In 12th Campaign, Paiva-Weed Still Goes Out in the Neighborhoods and Knocks on Doors

NEWPORT, RI – Teresa Paiva Weed has run into a lot of "mostly friendly" dogs as she's knocked on doors and made the rounds in her district.

"Sometimes," she allowed, a dog behind a locked gate tips her off to take evasive action. But there's even a way to win these pooches over. Many of the loud barkers are helpful because they let their people know she's there. Otherwise, she just leaves her literature at the door.

Her senate district encompasses Jamestown, and part of Newport. (The rest of the city, in District 12, will decide between Democrat Louis DiPalma and Republican Amy Veri.)

On Smith Hill, she's the Senate President. But in this election campaign, she's the local senator running to "preserve the quality of life in Jamestown and in Newport." She's gone door to door in every campaign, she said.

"I think it's very important," she said.

By talking to people, she's found the economy is the top concern.

"They want to see the economy produce more or better jobs," she said. Most voters want "stable jobs for themselves and for their children," she added.

Paiva Weed has been working on partnerships between employers and the Community College of Rhode Island, which has a Newport campus, to help train job candidates with the skills the companies need, she said.

Last week, for example, she participated in the ribbon-cutting at CCRI's new Cyber range, where industry professionals and students will be trained in cybersecurity. A group of Rogers High students are also part of the initiative. They're enrolled in the Pathways in Technology Early College High School program and have a change to leave Rogers with a diploma and an associate's degree in cybersecurity, considered one of the high growth and high paying jobs of the future.

Other priorities are the environment, affordable health care, and a "high performing education system," she said. Also, she said, she wants to continue helping the most vulnerable citizens, which means seeing the youngest children receive support, the elderly are not forgotten, and people with behavioral health and mental health issues are not neglected.

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