Rhode Islanders deciding speaker’s fate, state name change

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U.S. SENATE

Longtime Democratic incumbent Sen. Jack Reed faces Republican challenger Allen Waters, a perennial candidate who mounted earlier unsuccessful campaigns for the state Senate and U.S. Senate in Massachusetts.

Reed, first elected to the Senate in 1996, is a senior member of the powerful Appropriations Committee and a ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. Rhode Island’s other U.S. senator, Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, isn’t up for reelection until 2024.

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HOUSE DISTRICT 1

Democratic Rep. David Cicilline, one of Trump’s harshest critics in Congress, faces independents Frederick Wysocki and Jeffrey Lemire in his bid for a fifth term. Cicilline, who’s served five terms in the U.S. House, was mayor of Providence from 2003 to 2011, becoming the first openly gay chief executive of a U.S. state capital.

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HOUSE DISTRICT 2

Longtime Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin, the first quadriplegic lawmaker to serve in Congress, is up against Republican former state lawmaker Robert Lancia. Langevin first was elected to the House in 2000. Lancia, a self-described “libertarian Republican,” set his sights on Congress after losing reelection to his Statehouse seat in 2018.

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STATEHOUSE

Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, one of Rhode Island’s most powerful politicians, faces a strong challenge from Republican Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung to win reelection to his seat in western Cranston’s 15th legislative district. Voters there backed Trump for president in 2016, and in 2018, Mattiello defeated his GOP opponent by just 329 votes.

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NAME CHANGE

Rhode Island was incorporated as The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations when it declared statehood in 1790, and voters are being asked to strip the “and Providence Plantations” wording. Although the word “Plantations” in Rhode Island’s name doesn’t specifically refer to a place where slaves labored, the measure’s backers say it’s offensive at a time when the nation is confronting racial injustice.