Cynthia Mendes

Brianna Henries

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EAST PROVIDENCE — If the in-person tallies hold form once what is expected to be the large volume of mail-in ballots are added to the counts, East Providence could have two new members representing it in the Rhode Island General Assembly come the 2021 session after the Democratic incumbents in both chambers were apparently upset by left-wing party upstarts in the Tuesday, Sept. 8, Primary Election.

Four-term incumbent William Conley was seemingly shocked by challenger Cynthia Mendes in the State Senate District 18 race, the in-person totals giving her a 763-335 (69.5%-30.5%) advantage.

The district is split between mostly East Providence residents and a small portion of Pawtucket. Since there were no Republican candidates in the race, Ms. Mendes, a first-time candidate, would be the presumed winner of the seat.

The result would be quite noteworthy with Mr. Conley being a life-long city resident, former councilman, noted litigator and current chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee.

His attachment as counsel for the company seeking to redevelop Metacoment Golf Club, a source of much current consternation in city of late, could have played a factor in his apparent defeat. 

Ms. Mendes, a resident of Riverside, is a member of the nascent Rhode Island Political Cooperative (RIPC) contingent as is Brianna Henries, who likewise appeared to have pulled off a surprise victory in city Tuesday.

Ms. Henries, also seeking public office for the first time, seems to have defeated one-term incumbent Joe Serodio in the House District 64 race. The in-person total had her in the lead, 336-193 (63.5%-36.5%).

Again, with no Republican candidates in the field, she would become the presumptive winner, pending the November General Election.

The loss, though not nearly as significant as that of Mr. Conley, would still be seen as substantial considering Mr. Serodio has lived in the city for some 50 years and was a prominent businessman here.

Mr. Serodio did face a bit of controversy late in the cycle when he was the subject of a newspaper story indicating he had not filed campaign finance forms for the last several months.

The final counts won’t be certified until all the mail-in ballots are counted. In the two East Providence elections still to be determined, there are possibly upwards of 1,500 mail-in votes that may need to be tallied.

The apparent wins by Ms. Mendes and Ms. Henries were part of a very respectable showing Tuesday for the progressive Rhode Island Political Collaborative, which ran 17 candidates combined for the House and Senate and seven others in municipal races.

The RIPC candidates were leading in seven of the 10 races they contested for the State Senate and one other was within a handful of votes of their opponent, likely leading to a recount. The group also saw success in House contests, leading four of the seven Primary seats its candidates sought.

The group’s platform, as espoused by Ms. Mendes during her primary voter forum against Mr. Conley two weeks ago, includes among other things support of a single-payer healthcare system, a $15 minimum wage, more and fairer affordable housing, education reform, “common sense” gun control measures, criminal justice reform and the environmentally based “Green New Deal.”

One other result of note from Tuesday, though still on the ballot as a three-person race, the outcome of the non-partisan Ward 2 contest for School Committee was known prior to the primary as already being down to just two office seekers, incumbent Tony Ferreira and newcomer Max Brandle. Damian Ramos, the third person on the primary ballot, previously announced his pending move out of the district, thus disqualifying him from the race.

Still, in another somewhat surprising result, Mr. Brandle was the top in-person vote getter Tuesday with 195. Mr. Ferreira, the four-term seat holder, received 178. Fifty-six voters cast their lots for Mr. Ramos. Mr. Brandle and Mr. Ferreira will both be on the November General Election ballot. In a usual three-person or more race, the top two vote getters at the primary advance to the general.

View updated Primary Election results from the city at https://www.ri.gov/election/results/2020/statewide_primary/east_providence.