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2012 elections review: Seven incumbents fall in Rhode Island legislative primaries
September 12, 2012
By Ballotpedia's Congressional and State legislative teams
The primary season continued yesterday with elections in Delaware, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.
Here's what happened in Rhode Island.
| Contested Primaries in Rhode Island-- September 11, 2012 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. House (2 seats) |
State Legislature (113 seats) | ||||
| Total Democratic Contested Primaries | 2 (100%) | 43 (38%) | |||
| Total Republican Contested Primaries | 2 (100%) | 5 (4%) | |||
Congress
U.S. Senate
There were no contested primaries in Rhode Island's U.S. Senate race yesterday. Democratic incumbent Sheldon Whitehouse and Republican challenger Barry Hinckley both ran unopposed in their primaries. Todd Giroux, Dany LaPorte, Christopher D. Reynolds, and David J. Slavin are running as Independent candidates. In addition, Gregory Raposa is running for the Vigilant Fox Party.
U.S. House
Rhode Island has two congressional seats on the ballot in 2012. A total of 16 candidates filed to run, made up of 4 Democratic challengers, 6 Republican challengers, 2 incumbents, and 4 third-party candidates. A total of 429 U.S. House seats have held primaries. Thus far, 55.01% of possible primaries have been contested. Rhode Island's contested figure of 100% (4 out of 4 possible party primaries) is much more competitive than the national average.
1st Congressional District: Incumbent David N. Cicilline defeated Ann Marie Delaney, Anthony Gemma and Christopher Young in the Democratic primary. Brendan Doherty defeated Michael J. Donahue in the Republican primary.
- 2nd Congressional District: Incumbent James R. Langevin fended off a primary challenge from John O. Matson in the Democratic primary. Meanwhile, Michael G. Riley defeated Michael J. Gardiner, Donald F. Robbio, and Kara D. Russo in the Republican primary.
| Members of the U.S. House from Rhode Island-- Partisan Breakdown | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 2012 | After the 2012 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 2 | 2 | |
| Republican Party | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 2 | 2 | |
State legislature
In Rhode Island, there are 113 total legislative seats with elections in 2012. There were 43 (38%) contested Democratic primaries and 5 (4%) contested Republican primaries. Thus, there were 48 (21%) races with at least two candidates on the ballot. The 21% figure of contested primaries in Rhode Island was higher than the current national contested average of 18.4%.
There were a total of 34 incumbents facing primary opposition -- 32 Democrats and 2 Republicans. A total of seven incumbents were defeated, six in the House and one in the Senate:
Senate
House
Some of the incumbents facing a primary challenge were:
Senate
- District 14: Incumbent Daniel Da Ponte (D) survived a challenged by State Rep. Roberto DaSilva.
- District 25: 19 year old University of Rhode Island student Nicole Amelia Acciardo was defeated by incumbent Frank Lombardo III.
District 34: Incumbent Francis Maher survived a challenge from Paul R. Mcfadden.
House
- District 8 freshman Michael Tarro (D) was soundly defeated by Elizabeth Libby Kimzey and John Joseph Lombardi.
- District 44: Peter Petrarca lost to Gregory Costantino.
- District 49 incumbent Lisa Baldelli-Hunt (D) was challenged by Stuart Gitlow and Michael Morin. She won.
- District 59: Incumbent J. Patrick O'Neill, in office since 2005, faced John Arcaro. Arcaro lost.
| Rhode Island House of Representatives | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 5, 2012 | After the 2012 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 65 | 69 | |
| Republican Party | 10 | 6 | |
| Total | 75 | 75 | |
| Rhode Island State Senate | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 5, 2012 | After the 2012 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 29 | 32 | |
| Republican Party | 8 | 5 | |
| Independent | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 38 | 38 | |
See also
| ||
| Propositions • | Recall | • Law |
- United States Senate elections in Rhode Island, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections in Rhode Island, 2012
- Rhode Island State Senate elections, 2012
- Rhode Island House of Representatives elections, 2012
References
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