It would appear that one major takeaway from the 2022 election – nationally, statewide and locally – is that the extremes did not do very well.
In Rhode Island, while Democrats took all statewide general officer positions and again solidly maintained control of the state Senate and state House of Representatives, members of the Rhode Island Political Cooperative only won two of the 31 races in which they offered candidates.
State Rep. Brianna Henries, D-Dist. 64 won reelection, and Jennifer Stewart won in district 59.
At the top of the collaborative’s ticket were former Secretary of State Matt Brown, who was running for governor, and state Senator Cynthia Mendes of East Providence, who was running for Secretary of State. Both lost in the primary election.
In 2020 progressives did well in the election, but that wasn’t the case in 2022, at least among those who identified with the Progressive Collaborative.
Of the 14 candidates running for the House, 11 lost in primary elections, with Henries and Stewart winning, and Samara Yelle losing in the general election in District 26.
Other collaborative House candidates, all of whom lost in primaries, were Jackie Anders (D 23), Capri Catanzaro (D 21), Savannah Dacruz (D 2), Kimberly Dicupe (D 62), Clara Hardy (D 55), Marlene Guay (D 51), Alex Kithes (D 49), Damian Lima (D 6), Zakary Pereira (D 22), San Shappell (D 65), and Danielle Walsh (D 32).