Women Donors: Rhode Island Women Candidates Need Your Help

Marcia Ranglin-Vassell took down House Majority Leader, John DeSimone, in 2016. DeSimone was a close ally of House Speaker Mattiello. Now it looks like the party is trying to take Ranglin-Vassell out.

Bob Plain sums up the sad state of affairs in his post, RI Dem Party Doesn’t Endorse Three Progressive Female Legislators, so I’m going to quote extensively from him.  The upshot from my perspective is that the Rhode Island Democratic party’s abandonment of progressive women candidates is a huge misstep for the party, along with their recent endorsement of John Carnevale, who is still on trial for perjury and in 2012 stood trial for charges of first and second degree sexual assault.

From Bob Plain:

Being a progressive woman may be beneficial at the ballot box in the 2018 election but it doesn’t seem to help with respect to endorsements from the Rhode Island Democratic Party.

Three female legislators learned this the hard way when the state Party endorsed their more-conservative primary opponents. Reps. Moira Walsh and Marcia Ranglin-Vassell, both Providence House members, and Sen. Jeanine Calkin, of Warwick, aren’t the endorsed candidates in their races. They are the only incumbents who didn’t win the endorsement of the state Democratic Party.

Walsh lost the House District 3 endorsement to Michael Earnheart, which didn’t surprise her. “My opponent changed affiliation to democrat in March,” Walsh tweeted about Earnheart. “Previous to that he’s been a republican his entire life. He’s a vocal Trump supporter. Now watch as the @RIDemParty shows its true colors and endorses my opponent. Straight up shameful.”

Earnheart could not be reached for comment. His Twitter account, which previously included advocacy for conservative positions, seems to have been deleted. On his campaign Facebook page, peppered with requests from progressives to explain his positions defended some conservative ideas. “I fully support the Second Amendment and will defend against legislation that attempts to stop or interfere with lawful gun ownership,” he wrote.

Let’s stop right here and call attention to the lack of credentials that Earnheart has as a Democrat. He is a pro-gun Trump supporter. Full stop.

Another incumbent progressive Democrat not endorsed by the Democratic party of Rhode Island is Marcia Ranglin-Vassell:

Ranglin-Vassell lost the endorsement in her reelection bid to Holly Coolman, a Providence College professor who doesn’t support abortion rights or, locally, the Reproductive Health Care Act. She told the Providence Journal she considers herself a “traditional Democrat,” though some counter that’s a euphemism for conservative Democrat.

“Not so random thought -speaking the truth has consequences, speak the truth nonetheless,” Ranglin-Vassell tweeted yesterday.

In 2016, Ranglin-Vassell upset Majority Leader John DeSimone, a close ally of conservative-leaning House Speaker Nick Mattiello. House speakers traditionally condone, or recruit, primary opponents against legislators who veered from the speaker’s agenda. Ranglin-Vassell and Walsh have both been outspoken advocates for sharp increases to the minimum wage and codifying abortion rights in Rhode Island law, both of which Mattiello opposes. The pair represent at least the third time a liberal-leaning female legislator from Providence has attracted a conservative primary opponent since Mattiello has been speaker of the House.

On the Senate side, Calkin will have to defend her seat in a primary against Mark McKenney, who won the state party’s endorsement. Calkin is a Bernie Sanders supporter who upset longtime Senator William Walaska in 2016. McKenney and Walaska, who died a year after losing his legislative seat, are friends and McKenney had long fancied Walaska’s Senate seat.

Incumbents aren’t the only women who were passed over in the Party’s endorsement process. In spite of being active with her town party and the state Party’s Women’s Caucus, Bridget Valverde, of North Kingstown, lost the party endorsement to Greg Acciardo, a former state senator from Johnston who has been charged with drunk driving on several occasions

The point for women donors:  it’s important to know about these local legislative candidates in Rhode Island.  These are the women leaders who most need and deserve to hold their seats as our state legislatures grow their female leadership base.

Philanthropy Women will be featuring more information about women candidates in the run-up to the primaries and the general election. To learn more about these three women running in Rhode Island, please visit their candidate websites:

Moira Walsh, Democrat for House of Representatives in Rhode Island

Marcia Ranglin-Vassell, Democrat for House of Representatives in RI

Jeanine Calkin, Democrat for Senate in Rhode Island

Related:

For #RIGivesDay, Invest in the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island

This is How We Do It: Celebrating Some Feminist Victories

Small But Mighty: Women’s Fund of Rhode Island Makes New Round of Grants

Author: Kiersten Marek

Kiersten Marek, LICSW, is the founder of Philanthropy Women. She practices clinical social work and writes about how women donors and their allies are advancing social change.

2 thoughts on “Women Donors: Rhode Island Women Candidates Need Your Help”

  1. Also in RI…Terri Cortvriend, current Chair of the Portsmouth School Committee, running for RI State Rep District 72 did not receieve the State Committee endorsement even with recieving endorsements from her Democrats District 72 Committee, Portsmouth Town Democrats, and Middletown Town Committee. Her paperwork was all filled on Monday and was on the Secretary of State’s website for all to see before the State Committee made their endorsements. The RIDP E.D. claims he wasnt aware she had received the endorsement. VoteTerri.com

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