Progressive Democrats Sweep Rhode Island

On September 8, the edifice of power that Rhode Island’s Democratic Party machine held over the statehouse was revealed to be a mostly empty facade. Rhode Island progressives ousted eight incumbents in the state’s Democratic primaries, and five more won open seats, forming one of the latest, and most sweeping, waves of primary challenges from the left to a state Democratic Party.

After over a decade of attempting to win legislative victories by pressuring elected officials from outside the statehouse, progressive organizations in the state had tried something new: primarying over two dozen incumbent lawmakers with the hopes of winning a few seats. Across the state, candidates without conventional political experience, backed primarily by new organizations diving into local electoral politics, went up against conservative Democrats.

Unlike similar movements to primary local conservative Democrats, like Reclaim Philadelphia and No IDC NY, the Rhode Island effort was not coordinated by a single organization and did not zero in on top leadership. Instead, it was a come-one-come-all effort, organized and supported by a half-dozen groups recruiting, running, and supporting progressive challengers. They included the Working Families Party, local Sunrise chapters, a new organization called the Rhode Island Political Cooperative (RIPC), a group of former volunteers for Bernie Sanders’s 2020 primary campaign called Reclaim RI, and the Providence Democratic Socialists of America.

Read the full article by the Nation, here.