Newport, RI – By all accounts, COVID-19 will make campaigning particularly difficult this year, and so Election 2020 is certain to be memorable for its many new challenges here in Newport County and across the state.

Aside from the presidency, voters in Rhode Island will have an opportunity on September 8th (Primary) and November 3rd (General Election) to change the makeup of their local city/town offices, state Senate, House of Representatives, and its Congressional delegation.

At WhatsUpNewp we intend to aggressively cover the local and statewide races, providing candidates with opportunities to reach voters via text, video, audio, and social media, and voters with a reliable resource to find important news and information about the candidates and the upcoming elections.

To help voters get to know their candidates – and also to help candidates reach their constituents – this week we have shared a questionnaire with local and statewide candidates. In the upcoming days, we’ll also be reaching out to candidates to schedule interviews and more.

The questionnaire and follow up interviews we will be doing with candidates will certainly be a more valuable tool this year than it was in the past simply based on the difficulty of going door-to-door to talk to voters in 2020. This is an excellent vehicle and opportunity for every candidate to get their ideas out to voters and constituents. As we receive responses to our questionnaires and conduct interviews, we will share them on our website and on our social media channels.

The goal here is to get as much participation as possible from all of Rhode Island’s local, General Assembly, and Congressional candidates, and then to share their completed questionnaires out to as many readers as possible.

Every election is determined by the people who show up. Our goal is to provide as much information as possible to our readers so they are as informed and educated about the candidates and issues as possible.

Candidates – if you or your campaign manager haven’t received an email from us by end of day on July 17th, let us know by emailing Ryan@whatsupnewp.com and we’ll get you set up to complete the questionnaire and will get you booked for an interview as soon as possible.

Register. Get Informed. Vote,

—Ryan Belmore & the What’s Up Newp Crew