Information you may need Before going out to vote today.

 

From Tina:

 

All of the primaries listed below are Democratic primaries, as there are very few if any Republican primaries for General Assembly seats. If your district is not listed below, there is no primary in your district. Most of the legislative votes on LGBT issues since 2013 have been near-unanimous if not unanimous, so there isn’t as much helpful information based on voting records as there was in the past. I have done the best I could to find information based on endorsements, news sources, candidate websites, voting records from before 2013, and whatever else I could find, and I apologize for any omissions or errors. If you have additional information, you can email me privately at tinawood@cox.net, and I can send out an addendum as I have in years past.

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> House primaries:
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> District 3, Providence: Rep. Moira Walsh vs Michael Earnheart. Walsh is openly bisexual and is one of our strongest supporters. Earnheart has a history of supporting conservative candidates and issues.
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> District 4, Providence, open seat: Rebecca Kislak vs Mark Tracy. Kislak is openly lesbian and endorsed by a number of progressive organizations. Tracy also identifies as progressive, but there is no information on his positions on LGBTQ issues on his website.
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> District 5, Providence: Rep. Marcia Ranglin-Vassell vs Holly Coolman. Ranglin-Vassell is one of our strongest supporters in the legislature and is being targeted by House leadership for her progressive views.
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> District 7, Providence: Rep. Daniel McKiernan vs Belen Florez. I can’t find much relevant info about either candidate, but McKiernan was supported by House leadership in the 2014 race that he won against then-Rep. Maria Cimini, who had been one of our strongest supporters.
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> District 9, Providence: Rep Anastasia Williams vs Dwayne Keys. Williams has been one of our community’s strongest and most outspoken supporters for many years.
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> District 11, Providence: Rep Grace Diaz vs Laura Perez. Diaz has been one of our community’s strongest supporters for many years, and Perez has specifically attacked her support of LGBT issues in past campaigns over the years.
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> District 13, Providence, Johnston: Rep Ramon Perez vs Mario Mendez (note: John Carnevale’s name might also be on the ballot, but he was ruled ineligible to run.) Various progressive organizations are supporting Mendez in this race.
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> District 26, Coventry, Warwick, West Warwick, open seat: Jeanne-Marie Dimasi vs James Jackson and Vincent Marzullo. Not much info about this race, but at least one progressive organization (possibly others) has endorsed Marzullo.
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> District 28, Coventry, open seat: Scott Guthrie vs Lucas Murray. Guthrie previously held this seat and voted for marriage equality and other LGBT issues.
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> District 33, Rep Carol Hagan McEntee vs Joseph Manning. Not much info, but at least one progressive organization has endorsed McEntee.
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> District 47, Burrillville, Glocester: Rep Cale Keable vs Russel Jennings. Keable has been a consistent supporter of LGBT-related legislation during his tenure.
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> District 58, Pawtucket: Rep Carlos Tobon vs Jonathan Vallecilla. Tobon has been on record as supporting marriage equality from at least 4 years before he took office (he was not in office when it passed but had run for that seat in the elections prior to it passing.) At least one progressive organization has endorsed Vallecilla. UpriseRI has full video coverage of the candidates’ recent debate: https://upriseri.com/news/elections/elections-2018/2018-08-14-house-district-58-forum/
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> District 59, Pawtucket: Rep Jean Barros vs David Santagata. At least two progressive organizations have endorsed Barros.
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> District 63, East Providence: Rep Katherine Kazarian vs Elizabeth Clupny. Progressive organizations have endorsed Kazarian.
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> District 64, East Providence, open seat: David O’Connell vs Jose Serodio. O’Connell’s press release announcing his run said that he is running as a “Democrat committed to conservative family values.”
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> District 66, Barrington, East Providence, open seat: Liana Cassar vs John Chung. Progressive organizations have endorsed Cassar.
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> District 68, Bristol, Warren, open seat: Laufton Ascencao vs Andrew Tyska. Ascencao is endorsed by progressive organizations and has been active in organizing local progressive activities.
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> District 69, Bristol: Rep Susan Donovan vs Leif Nygaard. Donovan is endorsed by progressive organizations.
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> Senate races:
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> District 1, Providence: Sen Maryellen Goodwin vs Michael Guzman. Goodwin voted for marriage equality and gave a memorable floor speech about it, and has supported many (but not all) pieces of LGBT-related legislation over the years.
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> District 5, Providence: Sen Paul Jabour vs Nicholas Autiello and Sam Bell. Jabour did vote for marriage equality after having been undecided for quite some time. Bell is a local progressive activist and is openly bisexual and worked for and testified for marriage equality legislation. Autiello is openly gay, but some activists have raised concerns about his support of conservative candidates and issues in the past. Context about the latter can be found at https://upriseri.com/?s=autiello
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> District 6, Providence: Sen Harold Metts vs Carlos Cedeno and Jonathan Hernandez. Metts has been a consistent and vocal opponent of almost all LGBT-related legislation over many years. Hernandez is endorsed by some local progressive organizations.
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> District 7, Providence, North Providence: Sen Frank Ciccone vs Shannon Donahue. Ciccone was one of the lead opponents of marriage equality in the Senate although he has since supported some pro-LGBT legislation. Donahue is openly lesbian and endorsed by some local progressive organizations.
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> District 14, East Providence, open seat: Delmar Branco Corndinho vs Valarie Lawson. Local progressive groups have endorsed Lawson.
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> District 17, Lincoln, North Providence, North Smithfield: Dennis Lavallee vs Keven McKenna. Lavallee previously ran for this seat and was endorsed by various progressive orgs at the time. McKenna is mainly known as something of a gadfly.
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> District 22, Smithfield, North Providence, Johnston. Sen Steve Archambault vs Melanie DuPont. DuPont is endorsed by some progressive organizations (specifically pro-choice orgs.) Archambault has supported LGBT issues in the Senate and was one of the committee members who strongly questioned people who testified against marriage equality legislation.
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> District 23, Burrillville, Glocester, North Smithfield, open seat: Kevin Heitke vs Paul Roselli. Roselli is endorsed by some local progressive organizations. Heitke has run for office in the past and was on the record years ago as supporting marriage equality.
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> District 29, Warwick: Sen Michael McCaffrey vs Jennifer Rourke. McCaffrey has been a strong and consistent opponent of most LGBT issues during his tenure. Some local progressive orgs have endorsed Rourke.
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> District 30, Warwick: Sen. Jeanine Calkin vs Mark McKenney. McKenney is an ally of the previous holder of this seat, the late William Walaska, who was a consistent opponent of LGBT issues. Calkin is the incumbent but was deliberately not endorsed by the state Democratic Party leadership, possibly because of her progressive views. She is endorsed by local progressive orgs.
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> District 35, East Greenwich, North Kingstown, South Kingstown, Narragansett, open seat: Bridget Valverde vs Gregory Acciardo. The state Democratic Party leadership initially endorsed Acciardo over Valverde even though Acciardo has an extensive criminal record. They rescinded the endorsement after public outcry. Valverde is endorsed by local progressive organizations.
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> District 36, Narragansett, North Kingstown: Sen. James Sheehan vs Alana DiMario. Sheehan has supported LGBT issues during his tenure. DiMario is endorsed by some progressive orgs.
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