The Sakonnet area's two incumbent representatives in the House of Representatives will likely head back to the General Assembly for another two years, after both Dist. 71 Rep. Michelle McGaw and District 70 Rep. John Edwards took the popular and early votes Tuesday. Mail ballots have yet to be counted.

District 71
Running unopposed, McGaw, the Portsmouth Democrat, received 5,136 votes across the district, to 224 write-ins. It was her second unopposed campaign, along with 2022. She originally took office after beating a Republican challenger in the 2020 General Election.

When asked prior to the election how it feels to be running unopposed, McGaw said “it allows me more opportunity to work on some of the issues that I wanna bring forward in the next session. Not having an opponent myself means that I can work a little more closely with people who are within the town to help get a better understanding of how we can work together.”

District 70
Rep. Edwards,  the incumbent Democratic candidate in the Dist. 70 seat, will likely return to the General Assembly for another term, after a narrow victory over his Republican challenger Tuesday.

Not counting mail ballots which have yet to be received, Edwards earned 3,556 votes across District 70 territory in Tiverton and Portsmouth; his challenger Christopher Borden, who also lost to Edwards two years ago, earned 3,187 votes.

Edwards could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening. But as the votes came in, Borden said he "ran again because I’m tired of seeing this damaging legislation. I care about my community and it’s in a rapid decline because of poor leadership including our representation.”