By Sam Wroblewski WPRO.com
It has only been days since the last ballot in the 2014 primary election was counted, but already candidates in the governor’s, and the Providence Mayoral races are turning the page and preparing for the next eight weeks until the big day in November.
But the general election is a more exacting test than the primary; candidates are no longer competing for the votes of like-minded individuals, but now must focus on communicating their messages to a broader audience. In some instances this may require re-tooling their messages or re-focusing efforts to guarantee they have the resources and momentum moving forward.
So what must candidates do to win on November 4?
Gina Raimondo:
After winning a large amount of the independent vote on Tuesday, Raimondo is the least likely to change her messaging in the final weeks. She has already demonstrated her appeal beyond the state’s Democrat party by courting a large number of independent voters.
Instead, it would seem Raimondo’s biggest challenge will be courting the support of public-sector unions in the state. While Raimondo had the backing of many private-sector unions, many labor feathers are still ruffled over the Treasurer’s 2011 pension reform.
However Brown University’s Wendy Schiller says this may not be as big a hurdle as it may appear.
“She’ll try and court union support and build bridges, but there will be lots of pressure from the national unions, which are strongly tied to the Democrats, on local unions,” said Schiller.
Schiller believes while some public-sector unions may go so far as to not publicly endorse Raimondo, they will not advocate that their constituents vote Republican.
Allan Fung:
The Republican primary was one of the muddiest races all summer long. Fung frequently made reference to Ken Block’s recent conversion to the Republican party, producing the infamous “Blockhead” ad and even going so far as to say Block’s biggest lie of the primary was his Republicanism; all the while contrasting himself as true member of the GOP.
Now after months of declaring himself the only true Republican, and with the Republican nomination in hand, Fung must make the case for his candidacy to a largely Blue state.
Fellow GOP candidate Catherine Taylor has already said she wants to change the tarnished reputation of the RI GOP during her bid to be the next Lieutenant Governor. However a repackaging of the party campaign may not have enough impact for Fung this late in the game.
Fung also faces an opponent who is an adept fundraiser with a large state party backing.
Jennifer Duffy an analyst with the Cook Political Report believes the Fung campaign has a lot of work to do in the coming weeks.
“He needs to step up his fundraising in a big way, start talking to more people outside of the Republican party: more moderate Republicans, more moderate Democrats. He’s definitely got to move to the center,” said Duffy.
Raimondo is possibly not the only candidate Fung must be wary of; WPRO’s Dan Yorke spoke extensively on the news of now-Moderate party candidate Bod Healey entering the race and how it could pose a problem for the Cranston mayor.
“Allan Fung cannot win this governor’s race with Bob Healey in it,” said Yorke.
“Bob Healey will be invited to every major debate, Bob Healey will have a significant internet presence, Bob Healey will get a lot of free media because Bob Healey has put in the time.”
While history shows Healey has never attracted significant numbers of voters, it will be interesting to see if Fung’s message is affected at all by his presence.
Jorge Elorza:
Elorza surprised many with his late Tuesday night victory over Michael Solomon. Coming from behind to win 48.6% of the vote with over 50% of precincts reporting was nothing short of stunning.
However, despite having released several plans to help fix Providence, including expanding the ports, his candidacy has recently been defined as “anti-Buddy.”
Indeed, during former-candidate Brett Smiley’s dropping out and endorsement of Elorza, the rhetoric was decidedly anti-Buddy Cianci.
This may have been effective when courting the progressive vote, but in a general election against as seasoned a candidate as Cianci, more emphasis on policy will be necessary.
Schiller agrees.
“I think if he can focus the election on growth, the economy, and good government he wins.”
Buddy Cianci:
Cianci wasted no time launching his campaign less than 24 hours after the primary concluded. Unlike Elorza, Cianci has years of experience to draw upon and is a well-known personality to many in Rhode Island.
However Providence is not the same city it was when he last held the office of mayor. The demographics have change since the 90s; there is now a large Latino population in the Capital City, and many younger voters would not remember Cianci’s tenure as mayor.
Cianci is already at work re-tooling his image as a man who only cares about the concerns of Providence, and has stated he will make the race about the issues at hand and not about personality.
However Schiller asks a very pointed question, “How does he present himself as the new Buddy, without the charm of the old Buddy?”
