated (do not charge cannon with broadswords).

Cumberland was originally a part of Attleboro, Massachusetts, when it was incorporated in 1694, according to the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission. Then, the land was annexed to Rhode Island in 1747 and named after the Duke of Cumberland, Prince William.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 30/09/2026

Cranston was going to be named "Lynn" after the Mass town where its early settlers were from. Its incorporation articles have "Lynn" scratched off and "Cranston" written in. While it was maybe after the late Samuel (dead for 30 years), then-Speaker Thomas Cranston donated the town's record books.

Cranston was founded in 1754, named after Samuel Cranston, a former governor of Rhode Island from 1698 to 1727. After experiencing rapid population growth and industrialization, Cranston became a city in 1910.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 30/09/2026

Central Falls got kicked out of Lincoln (which had separated from Smithfield at that point) in a referendum. A majority of Central Falls voters wanted to remain part of Lincoln. A far more overwhelming majority of Lincolnites wanted them to leave.

Central Falls was originally a village within the town of Smithfield through the 1700s and most of the 1800s. After a period of rapid growth and development for the village, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed an act in 1895 declaring Central Falls its own city.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 30/09/2026

This misses a lot of the drama of town naming. www.providencejournal.com/story/news/h...

Headline in the Providence Journal:

HISTORY
How every RI city and town got its name. Some may surprise you.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 28/09/2026

Rather than mention the full number of registered voters and their partisan affiliation, it feels like it would be more clarifying to readers to note that this seat was decided by 22 votes with turnout in the high 70s in 2024. www.providencejournal.com/story/news/p...

The three are competing for the votes of the 11,149 potential voters in a largely suburban district that has 2,081 registered Republicans, 2,423 registered Democrats and 6,645 registered Independents aka "unaffiliated voters." Donald Trump won the district in 2016 and four out of five precincts in 2024.

Official results: Updated November 22, 2024 05:31 PM

Representative in General Assembly District 15
Candidate Total votes Pct
REP Christopher G. Paplauskas (REP) 4341 50.0%
DEM Maria A. Bucci (DEM) 4319 49.8%
Write-in 19 0.2%

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 26/09/2026

"We polled the Nazi CSAM site, and they did not like the Latina candidate."

RINewsToday.com on Facebook
6 hours ago
·
Campaigns are neck and neck, but our survey on X was pretty dramatic: [results of poll showing 90.5% for John Loughlin and 9.5% for Sabina Matos]

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 25/09/2026

The RI right is incredible because despite decades as a rump opposition as evidence to the contrary, they're still under this belief that their views are widely shared.

Waters for Mayor of Providence
·
Follow
16 hours ago
·
Of Course, David Morales Is Defeatable
(Who really wants a Socialist Mayor?)

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 25/09/2026

There are two stories here: one is about an administration apparently unilaterally declining to enforce a law. The other is about adding mandates on understaffed city departments without providing any additional resources.

A spokesperson for current-Mayor Brett Smiley said the tax was not enforced because it did not spur development and became “punitive” for property owners. Now, mayoral Democratic nominee David Morales is promising to enforce the defunct tax on commercial properties to both bring in revenue for the city and open opportunities for local entrepreneurs.

To determine if properties are vacant, Providence also needs to dedicate inspections staff to complete the job, which members of the Special City Commission for Taxation and Revenue were told was a barrier as well.

“The complaint was basically that it takes work to do that—the inspection staff is already doing other stuff, this isn’t part of their workload and coming up with a citation requires a continuous effort,” said Tom Sgouros, a public policy researcher who served on the commission. “Enforcing it is not as easy as it sounds.”

Morales said that better coordination and guidance could avoid the need for additional staff and help achieve the goal of enforcing the tax within his first year in office.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 24/09/2026

My hunch is that the new UNH poll is overrating Republicans because respondents saying they're independents are in fact just Republicans (they have identical positions with people who identified as Republicans). scholars.unh.edu/survey_cente...

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 23/09/2026

There's now an anti-divestment ordinance group here in Providence, but they are going to have a hard time explaining the difference between what they're saying Q7 does and what the text of the ordinance says. It also depends on how the question is worded too.

A Neighbors Voting No On 7 image, that says "No On Seven" with the slogans "Put Providence First" and "People Over Politics"

The full text of the divestment ordinance, which is titled "divesting from foreign countries conducting severe violations of human rights such as ethnic cleansing, apartheid, illegal military occupation, or genocide."

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 23/09/2026

They've already updated the nav menu. (note: they have not, this is fake)

A completely fake menu for the Boston Globe homepage showing "Lesbian Bars" in place of "Puzzles"

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 23/09/2026

Participation the federal Vaccines for Children program.

Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the US
Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS), confirmed that Covid vaccines are not available through VFC. Because Covid can circulate at other times as well, including in the summer, "an arbitrary September date should not be treated as a public-health deadline for Covid-19 vaccine procurement"
The CDC is "finalizing decisions" about Covid vaccine procurement through the Vaccines for Children and Section 317 programs, and
"additional information will be available soon," Hilliard said.
She did not respond to the Guardian's questions about the effects on universal VFC states.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 22/09/2026

A lot has been said about the rent stabilization stuff, but it's notable that (from my vantage point) Smiley was like this on EVERYTHING with the Council. Seemingly incapable of cutting a deal to get his own way. More than anything, I would say that was what sank him.

As last winter turned to spring and the Morales-aligned Providence City Council prepared to pass a rent stabilization ordinance, Smiley had a decision to make.

He had never supported rent stabilization, but if he could come to some kind of accommodation with the council majority on it, or even decide not to exhaust all avenues to block it, he might take his opponent's most effective weapon off the table.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 22/09/2026

Morales' campaign manager on Smiley and real estate interests. www.providencejournal.com/story/news/p...

"I don't even necessarily think it is a quid pro quo thing; I think it's that he exists in a bubble," [David Morales campaign manager Ben] Shanahan said. "These are the people who fund his campaign. These are the people who were at his campaign events, the people who were in his kitchen cabinet."

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 21/09/2026

Possible that if a Morales administration moves to cancel Providence's Flock contract, it creates a cascade of decision-making that eliminates Flock in the surrounding communities. futurism.com/artificial-i...

Because of the purpose of Flock’s services — conducting mass surveillance — these cancellations have created a vicious cycle. The more municipalities that its cameras go down in, the less useful that Flock becomes to its remaining customers. Some police departments have explicitly cited the loss of coverage from neighboring towns cancelling their contracts as a reason to do the same.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 19/09/2026

Looks like the national GOP is using similar cope as Levesque. www.washingtonsun.com/campaigns/de...

"The Democratic Socialists of America have skewed Democrats' primary turnout," said Bernadette Breslin, spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 18/09/2026

Me tearing my hair out as I point out for the umpteenth time that if you assign "independents" with leaners and voting rates using national Pew data, you can generally predict the statewide vote shares for Democrats and Republicans in RI, give or take 5 ppts. www.oceanstatemedia.org/politics/202...

It’s worth noting, too, that independents compose far and away the biggest bloc of voters here — 52%, compared with 34% who are Democrats and 14% Republicans.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 17/09/2026

That's 12% of precincts. That's not a small amount.

Michael Narducci, Providence’s administrator of elections, told 12 News about 10 polling locations were unable to open on time.

“It’s a small amount when you’re dealing with 82 different precincts, but it’s still an amount,” Narducci explained.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 17/09/2026

Also, the part where he explicitly says their goal was to elect Republicans as Democrats in order to be able to stop a budget.

The League hoped to elect enough “pro-business” Democrats in the Senate to stop the state budget. “That was our major play,” Levesque said. “If we were successful in the primary, Rhode Island would have turned purple.”

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 17/09/2026

I can't with these candidates. How are they this stupid? Yes, Democratic voters treat anonymous money from a shady businessman whose raison d'etre is guns far differently than transparently-donated and recorded money from unions and interest groups. Toddler politics.

Lopez said the 2,865 people who voted for Kallman in the primary don’t speak for the district’s 16,089 registered voters, and she finds it “ironic” Kallman focused on how much she received from the League when Kallman received funding from progressive groups.

“When she does it, it’s fine,” she said.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 17/09/2026

Almost all your candidates lost by 40-60 points. The lesson all the winners are drawing from that is that your candidates are awful, and voters have their back.

“Even though we had no wins in the primary, we made a lot of noise,” Levesque said. “People will do things differently because they have challengers.”

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 16/09/2026

I'm sure they're quaking. www.providencejournal.com/story/news/p...

RI's primary victors must now face independent Ken Block for governor

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 14/09/2026

A really in-depth look at what it took to win from @dennismhogan.bsky.social in @dissentmag.bsky.social; struck by how similar his experiences with Smiley's campaign were to mine; message-testing text polls, unanswered texts.

When it came to personal voter outreach, Smiley again fell short. I received dozens of texts and countless mailers from the Smiley campaign, but never made contact with a single real person. My replies to texts asking follow-up questions were ignored, and, truth be told, I don’t think anyone was monitoring them. Smiley spent more than $2 million on the campaign (more than five times what Morales did), but he invested it primarily in impersonal broadcast messaging.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 14/09/2026

No lessons learned. rhodeislandcurrent.com/2026/09/14/r...

“Not only did we not win, we just got clobbered,” said Dave Levesque, co-founder of The League. “It’s an embarrassment.”

The problem, as Levesque sees it, is not with The League’s candidates, nor its strategy. Instead, he blamed the voters who sat out the primary despite voicing support for The League’s platform and candidates.

“The people on the left came out and voted,” Levesque said. “The people in the middle and the right didn’t.”

The League did not intervene in those races — focusing on state legislative seats only — but the more moderate candidates Levesque would have preferred lost anyway.

“That has nothing to do with us,” he said. “The left movement is just strong.”

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 11/09/2026

Wait, RI DSA rescinded their unendorsement of Morales? When?

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 11/09/2026

McKee won all three voters in the precinct that covers Prudence and Hog Island. cinycmaps.com/index.php/st...

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 11/09/2026

Looking over the LG results, it looks like Coyne heavily competed with Khamsyvoravong in the East Bay. Matos in blue, Khamsyvoravong in yellow, AnderBois in green, Coyne in purple, and McCurdy in orange cinycmaps.com/index.php/st...

A map of RI by precinct showing Matos in blue, Khamsyvoravong in yellow, AnderBois in green, Coyne in purple, and McCurdy in orange.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 11/09/2026

Laughing over these Paolino quotes. 1. Obviously, Morales' campaign had flaws. Smiley's just had more flaws. 2. There is an ideology for that: it's called sewer socialism. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/09/10/m...

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 10/09/2026

When you accidentally admit to the reason you lost while denying it’s the reason.

Asked about DiMario's criticism of
LORIB, Levesque said, "It had nothing to do with Democratic values. It has to do with trying to beat an incumbent,

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 10/09/2026

@antoniafarzan.bsky.social highlighted this in the Journal's takeaways! www.providencejournal.com/story/news/p...

Women could hold most of RI's top offices
Kim Ahern claimed a narrow lead in the crowded Democratic primary for attorney general, where she stood out as the only woman in a tight race where the candidates seemed to agree on many issues.

She didn't shy away from that distinction, pledging to create a new Reproductive Justice unit in the attorney general's office, and highlighting her personal experience as someone in a same-sex marriage and the mother of three girls.

Ahern also pointed out that she would be the first Democratic woman to serve as attorney general. The only other woman to hold the role, Arlene Violet, ran as a Republican.

Foulkes, Matos and Ahern make up a trifecta of Democratic women who won their primaries on Wednesday night – meaning that three of the state's top offices could be filled by women next year.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 10/09/2026

Thinking about how I had coffee with a Smiley campaign staffer a little after the primary in 2022 who told me without any hint of irony that "Smiley is a progressive." www.bostonglobe.com/2026/09/09/m...

Smiley, 47, a moderate Democrat, is the first incumbent mayor to lose a primary in the city’s history, and Morales, a 27-year-old progressive, will be planning a dramatic overhaul of City Hall.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 10/09/2026

28 votes. But right now Pichardo is only up 2 over Castillo in Ward 9.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 10/09/2026

A big problem with the LORIB candidates is that they suck at being Democrats, which is a huge liability when running in a Democratic primary.

Asked about Kallman’s assertions of league ties to MAGA and conservatism and whether she voted for the current president, Lopez said she won’t entertain such questions. Everyone has gotten so lost in political warfare, she said, and there have been so many times where progressives have approached her with their litmus test to try to make sure she’s in line with their political dogma, all while neglecting the important issues.

Progressives sometimes feel they have a monopoly on ideas, she said, but she probably aligns more with the old-school, centrist Democrat. In many cases there is too much focus on philosophical questions or federal issues, she added, when they should be redirecting attention to the issues people face where they live.

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 10/09/2026

What did I say? (Kallman only lost in Pawtucket precincts under 150 voters)

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 10/09/2026

I don't think anyone has precincts up yet, so NYTimes has this:

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 10/09/2026

Wow, this is is quite a change from traditional winning coalitions.

Map of Providence showing Morales precincts in purple, Smiley precincts in green

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 10/09/2026

So, this was sort of my yardstick for "what percentage of RI Dems are completely in a 'throw-them-out' mood?" and it looks like the answer is 23%

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Sam G. Howard @samghoward.riliberator.com · 10/09/2026

Juan Pichardo leads Carmen Castillo by a mere 2 votes, but right now Ana Vargas and John Goncalves, two votes against rent stabilization, are the only two Providence city council incumbents behind in their primaries.

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