RI-01: Openly Gay Providence Mayor Announces Bid For Congress

Openly gay mayor of Providence, Rhode Island David Cicciline has announced that he will run for the open seat in Rhode Island First Congressional District being vacated by Patrick Kennedy. If elected, the 48-year-old Cicilline would likely become the 4th openly gay congressperson to serve in the next Congress (and second openly gay man ever to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives). The only other openly gay person running for Congress this year (that I am aware of so far) is the current mayor of Palm Springs Steve Pougnet, who is running against U.S. Represntative Mary Bono Mack in California's 45th Congressional district.

Cicciline has been Providence's mayor since 2002 and was up for re-election this year. The former head of the Rhode Island democratic party Bill Lynch has also announced he will challenge Cicilline for the Democratic nomination, and there will probably be other contestants.

He made is announcement of his official candidacy for Congress on his Facebook page on Saturday:

Today, I am announcing my candidacy for the United States Congress in the First District of the State of Rhode Island.

I’m running for Congress because Washington has lost sight of what is really happening to the hard-working middle class in the cities and towns in America. There’s a dangerous disconnect between what Washington thinks will help the American people out of this miserable economic decline and what will really make a difference in their lives right now. I see the cost and the reality of that disconnect every single day.

Rhode Island has been hit as hard as any place in America by this recession. Unemployment here is nearly the worst in the country. And no matter what the hopeful stirrings and positive signs they’re seeing in the rest of America, the fact is that Rhode Island is still in the thick of the worst of it. Somehow Washington hasn’t figured out that our Number One priority has to be creating, retaining, and training for jobs of the future.

Rhode Islanders don’t want to hear about billions of federal dollars in bank bailouts. They don’t even want to hear about billions of dollars of stimulus funds tagged for Rhode Island if that money isn’t helping them find jobs and pay for groceries today.

I’m running for Congress to take to Washington what I know about getting hard things done. That’s what mayors do every day—solve difficult problems. We cut costs, resolve complex problems, and look an impossible challenge in the eye and just figure it out. We know how to work across party lines and build coalitions to get things done. I intend to bring these critical skills and perspectives to Washington and represent this state’s urgent need to move beyond our current stagnancy and toward the economic vitality that I am so confident is within our reach.

I am gratified by the outpouring of support from the many people who have urged me to run for Congress. I look forward to presenting my vision for the future of this great country to the citizens of Rhode Island’s First District in the coming months.

Finally, I want to thank Patrick Kennedy for his extraordinary service to our state and the nation. His passionate and courageous leadership has made a lasting difference in the lives of Rhode Islanders.

David N. Cicilline

My internet connection has been sporadic the last few days, so I have not been able to blog as regularly as I would have liked.