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Rhode Island
A potential 2026 challenger to Providence Mayor Brett Smiley – The Boston Globe
The 2026 election is still a long way away, but a state representative is openly flirting with the idea of challenging Providence Mayor Brett Smiley in the Democratic primary.
State Representative David Morales, the 26-year-old progressive who was first elected in 2020 and holds a side gig as a wrestler, confirmed that he is considering running for mayor in less than two years.
”While I’m still gauging support and financial viability, this is an opportunity that I’ve been encouraged about for a while now from neighbors and a handful of officials,” Morales said. He teased a potential run on social media last week, the same day I listed him as one of 10 Democrats to watch in Rhode Island.
The bigger picture: Morales isn’t as much of a bomb thrower as some of his progressive allies in the legislature, which has helped to endear him to House leadership. That doesn’t mean they’d support him over Smiley, but they do view him as an effective member of the General Assembly.
Smiley’s main vulnerability has always been with progressives — he lost the left-leaning West End to Gonzalo Cuervo in the 2022 primary — and he could have gum on his shoes if he follows through on a property tax increase next year to pay for what the city owes its schools.
Morales’s challenge would be expanding his base beyond the progressives who will vote for anyone but Smiley. He’s deeply involved in the Mount Pleasant community beyond politics, coaching Little League and holding events at the local library. His appeal could extend into the East Side (where Smiley lives) and he speaks fluent Spanish.
Reality check: An incumbent mayor hasn’t lost in Providence since 1974, when Buddy Cianci beat Joe Doorley. The last time an incumbent mayor faced a credible challenge was 1994, when Cianci beat back Paul Jabour.
So the odds are still very much on Smiley’s side, especially since he’ll have a massive financial advantage. The mayor currently has $561,000 in his campaign account, compared to $43,000 for Morales.
One issue to keep an eye on in 2025 is rent control.
The City Council is planning to roll out a proposal on limiting rent increases in the coming months, and Smiley has said he opposes the idea. If he can’t kill the ordinance with the council, an alternative option would be to seek a preemption from the General Assembly that blocks municipalities from imposing rent control (this happened around the minimum wage in 2014). If rent control ends up a topic on Smith Hill, it could become an opening for Morales to raise his profile.
This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also contains information about local events, links to interesting stories, and more. If you’d like to receive it via email Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
Dan McGowan can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com. Follow him @danmcgowan.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island shifts its primary to Wednesday, Sept. 9, easing a Labor Day poll setup crunch
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island’s primary elections will now be held on Wednesday, Sept. 9, moving it back from the typical Tuesday election day because it fell too close to Labor Day.
Gov. Dan McKee, a Democrat, signed off on the change earlier this week. The primary election had been scheduled for Sept. 8, which is the day after the holiday weekend.
State and local officials had requested the change after raising concerns about having enough time to set up polls for voters. However, under the legislation enacted, the filing deadlines will remain the same.
“We have to set up over 400 polling places around the state on the day before the election,” Nick Lima, the registrar and director of elections for the city of Cranston, told lawmakers at a hearing in January. “That’s very difficult to do on a holiday because many of our polls are schools, social halls and churches.”
It’s not unusual for states to change their election day. Lawmakers in neighboring Massachusetts changed the state’s 2026 primary election day from Sept. 15 to Sept. 1, arguing that doing so will help improve voter turnout.
Only four states hold their primary elections in September: Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Delaware, which has the latest primary date in the U.S., taking place this year on Sept. 15.
Legislation seeking to move up Delaware’s primary election by several months has been introduced in the statehouse, but previous attempts to do so have stalled.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
CUMBERLAND, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island State Police are investigating a crash that happened on I-295 North in Cumberland Tuesday night.
The crash happened in the right lane near Exit 22 just before 9 p.m.
It’s unclear exactly what caused the crash or if anyone was injured.
12 News has reached out to Rhode Island State Police for more information but has not heard back.
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Rhode Island’s Democrat and Republican primary elections will officially be held on Wednesday, Sept. 9 this year, instead of the usual Tuesday election day.
Lawmakers passed the bill at the urging of state and local officials, who were concerned that an election day falling the day after Labor Day would not give them enough time to set up polls for the arrival of voters.
Gov. Dan McKee signed the bill on April 20, officially moving the primary day for 2026.
Which races will be on the ballot? The Republican and Democrat nominees for a swath of local offices – most notably governor but also lieutenant governor and attorney general.
Why was RI’s primary day moved?
At a hearing on the bill earlier this year, Randy Rossi, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns explained the “significant logistical and financial challenges” municipalities otherwise would have faced having an election the day after Labor Day.
“Beyond cost, municipalities face serious logistical challenges accessing and setting up more than 430 polling locations on a major federal holiday, a process that often requires many hours and access to facilities that are typically closed and unstaffed on Labor Day,” he said.
“Compounding these challenges, many municipalities conduct early voting in city or town halls that must also serve as primary day polling locations,” Rossi noted.
Without changes to current law, he said, “municipalities would be required to conduct early voting and primary day polling simultaneously, often in the same limited space and with the same poll workers, requiring additional staffing and facilities.”
By the time this legislative hearing took place in January, other states facing similar issues, including Massachusetts, had already adjusted their primary dates, “and Rhode Island itself has demonstrated that alternative scheduling can be successful, as occurred during the statewide Wednesday primary in 2018,” Rossi said.
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