- Ted, as we break down the election results here in Rhode Island, generally speaking, the winners of these races weren't a big surprise.
What may have surprised people were the margins, specifically in the presidential race.
- Yes, I think, Michelle, it's fascinating to see Donald Trump actually is on track to get the highest share of the vote for a Republican presidential nominee in Rhode Island since 1988 when George H. W. Bush ran for the first time.
Trump's at about 42% of the vote in Rhode Island currently.
There are still some straggler ballots being counted, but I expect him to land around there.
Also fascinating to me, Michelle, if you map the results granularly by community, every single city and town in Rhode Island shifted to some degree toward the Republicans.
Not a single community shifted toward the Democrats compared with the 2020 presidential election, so it was really a uniform swing to the right.
- And President-Elect Trump made the biggest gains in Central Falls, which is interesting because we know it's about 2/3 Latino.
- Yes, and I really connect that, Michelle, with the exit polls, which show Trump making further inroads into the Latino community, particularly with Latino men.
I just think it's such an interesting story in Central Falls.
If you go back to 2016, Trump's first election against Hillary Clinton, he only got about 15, 16%, terrible showing.
Then, in 2020, he's up for reelection.
He gets about 25 or 26% in Central Falls, and now, his third attempt, he's up to about 35% in Central Falls, so clear growth for Trump with that community.
- And some might think that Trump doing well in Rhode Island would mean trouble for the Democratic incumbents in the state, which we know was not the case on Election Night.
- No, every Democratic incumbent for a major office won again, the whole congressional delegation.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse hit about 60% of the vote.
Congressman Amo and Magaziner both were safe, and then, as you go further down the ballot, it's a similar story.
In the general assembly, basically no change, maybe one to two-seat shifts in the two chambers, but Democratic supermajorities once again for 2025, and then incumbent mayors, and frankly, no matter their party, Republican Ken Hopkins won reelection as mayor in Cranston.
Independent Frank Picozzi won reelection as mayor in Warwick.
Democratic Mayor Don Grebien won reelection in Pawtucket, so it's kind of a funny paradox considering the polls always show Rhode Islanders are frustrated with the status quo, they say, but they put nearly all the same incumbents back in.
- Right, people say they want change, yet they're voting for the incumbents.
As far as the ballot questions go, you and I have been talking about this over the last several weeks.
It was a great night for the bond issues.
Those all passed.
The only one that was rejected was about the constitutional convention, which was a surprise to you, or not really?
- No, not by the end, Michelle, because there was organized, well-funded opposition to the constitutional convention question.
Unions, women's groups, the ACLU all spent money to tell voters not to vote for that.
There really wasn't a counterbalancing, well-funded support for the con con, as people called it, and then the bond questions, frankly, even less of a surprise because those have been passing every election reliably now for almost 20 years, so no big surprises on those questions.
- Thanks so much, Ted.
Good to see you.
- Great to be here.