By WPRO News
After winning her primary last week, Representative Moira Walsh is unfazed by House Speaker Nick Mattiello’s support for her opponent, an ex-Republican Trump supporter Michael Earnheart. The race between Walsh and Earnheart made national headlines after the state Democratic party endorsed and later rescinded its support for Earnheart.
“Honestly, I kind of wear it as a badge of honor. I think that if the Speaker likes me, I’m probably not doing a very good job,” she told WPRO’s Matt Allen.
The @RISpeaker’s entire staff is helping out my opponent; from Skenyon to montanaro to the state house photographer, they’re all here. To be clear, I’m not running against @earnheartforrep , I’m running against mattiello himself #gotv
— Moira Jayne Walsh (@RepMoira_Jayne) September 12, 2018
Though she acknowledged elections are still underway, Walsh said she would not support Mattiello remaining Speaker even if he had supported her reelection.
“This isn’t like a personal thing, Since I’ve been there, I have not seen leadership from my leadership. My first session ended with a temper tantrum where we were all sent home before there was a budget,” she said. “The PawSox was batted around for months and had everyone waiting on one person and we lost one of our favorite teams.”
Walsh also cited a number of bills by women that never made it to the floor in her reasoning for not supporting Mattiello retaining the speakership.
Recent Providence Journal reports say other Democrats also aren’t backing Mattiello, though the reports quote a Mattiello spokesperson insisting he has “overwhelming support” from House members.
Matt and Walsh also had a spirited discussion on identity politics. Listen to their full conversation below.
Listen to “State Rep. Moira Walsh (D-Providence)” on Spreaker.
