Election Night Winners & Losers
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
With Rhode Island’s primary elections in the books, GoLocalProv breaks down the top winners and losers from Tuesday’s races.
Winners
David Cicilline -> No one had a better than night than the incumbent Congressman in Rhode Island’s 1st District. Congressman Cicilline probably knew he would win Tuesday, but a 32-point trouncing of Anthony Gemma has to be concerning for Republican candidate Brendan Doherty. Cicilline has come a long way since his 14.8 percent approval rating earlier this year and it seems Gemma has given him some momentum heading into November.
Jim Langevin & Mike Riley -> To no one’s surprise, the two Congressional candidates in the 2nd District were comfortable winners as well last night. Congressman Langevin has held the seat since 2003 and is clearly the favorite in the race, but Riley is putting together a credible campaign and if, as he has indicated, he is willing to spend more than $1 million, he will certainly have the opportunity to run a competitive race.
Gordon Fox -> He lost a member of House leadership in Peter Petrarca, but it was still a successful night for the Speaker of the House. His longtime rival Rene Menard was finally ousted from office and three other newcomers he openly supported (Katherine Kazarian, Kenneth Marshall and Marvin Abney) all won their primaries Tuesday. Fox may clash with John Lombardi and Greg Costantino (if he is successful in the general election), but overall, he has to be pleased with how the primaries played out.
Michael McCaffrey -> The Senate Judiciary chairman got his first real challenge in years, but was able to hold off Laura Pisaturo, who had strong backing from the marriage equality group, Fight Back RI. It is no secret that McCaffrey’s name has been thrown around as a potential successor to Senate President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed and the victory Tuesday likely solidifies his standing within Senate leadership.
Dan DaPonte -> Another member of Senate leadership who held on Tuesday evening. DaPonte withstood a challenge from the union-backed Roberto DaSilva, which means Senate President Paiva-Weed will likely have her entire team in place come 2013. This District 14 race went back-and-forth, but DaPonte was able to eek it out with a 53-47 victory.
John Lombardi -> The former Mayor and Council President knocked off incumbent Mike Tarro and progressive Libby Kimzey in the closely watched House District 8 Democratic primary. Kimzey put up a strong fight (and might have fared even better had Tarro chosen not to run) but in the end, Lombardi had too much name recognition this time around.
Spencer Dickinson -> He still faces a tough challenge in the general election, but Rep. Dickinson’s win over Kathleen Fogarty was a major surprise Tuesday. You have to wonder if that candid letter he sent his constituents, which some treated as a concession letter, actually made folks in his community change their minds and support the union-backed incumbent.
Losers
Anthony Gemma -> Only picking up 30 percent of the vote against David Cicilline was a major blow for a campaign that really never picked up much steam. Gemma never ran television commercials and focused far too much on the voter fraud claims and not enough on his original message (jobs) to be a viable candidate in the race.
Marriage Equality -> Marriage equality supporters seemed to solidify their standing in the House, but only unseating one Senator (Michael Pinga) means getting same-sex marriage passed next year is going to be incredibly difficult. House Speaker Gordon Fox still maintains that he’ll call for a vote in his chamber early in the session, but the major opposition has always been in the Senate.
Jon Brien -> Perhaps the biggest upset of the night. The Woonsocket Rep. was unseated by Stephen Casey while Rep. Lisa Baldelii-Hunt (another member of the Woonsocket delegation thought to be in trouble) cruised to victory. Brien had served as chairman of the Municipal Government committee and despite being one of the more conservative Democrats in the House, was also considered among the most influential lawmakers in the chamber.
Rene Menard -> The retired firefighter first won his seat in 1988, but Rep. Menard finally went down Tuesday to Cumberland Councilwoman Mia Ackerman. Menard had been targeted in the past by House leadership, but this time he was hurt by a redrawn district that many believed was designed specifically to remove him from office.
Peter Petrarca -> The Deputy House Majority Leader thought for sure he was going to win Tuesday, but he ended up losing by 20 points to Greg Costantino, the businessman and brother of former House Finance chairman Steven Costantino. Petrarca struggled in his general election race in 2010 and it appears as though his hard work in this year’s primary may have been too little, too late for a district that had long been unhappy with its Rep.
Stephen Tetzner -> The Republican in District 34 spent more than $40,000 in his primary to lose by 13 points to Chris Wilkens. Tetzner was considered a formidable challenger for first-term Democrat Teresa Tanzi in the general election, but he clearly didn’t have the solid base that Wilkens, a Narragansett Councilman, had.
Dan McGowan can be reached at dmcgowan@golocalprov.com. Follow him on Twitter: @danmcgowan.
Comments:
donatello gori
6:58am on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
when it come to politics in ri, we are all losers
Todd B
7:38am on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Who would have thought that a guy who didn't run TV commercials wouldn't win?!?
Gemma still hasn't gotten it right. He said in his concession speech that he didn't think voters were ready to deal with the voter fraud issue. They were ready. Gemma's mistake was relying on the media to sculpt and communicate his campaign message. The majority of people don't watch the local news or read the Projo. Walking neighborhoods is great, but you only catch a fraction of the voters because people are at work or just don't answer the doors. If you want to get your message to voters, you've got to pay to do it. Period.
Gemma failed to control the content and delivery of his message in what was perhaps the most poorly managed campaign this state has seen in years.
David Beagle
9:15am on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Gemma just never seemed to get it. He went off on his own tangent probably never listening too much to his "handlers"
John D Revelator
9:34am on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Bye bye Petrarca...maybe your replacement will actually return calls and emails from constituents.
pearl fanch
9:37am on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
What last night proves, beyond the shadow of a doubt, is that the RI democratic voter is completely happy with the way RI is being run.
Both sitting congressmen, Langevin and Cicilline, won in landslide victories.
RI is last in virtually every poll, yet the RI democratic voters, voted for these two again.
This means that RI democratic voters are happy, or totally insane.
In November, we’ll see if ALL of RI has completely lost it’s marbles, and continues to vote for these two. We’ll see if all of RI is totally insane.
If that’s the case, there will no longer EVER be a need to discuss the direction that this state is headed in, again. If things aren’t bad enough for RI, to change now, then RI will NEVER change. Discussion about the failures of RI can stop. For it will only fall on deaf ears.
I’m tired of the same ole corruption. I’m tired of the same ole policies. I’m tired of having my state being a laughing stock, to the rest of the country. I’m tired of my state not being taken seriously.
If RI votes these two back in in November, I’m done and so should you be.
Harold Stassen
11:03am on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
@pearl fanch:
You captured the state of affairs in RI perfectly. We are hopelessly stuck with voters who basically live to complain but do nothing to change the status quo. For those who have lived in this state for too long, this is a familiar scene. Now you know why many have left.
pearl fanch
11:42am on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Harold,
I'd leave this state tomorrow, if I wasn't going to lose $70,000 in equity of my home!!
Charles Drago
2:04pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
David Cicilline:
Richard Nixon won the 1972 presidential election in what at the time was a record landslide.
Two years later he was disgraced and out of office. And had it not been for the pre-resignation deal in which a pardon was promised, he would have died in prison.
It is said, David Cicilline, that the arc of the universe bends toward justice.
You will not serve another full term in Congress. And you will not be pardoned for your crimes -- not by the criminal justice system, and not by history.
Your days in public office are numbered.
Double digits.
Matthew Jerzyk:
Your brief visits to polling places yesterday were duly recorded.
If you value your freedom, you had best come forward now with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the Bluetooth.
Charles Drago
2:08pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Brendan Doherty:
You have no reason to fear David Cicilline's margin of victory.
It is illusory. Just ask Matthew "Memory Card" Jerzyk.
David Cicilline, sociopath extraordinaire, stuck it to his opponent by making certain that Anthony Gemma lost Lincoln (his home town) and North Providence (his biggest stronghold).
Just ask Matthew "Memory Card" Jerzyk.
Howard Miller
2:47pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Pearl i agree with you description of the state of R. I. i left the state and rented my house waiting hopefully for the the priced to rebound. However you left out one important factor. The Republican party in R. I. is pathetic. Imagine all the orupt officals and policitians we have yet the oppisition party make little or no gains every year. I once got so upet i joined the Republican party in North Providence. It was a waste of time. So until we get opisition that is in touch with the voters it is a long road to haul
Responsible Citizen
3:03pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The real losers as usual are the Rhode Islanders that get up everyday and work hard to be self sufficient and productive members of society.
The winners are all those that leach off the government and feel that we are responsible to pay their way while they have no responsibilty at all!
Todd B
3:11pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
@Charles Drago: You apparently struck a nerve. GoLocal cut off comments on the thread where you referred to the "Fadul Cicilline" YouTube clip!
So much for the 1st Amendment....
Jim Archer
3:23pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
@John D Revelator
I am working to be Petrarca's replacement, and I will return your calls and/or emails. The people of Rep district 44 deserve someone who will actually look after interests for a change.
Joe Shmoe
4:40pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
HA HA!
So you are disappointed that the garbage that you spew on here did not affect the election…..
All this proves is that for all your chest thumping on this website, you are impotent and insignificant, that the extreme right wing messaging you regurgitate fell on the ears of “moderates”, the 99%.
Although most comments on here are collectively right wing, most voters are not – sorry charley
The 99% or “most” people, are not on the left either. Good ole boy McCaffrey kept his seat, as well as the worst xenophobe and nativist Palumbo.
“Most” people are a little racist and homophobic AND most people do not believe in religious authority or trickle-down economics EITHER (regardless of how many business associations backed polls they are bombarded with).
Everyone agrees the choices suck and the system is rigged. People want honesty and accountability, but unfortunately they have to sort and decipher through all the vague rhetoric to see if there is any trace of a direction of the things they believe in.
Lets take Cicilline for example:
No one I know would personally pick Cicilline for anything. BUT nationally, the Democrats insinuate that they want accountability with the banks, lobbyist, Wall Street, campaign finance, etc. And the republicans talk about de-regulating everything and use scare tactics that people may react to, but nobody likes. Although we know no details, Cicilline seems to be going along with the general Dem program, and Gemma has no history and his stances on policies were vague if not invisible, so there is little faith in Cicilline but no faith in Gemma. “Most” people will vote for Cicilline over Doherty, not because they like Cicilline in any way or dislike Doherty, but because they like less the republican platform of blaming social programs (the poor) for the economy and wanting to reward those few, whose greed is wrecking the economy, with more tax breaks, even though the rest of us “most” are paying too much in taxes. No matter how you spin trickle-down economics, you won’t get “most” to buy it.
It’s not that most/moderates/99% are insane or think things are fine and or our politicians are great.
It’s that given the crappy choices, your crap smells a lot worse.
Love it or leave it baby!
Whitney Underwood
4:44pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Dear Dan, Why expose your readers to this Drago character? RIFUTURE banned him for this sort of thing. Some basic Internet research reveals that Drago is WAY OUT THERE with some interesting conspiracy theories regarding JFK's assassination, Princess Diana's death, UFOs and even Custer's last stand.
Drago considers himself a "co-founder" of the "Deep Politics Forum" whose mission is as follows: "Our mission transcends academic inquiry, which we accept as an invaluable tactic in a broader strategy to wield knowledge and truth as weapons in a coordinated assault on the manipulators who operate within deep political shadows."
Sounds creepy.
He has written that
"Conspiracy in the case of President Kennedy's assassination has been proven"
and
"There is not a scintilla of legitimate evidence to support the wholly discredited non-conspiratorial lone gunman theory concocted and defended by the government of the United States of America"
and
"Conspiracy in the death of JFK is fact"
and
"There is not a scintilla of legitimate evidence to support the wholly discredited theory that Lee Harvey Oswald ever discharged a firearm within a mile of President Kennedy"
and, in regards to Princess Diana's death,
"Might Dodi al Fayed have been recruited by security services to entangle himself with Diana, only to become -- unwittingly -- a patsy component of the murder conspiracy that took her down?"
and
"Deep political forces within the military/industrial complex of the time conspired to embarrass Custer -- and thus neutralize him as a political force viewed as a serious impediment to the fulfillment of Manifest Destiny -- by sabotaging his actions..."
Rantings? Yes. Fit for political discussion? No.
Charles Drago
5:56pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
"Whitney Underwood" --
Thanks for the plugs.
For all interested parties:
www.deeppoliticsforum.com
And thanks for confirming, from the coward's retreat provided by a pseudonym, that I'm striking nerves.
Reveal yourself.
Wait a minute ... you already have.
Edward Smith
6:59pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Thanks for sharing the link, Charlie. At least you have the courage to embrace your insanity. I like that. Now, the fact that Gemma knew all this about you and STILL paid for your advice speaks volumes.
Todd B
7:08pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Drago may be a nutcase or not. I don't know him. But I do know that there are multiple people who claim the Cicilline campaign engaged in voter fraud and there is now a video of someone who publicly stepped forward to accuse Cicilline of personally paying for underprivileged minor males for sex with cash and drugs. This doesn't appear to be some type of "whisper campaign", because the accusers are making the comments publicly.
Either David Cicilline is the sleaziest politician in RI's history or he is the victim of the sleaziest negative campaigning the state has ever seen.
David Allen
8:25pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
ToddB, please do not be surprised that GoLocal neutered the content. Jason Barrett and Cicilline go way back - and the "jounalists" here are committed to papering over the lies, both former and ongoing lies - of Cicilline, and his apparent indiscretions while on holiday. This is a pattern and practice of both GoLocal and Cicilline.
David Allen
8:29pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The real losers of this election are the idiots in the First District that voted for Cicilline. They buy into his lies and excuses regarding Providence, they buy into his lies about Doherty's stance on sociale security and every other lie he tells.
What is telling is that Cicilline's focused on reaming Doherty and propagating lies and not once mentioned his own accomplishments, attributes or capabilities.
We have the dumbest voting body in the country - hands down.
David Allen
8:30pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Joe Shmoe, Cicilline says he takes on banksnand then accepts huge donations from heir people. Another lie.
Charles Drago
9:11pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
"Edward Smith" --
Thank you, too, for the good press.
I invite one and all to visit the Amazon site for "A Certain Arrogance," the history book to which I contributed the Introduction:
http://www.amazon.com/Certain-Arrogance-Sacrificing-Manipulation-Intelligence/dp/0984185844/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347494995&sr=8-1&keywords=a+certain+arrogance
I can't imagine how much I would have had to pay for your freely offered publicity!
Charles Drago
9:13pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
"Edward Smith" --
When you address me as "Charlie," you leave the impression that yours is the pen name of Matthew "Bluetooth" Jerzyk.
Or, as Benny Golson asked, are you real?
Todd B
10:18pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
@David Allen: There's not much GoLocal or anyone else can do to paper it over at this point. Cicilline is running against a former head of the State Police who has strong ties to the FBI and generally speaking, the FBI isn't a big fan of underage sex tourism (which this would be, if true). And by this point, you have to assume that both the House Republican and Democratic leaders are at least aware of the accusations. And after Eric Massa and Mark Foley, I don't see the Democrats sticking by him if this stuff is true. If this stuff isn't true, than Cicilline should start filing libel suits.
John Locke
1:43pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
Poor Libby, I really hoped she would win. John had his time and should let others have a turn.
As for marriage equality it is run by a former house member with a drinking problems. So 1 yes he can win house seats, but 2 why on earth would you hire someone with such public baggage!!!!
MERI shape up or ship out!
Gemma, well all I can say is wish you did some commercials man.