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Robert Wheeler (Rhode Island)

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Robert Wheeler
Image of Robert Wheeler

Republican Party

Elections and appointments
Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

University of Rhode Island, 1998

Personal
Birthplace
Providence, R.I.
Religion
Christian, non-denominational
Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign YouTube

Personal Facebook

Robert Wheeler (Republican Party) (also known as Bob) ran for election to the Rhode Island House of Representatives to represent District 61. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Wheeler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Robert Wheeler was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1998. His professional experience includes owning Friends of Toto, a dog daycare and boarding facility. He previously worked at a large financial institution in Boston for 18 years.[1]

Elections

2020

See also: Rhode Island House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Rhode Island House of Representatives District 61

Leonela Felix defeated Robert Wheeler in the general election for Rhode Island House of Representatives District 61 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Leonela Felix
Leonela Felix (D)
 
63.8
 
3,500
Image of Robert Wheeler
Robert Wheeler (R) Candidate Connection
 
36.0
 
1,973
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.2
 
12

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 5,485
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Rhode Island House of Representatives District 61

Leonela Felix defeated incumbent Raymond Johnston Jr. in the Democratic primary for Rhode Island House of Representatives District 61 on September 8, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Leonela Felix
Leonela Felix
 
58.6
 
988
Image of Raymond Johnston Jr.
Raymond Johnston Jr.
 
41.4
 
697

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 1,685
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Robert Wheeler advanced from the Republican primary for Rhode Island House of Representatives District 61.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Robert Wheeler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wheeler's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

I'm an ordinary citizen running to be a change agent for the city. I'm incredibly tired of "politics as usual" in RI and fiercely believe we cannot have change until we start voting differently. I believe that the current state of politics has left our community with a great deal of empty lots and businesses for sale. We deserve better.
  • State spending is out of control.
  • Education is in dire need of attention in this state.
  • Elected leaders are utilizing a lot of budget "tricks" to raise taxes and costs on citizens.
While I realize it's not a very sexy topic, I believe that a lot of our collective headache is embedded in the budget and how people pass bad policy without a great deal of oversight or input from the public.
In a historical sense, I admire our second president, John Adams. While I don't particularly share his politics, his Yankee tenacity in the face of so much condemnation and desire to launch our country to greatness is someone that I can identify with. In modern politics, I look up to the people who show the most interest in genuinely listening to constituents and doing the best they can for them. People who come up with clear ideas to break the cycle of poor politics to me include: Representative Morgan, Representative Place, Senator Morgan, and Senator de la Cruz. At a national level, comparable individuals would be Senators Cruz, Collins, and Paul.
I suppose at it's core, I would say a very strict reading of the Constitution would convey my political philosophy. In particular, I would focus on the Bill of Rights (most notably the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 10th amendments). If a reader were to read them just at face value without any interpretation to the words, they would likely walk away with a good understanding of my world view.
Ethics, faithful adherence to both our national and state constitutions, and limiting the role government plays in our daily lives. This latter element is especially important when approaching tax policy.
I think the most important quality to differentiate me is that I'm principled. I firmly believe that people can do extraordinary things when government lets them. Voters can expect that I would vote in their best interest and not, say, in the interest of a particular campaign contributor.
In short, a representative should represent. I think it is especially important that a Representative report back to the district what is happening at the state level. There's a great deal of activity that our leaders work and vote on that the media does not pick up. It's important that the citizens know what the Representative finds important and why they feel that way.
I'd like to think that I was part of an awakening for the people of RI. That they could have a better state if we could only get out of the same rut we've been in for so long.
The Challenger explosion is the first major historical event that I remember. I was 9 at the time. Five years later, I vividly remember the launch of Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
My very first official job was as a page at the Barrington Public Library. I had it for 2 or 3 years before going off to college.
The Wizard of Oz. Seems to me that the book / film contain so many memorable words of wisdom that we can apply to just about every situation. Some of my favorites: "A heart will not be made practical until they can be made unbreakable." or "A heart is judged not by how much YOU love, but by how much YOU are loved by others."
Tough question. I'd say Captain Kirk: Who wouldn't want to explore the cosmos on a ship that can do everything?!
"There's Got To Be A Morning After" by Maureen McGovern
This may be silly to someone outside of RI reading this, but an honest answer is simply being a Republican. 9 out of 10 times, when a person hears that I'm a Republican, they will almost immediately associate me with something akin to being a Klan member. Being a gay man is significantly easier in RI than being a Republican. The parallels are many though. The number of friends / family members lost over simply calling myself a Republican is too many. My hope is that people will actually spend time and realize that I'm not some sort of monster, but instead a person that has different solutions to the problems we face.
In RI, there isn't much of a difference excepting that Senators end up speaking for a larger group of people than Representatives.
No. Indeed - I believe the opposite. Today, approximately 17% of state legislators have experience running their own business (taking attorney's out of the mix). Despite that, 98.5% of businesses in RI are small businesses according to the SBA. How can a group of people that have so little experience building and working in a small business expect to make good decisions for that body? We need to have legislators that are more diverse in terms of experience.
To me, escaping the "politics as usual" mantra that has persisted for nearly 100 years in this state. Something has to change if we expect real change and real growth to happen. Anyone voting in RI has definitely heard it before if not said it themselves: We roll our eyes and say, "only in RI" does the type of graft and underhandedness take place. It needs to end.
These should operate as they do at the federal level: Equal, but different branches of government. In modern RI politics, there are effectively 3 leaders that matter: The governor, the speaker of the House, and the Senate president. When all 3 are on the same page (typically the case), legislation and governing is a foregone conclusion. When the legislative leaders are on the same page, but not the governor, legislation and governing is still likely a foregone conclusion as they can easily override any governor veto.
Absolutely. If anyone has watched any of the legislative sessions in RI, you'll notice that this small group of people really do try to be courteous to each other and try to work for the betterment of their constituents. Politics is the battle of ideas and, in my view, people who engage in that battle will often produce a quality end product because many different voices will have been heard. We need to have relationships with one another in order to make sure our voices are heard.
I support independent redistricting commissions. Such commissions need to bring a degree of common sense to legislative districts.
Not specifically. Again, I'm fairly passionate about the budget building process, but I am not beholden to any specific committee.
N/A
Perhaps eventually. For now, I want to focus on our little corner of the state and trying to be a different advocate for them.
Although I know she wasn't particularly good at building relationships with her peers, I would like to aspire to Representative Morgan when she was in the State House. She was a tenacious fighter for the things she believed in and she spent a great deal of time researching issues and proposing alternatives in the House.
No. State Representative is about the extent of my political ambition.
Hearing about how a person building their own small business becomes vilified by the state is difficult. In RI, there's an embedded disadvantage for entrepreneurs and the rules they need to navigate to open a business. The rules are heavily slanted in favor of employees. While employee protections are obviously important, there needs to be better tools for employers to want to start businesses in our area.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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Footnotes

  1. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on August 5, 2020


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