Rhode Island 2014 Election Results

Rhode Island held its general election on November 4, 2014, deciding 113 legislative seats and 5 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Gina Raimondo (D) became Rhode Island's first woman governor, even as Republicans nearly doubled their small House caucus.
• Raimondo won with about 41 percent, beating Cranston Mayor Allan Fung (R) by about 14,500 votes in a race that broke state spending records; Moderate Party nominee Robert Healey took about 22 percent. She is the first Democrat elected governor since 1992, despite a pension overhaul that cost her the backing of prominent labor groups.
• Democrats swept every statewide race, for the first time since the 1990s according to party officials. Attorney General Peter Kilmartin (D) was re-elected over Dawson Hodgson (R), and newcomers Dan McKee (D), Nellie Gorbea (D), and Seth Magaziner (D) won the open lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and treasurer posts.
• Voters denied re-election to 7 legislators, all Democrats, and 8 seats changed hands, moving the House from 69-6 to 63-11-1:
  • Republicans unseated five House Democrats:
    • District 16: Robert Lancia beat Peter Palumbo
    • District 28: Robert Nardolillo beat Scott Guthrie
    • District 29: Sherry Roberts beat Lisa Tomasso
    • District 39: Justin Price beat Larry Valencia
    • District 72: Daniel Reilly beat Linda Finn
  • Independent Blake Filippi, a political newcomer, defeated incumbent Democrat Donna Walsh by about 1,100 votes in House District 36.
  • The Senate stayed 32-5-1: Elaine Morgan (R) unseated Catherine Cool Rumsey (D) by about 490 votes in District 34, while Cynthia Armour Coyne (D) took the open, Republican-held District 32.
• Voters approved 5 of 7 ballot questions, including all four bond issues and Question 2, which bars moving a casino to another community without local voter approval. Question 1, which would have allowed casino gambling at Newport Grand, passed statewide but lost in Newport, where approval was also required. Voters also declined to call a constitutional convention.

Legislature

• House (75 seats): 69 D, 6 R before the election, 63 D, 11 R, 1 other or vacant after; control stayed with Democrats.
• Senate (38 seats): 32 D, 5 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 32 D, 5 R, 1 other or vacant after; control stayed with Democrats.

Statewide races

Legislative races

Ballot measures