RI Primary Results: Who's Ahead In State House, Senate Races

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, RI — Rhode Island's 2020 September primary features a host of races for seats in the General Assembly, largely the result of a new political organization backing progressives candidates to unseat longtime Democratic incumbents.

The other big factor in this year's primary is the pandemic. About 48,000 voters requested to vote by mail this year, but the state Board of Elections won't have those counted on election night — the state will only report machine returns on Tuesday, with mailed ballots being added over the next few days.

This year, the Rhode Island Political Cooperative emerged to support 27 candidates across the state. The inter-party challenge has attracted attention from big name Democrats like U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, who waded into the primary last week to endorse incumbent state Sens. Mark McKenney and Stephen Archambault.

Longtime state Sen. Virginia Sosnowski — a former Republican first elected in 1996 — was leading in South Kingstown's District 37 in a race against Maggie Kain, a former Bernie Sanders volunteer who is running in her first election. In Coventry's District 27 House race, Nicholas Delmenico was trailing incumbent Patricia Serpa. He challenged her in the 2016 primary, and lost that year by about 10 points.

There's somewhat of the opposite going on in Narragansett's District 34. Incumbent Teresa Tanzi, a progressive who unseated longtime incumbent David Caprio in the 2011 primary, was fending off a challenge from challenger Gina Giramma, a local civics teacher.

And in District 35, former lawmaker Spencer Dickinson — who ran unsuccessfully in 2018 for Rhode Island governor — was trailing in his bid to reach the General Assembly for the third time. He served from 1973 to 1980 and a second stint between 2010 and 2016. Incumbent Kathleen Fogarty beat Dickinson in the 2016 Democratic primary, and was leading Tuesday night.

Even without all the mail-in votes counted, at least one Providence race appeared to be over on Tuesday shortly after polls closed. Incumbent state Rep. Moira Walsh, who defeated two-term incumbent Thomas Palangio in the 2016 primary, appeared to concede to challenger Nathan Biah, a Providence high school principal.

"Representation matters," Walsh said in a tweet. "Congrats to all the District 3 voters who finally got an opportunity to vote for a man who has lived their experience. I’ve loved being your representative but I’m so happy for my neighbors who got the rep they wanted."

These totals are preliminary and reflect only votes cast at machines on Election Day, which means totals may change when the state counts mail-in ballots. These results reflect 100 percent of all machine-cast votes.

State Senate District 37 (South Kingstown, Block Island)

• (i) Virginia Sosnowski — 707 votes, 53.6%
• Maggie Kain (RIPC) — 612 votes, 46.4%

State House District 3 (Providence)

• Nathan W. Biah — 344 votes, 71.8%
• (i) Moira J. Walsh — 135 votes, 28.2%

State House District 27 (Coventry)

• (i) Patricia Serpa — 410 votes, 67.8%
• Nicholas Delmenico (RIPC) — 195 votes, 32.2%

State House District 71 (Portsmouth, Little Compton, Tiverton)

• (i) John Edwards V — 462 votes, 76.9%
• Michelle McGaw (RIPC) — 139 votes, 23.1%

State House District 34 (Narragansett, South Kingstown)

• (i) Teresa Tanzi — 348 votes, 61.6%
• Gina Giramma — 217 votes, 38.4%

State House District 72 (Portsmouth, Middletown)

• (i) Terri-Denise Cortvriend — 359 votes, 76.4%
• Christopher Semonelli — 111 votes, 23.6%

State House District 35 (South Kingstown)

• (i) Kathleen Fogarty — 180 votes, 65.9%
• Spencer Dickinson — 93 votes, 34.1%