Rhode Islanders meet contenders for 1st Congressional District seat

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — On the day former Congressman David Cicilline started his next career leading the Rhode Island Foundation, First Unitarian Church in Providence hosted a candidate “meet-and-greet” Thursday for the 1st Congressional District seat.

Rhode Island voters gathered to learn about each candidate, to ultimately decide who they would like to see represent Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District seat.

“The next person has some very big shoes to fill, but they don’t need to try to be David Cicilline. They need to try to be who they are and make that work,” said voter Charles Ortman.

Residents like Nancy Green know just what they want in their next representative.

“I would like them to help give us support with housing here in Rhode Island, that’s something we really need help in Washington with, as well as locally, I’m concerned about health care, universal health care,” said Green.

The meet-and-greet gives the 13 Democratic candidates who attended a chance to speak one-on-one with voters and share what issues they would focus on if elected.

“Gun control, climate change, we have a lot of good solutions, we know what the solutions are, we’re just not getting them, we’re not doing them, we’re not able to implement them because our society is so polarized, so what we really need to do is bring people together around common interests and try to figure out how we push through to these solutions,” said candidate Don Carlson.

Among the candidates, was also Nick Autiello, who is hoping to bring his experience working for former Gov. Gina Ramondo to the forefront.

“The next few years in our country are going to be critical to deciding what happens for the next few decades on our economy and what happens to Rhode Island families, the cost of living, the cost of housing, all of these things, we have to tackle immediately,” said Autiello.

Educator, husband, and father, Walter Berbrick is also a candidate looking to bring his life experience to Washington.

“Addressing rising division in our country, rising costs, and rising seas, focusing on the impacts of climate change,” said Berbrick.

While it may be early in their campaigns, Rhode Islanders are eager to learn more about each person.

“We have some very good people running, it’s going to be a tough choice,” said Green.

The primary election for Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District will be Sept. 5. The general election will be on Nov. 7.

The candidates that attended the meet-and-greet were Nick Autiello, Mickeda Barnes, Stephanie Beaute, Walter Berbrick, Don Carlson, Sandra Cando, John Goncalves, Sabina Matos, Ana Quezada, Aaron Regunberg, Allen Waters, Gabo Amo, and Mike Tillinghast.