Rhode Island lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2014

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Rhode Island Lieutenant Gubernatorial Election

Primary Date: September 9, 2014

General Election Date: November 4, 2014

November 4 Election Winner: Daniel McKee

Incumbent prior to election: Elizabeth Roberts

Rhode Island State Executive Elections Top Ballot Governor • Lt. Governor • Secretary of State • Attorney General Down Ballot Treasurer

The Rhode Island lieutenant gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Elizabeth Roberts (D) was first elected in 2006 and was ineligible to seek re-election due to term limits. The race to replace Roberts featured five candidates including Democratic candidate Daniel McKee and Republican candidate Catherine Terry Taylor. McKee won election for a four-year term.

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election.

Rhode Island utilizes a semi-closed primary system. Unaffiliated voters may vote in a party's primary without affiliating with that party. Voters that are affiliated with a party at the time of the primary election may only vote in that party's primary.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Candidates

General election

Daniel McKee - Cumberland Mayor
Catherine Terry Taylor - former speechwriter and 2010 candidate for Secretary of State
Tony Jones
Thomas David Gallant - Constitutionalist Party candidate
William Gilbert - Moderate Party candidate

Lost in primary

Ralph Mollis - Secretary of State
Frank Ferri - State representative
Kara Young

Declined

Joshua Miller - State Senator

Results

General election

Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Daniel McKee	54.3%	169,078
	Republican	Catherine Terry Taylor	33.8%	105,305
	Moderate	William Gilbert	8.3%	25,951
	Libertarian	Tony Jones	3.3%	10,221
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.3%	906
Total Votes				311,461
Election results via State of Rhode Island

Primary election

Democratic primary

Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island, Democratic Primary, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Daniel McKee	43%	50,229
Ralph Mollis	36.4%	42,525
Frank Ferri	20.5%	23,970
Total Votes		116,724
Election results via Rhode Island Board of Elections.

Republican primary

Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island, Republican Primary, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Catherine Terry Taylor	66.7%	17,722
Kara Young	33.3%	8,831
Total Votes		26,553
Election results via Rhode Island Board of Elections.

Campaign themes

Daniel McKee (D) and Catherine Terry Taylor (R) made public statements about the major issues facing Rhode Island in the future. The following sections quote these statements verbatim from candidate websites.

Daniel McKee

“	Rhode Islanders are sick of the status quo. They are sick of politics as usual from their State officials, and they are sick of their cities and towns being under represented. They are demanding a new style of leadership, one that brings fresh ideas to the table and will put Rhode Island back on the path to long-term financial stability. As lieutenant governor I will focus on three main issues: improving our schools, making our streets safer, and creating better economic opportunities for all Rhode Island families. I will do this by bringing fresh ideas to the table and working with community leaders across the state to modernize Rhode Island’s job creation, tax and education policies. Job Creation As a small-business owner myself, I know first-hand the burdens of running your own business, and, frankly, I’m tired of Rhode Island being the first into economic downturns and the last one out. Taxes I believe it should be our priority to get as many of our taxes inline with our neighboring states as possible. Too much tax revenue is being lost to Massachusetts and Connecticut because it’s cheaper to buy things across state lines. Education I believe that improving education is the key to getting Rhode Island’s economy moving again. As an elected official and community leader, I have worked tirelessly to improve public education and ensure that every Rhode Island child has access to a great education.	”
—Daniel McKee's campaign website, (2014)

Catherine Terry Taylor

“	Why I’m running As a citizen and a taxpayer, I want to ensure that the job of Lieutenant Governor is performed in a way that is of maximum value to us. I have the knowledge and experience to provide that value. Why I’m running as a Republican At the root of our state’s problems lies Rhode Island’s one-party rule. Robust two-party competition fosters creativity and accountability–essentials for high-quality, low-cost government. What is missing from Rhode Island People We all know that our young people move away to find work. By cutting taxes, streamlining regulations, and lowering the cost of health care, we can help our businesses create jobs to attract and retain that young talent. But we are also losing our new retirees—our natural customers for our tourism and hospitality industries. We need them to spend their free time and disposable income here. By lowering the cost of living for them – reducing property taxes and eliminating the tax on Social Security, for example – we can retain and attract our missing parents and grandparents. Transparency The process by which our public officials negotiate the annual budget is done with little regard for public input or common sense. People and businesses need predictability and stability in costs and regulations in order to plan and budget. I will work tirelessly to shine a light on this process. We deserve to know exactly where our money goes. The Big Picture When it comes to improving our economic outlook, I believe there’s a lot we aren’t seeing. For example: we tend to keep the structure and policy of health care and of business separate—but they are powerfully related! Good health care attracts talent and maximizes productivity by keeping workers healthy and undistracted. Furthermore, cutting red tape and streamlining reporting requirements lowers the costs to health care and social service providers and therefore the consumer, just as for any other business. At the same time, more jobs for young people (a product of a better business environment) will drive down health care costs by adding more healthy people to the risk pool. It all fits together! What I will do Every agency, every business, every individual has a role to play in rebuilding our economy. I will leverage my unique combination of skills, long history of bi-partisan success, and enormous enthusiasm for our state to put all the pieces together. Through thoughtful analysis, sound legislation, and public awareness, we will make Rhode Island all it can and should be: the best state in the country in which to live, work, and play.	”
—Catherine Terry Taylor's campaign website, (2014)

Polls

General election
All candidates

Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island
Poll	Daniel McKee (D)	Catherine Terry Taylor (R)	William Gilbert (M)	Tony Jones (L)	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
WPRI October 6-9, 2014	36.2%	26.9%	2.6%	1.6%	30.5%	+/-4.38	505
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Past elections

2010

Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Elizabeth Roberts Incumbent	54.5%	175,640
	Cool Moose	Robert Healey	39.2%	126,063
	HWB	Robert Venturini	6.3%	20,295
Total Votes				321,998
Election results via Rhode Island Board of Elections

2006

On November 7, 2006, Elizabeth H. Roberts won election to the office of Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor. She defeated Reginald A. Centracchio (R) and Robert J. Healey, Jr. (Cool Moose) in the general election.

Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Elizabeth H. Roberts	53.1%	202,659
	Republican	Reginald A. Centracchio	33.5%	128,011
	Cool Moose	Robert J. Healey, Jr.	13.4%	51,220
Total Votes				381,890
Election results via Rhode Island Board of Elections.

Campaign finance

Comprehensive donor information for this election has been collected by Follow the Money. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of $1,365,286 during the election. This information was last updated on April 6, 2015.

Campaign Contribution Totals
Candidate	Office	Result	Contributions
Dan McKee	Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor		$571,703
Catherine Terry Taylor	Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor		$417,592
Ralph Mollis	Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor		$191,555
Frank Ferri	Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor		$184,291
Kara Young	Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor		$140
Thomas David Gallant	Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor		$5
Tony Jones	Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor		$0
Grand Total Raised			$1,365,286

Key deadlines

Deadline	Event
June 25, 2014	Filing deadline
September 9, 2014	Primary election
November 4, 2014	General election
November 12, 2014	Last day for recount requests
January 6, 2015	Inaugurations for executive officials

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Rhode + Island + Lieutenant + Governor + elections"

Rhode Island Lieutenant Gubernatorial Election News Feed

See also

• Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island
• Rhode Island state executive official elections, 2014
• State executive official elections, 2014

External links

Suggest a link

• Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor