• Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio’s death has led to a contested election for his successor.
• The likely new leadership team comprises Senate Majority Leader Valerie Lawson and Senate Labor Chairman Frank Ciccone, representing an unusual liberal-conservative alliance.
• Key policy areas like gun control, gambling regulations, and income tax could see shifts under the new leadership.
• Former Senate Majority Leader Ryan Pearson remains a potential contender, drawing support from senators hesitant to back Ciccone.

PROVIDENCE − The State House rumor mill is in overdrive hours ahead of the vote to elect a new Senate President ‒ and potentially a new Democratic leadership team in the wake of the long-ailing Senate President Dominick Ruggerio’s death.

Heading into the late afternoon vote on Tuesday, April 29, the unlikely − but politically necessary − alliance of the current Senate Majority Leader Valarie Lawson and Senate Labor Chairman Frank Ciccone seemed to be holding.

The election of Lawson and Ciccone – a teachers union president and former Laborers union official as the new Senate president and majority leader −  would be obviously good news for organized labor, which has played a behind-the-scenes role in cementing their leadership team.

Beyond their shared ties to labor, Lawson, the avowed liberal, and Ciccone, the conservative who is often on the same side as the tiny Senate GOP caucus on guns and other culture-war issues, are at opposite ends of the political spectrum.

The wild card: former Senate Majority Leader Ryan Pearson, a senior VP at Citizens bank, who has potential votes from an unknown number of senators who strongly prefer him to Ciccone in top leadership.

Tuesday’s action will begin in an open 4 p.m. Democratic caucus and then segue into the first Senate session since Ruggerio’s death on April 21, where the full Senate − Democrats and Republicans − will elect the new president for the remainder of the 2025-26 term.

What changes with Lawson and Ciccone leading the Senate?

But the Senate under Ruggerio was already seen as union friendly, particularly to the Laborers and private sector construction unions.   

Lawson is the current $157,000-a-year president of the National Education Association of Rhode Island and she has given no indication she intends to give the job up, as Ruggerio did with his top-ranked job with the Laborers when he became president.

Lawson taking top spot over Ciccone is likely to mean a more hospitable climate for public sector unions and the service sector.  

Gun legislation

For years the Ruggerio Senate served as a check on the most aggressive goals of gun control advocates and particularly a ban on so-called assault weapons.  

Lawson co-sponsored the Senate version of this year’s assault weapons ban bill and her elevation to president would greatly increase the odds it might come to the floor for a vote. 

Ciccone does not support the assault weapons ban as it stands, but on April 24, the day his partnership with Lawson was announced, said “if you change the definition to what an assault weapons is, I may not have a problem with the bill, I am open to it.”   

If the bill gets to the floor, it could pass with or without his vote.  

Gambling legislation

In the policy realm, Ruggerio’s absence may be felt the strongest in Rhode Island’s casinos, where he championed expansion and maximizing gambling as a revenue source. 

Ruggerio also stood in the way of efforts to ban smoking at Bally’s casinos in Lincoln and Tiverton.  

There is no sign Lawson or Ciccone feel as strongly about it and organized labor has come out in favor of ending smoking at the casinos. 

Ciccone has also sponsored legislation that would break International Game Technology’s monopoly on online sports betting in Rhode Island and allow up to five gambling companies bid on launching apps here. 

What will Republicans get?

A divided Democratic caucus and close leadership election would typically provide a rare opening for Republicans to exact some policy concessions in exchange for their votes.  

But the four GOP votes may not be enough to tip the president race and what the Republican caucus really wants – to kill the assault weapons ban – is likely not on the table. 

Historically Republicans have been able to get a couple bills through Democratic leadership by voting for a new leader, they have tended to be pretty small. 

Income tax rates

For years Ruggerio, like House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and Gov. Dan McKee, was dead set against any increase in income tax rates, even for the top 1% of earners. 

During most of those years state coffers were full enough to ease pressure for any tax increase, but the fiscal picture this year is different. 

Shekarchi has said he can’t rule a tax increase out this year and Ruggerio’s replacement with the more liberal Lawson may increase the odds of it happening.