2020 Rhode Island Senate election

Rhode Island Senate election, 2020

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All 38 seats in the Rhode Island Senate 20 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Michael McCaffrey Dennis Algiere Party Democratic Republican Leader since March 23, 2017 January 7, 1997 Leader's seat 4th 38th Seats before 33 5 Seats won 33 5 Seat change Popular vote 312,363 114,005 Percentage 69.9% 25.5%
President before election Dominick J. Ruggerio Democratic Elected President Dominick J. Ruggerio Democratic

Elections in Rhode Island
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The 2020 Rhode Island Senate elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Rhode Island voters elected all 38 state senators. State senators serve two-year terms in the Rhode Island Senate. A primary election on September 8, 2020 determined which candidates appear on the November 3 general election ballot. All the members elected will serve in the Rhode Island General Assembly.

Summary[]

Overview[]

Summary of the 2020 Rhode Island Senate election results

Party		Candidates	Votes	%	Seats
					Before	After	+/–
	Democratic	36	312,363	69.89	33	33
	Republican	16	114,005	25.51	5	5
	Independent	5	10,085	2.26	0	0
	Green	1	781	0.17	0	0
	Write-in	—	9,688	2.17	0	0
Total			446,922	100.00	38	38
Source:[1]

Popular vote Democratic   69.89% Republican   25.51% Others   4.60%

Senate seats Democratic   86.84% Republican   13.16%

By district[]

District	Incumbent	Party		Elected senator	Party
1	Maryellen Goodwin		Dem	Maryellen Goodwin		Dem
2	Ana Quezada		Dem	Ana Quezada		Dem
3	Gayle Goldin		Dem	Gayle Goldin		Dem
4	Dominick J. Ruggerio		Dem	Dominick J. Ruggerio		Dem
5	Sam Bell		Dem	Sam Bell		Dem
6	Harold Metts		Dem	Tiara Mack		Dem
7	Frank Ciccone		Dem	Frank Ciccone		Dem
8	Sandra Cano		Dem	Sandra Cano		Dem
9	Adam Satchell		Dem	John Burke		Dem
10	Walter Felag		Dem	Walter Felag		Dem
11	James Seveney		Dem	James Seveney		Dem
12	Louis DiPalma		Dem	Louis DiPalma		Dem
13	Dawn Euer		Dem	Dawn Euer		Dem
14	Valerie Lawson		Dem	Valerie Lawson		Dem
15	Donna Nesselbush		Dem	Meghan Kallman		Dem
16	Elizabeth Crowley		Dem	Jonathon Acosta		Dem
17	Thomas Paolino		Rep	Thomas Paolino		Rep
18	William Conley Jr.		Dem	Cynthia Mendes		Dem
19	Ryan W. Pearson		Dem	Ryan W. Pearson		Dem
20	Roger Picard		Dem	Roger Picard		Dem
21	Gordon Rodgers		Rep	Gordon Rodgers		Rep
22	Stephen Archambault		Dem	Stephen Archambault		Dem
23	Jessica de la Cruz		Rep	Jessica de la Cruz		Rep
24	Melissa Murray		Dem	Melissa Murray		Dem
25	Frank Lombardo		Dem	Frank Lombardo		Dem
26	Frank Lombardi		Dem	Frank Lombardi		Dem
27	Hanna Gallo		Dem	Hanna Gallo		Dem
28	Joshua Miller		Dem	Joshua Miller		Dem
29	Michael McCaffrey		Dem	Michael McCaffrey		Dem
30	Mark McKenney		Dem	Jeanine Calkin		Dem
31	Erin Lynch Prata		Dem	Kendra Anderson		Dem
32	Cynthia Armour Coyne		Dem	Cynthia Armour Coyne		Dem
33	Leonidas Raptakis		Dem	Leonidas Raptakis		Dem
34	Elaine J. Morgan		Rep	Elaine J. Morgan		Rep
35	Bridget Valverde		Dem	Bridget Valverde		Dem
36	James Sheehan		Dem	Alana DiMario		Dem
37	V. Susan Sosnowski		Dem	V. Susan Sosnowski		Dem
38	Dennis Algiere		Rep	Dennis Algiere		Rep

Sources^[1]

Retiring incumbents[]

4 incumbent Senators (all Democrats) are not seeking reelection in 2020:

1. Donna Nesselbush, District 15^[2]
2. Erin Lynch Prata, District 31 (Seeking appointment to the Rhode Island Supreme Court)^[3]
3. Adam Satchell, District 9
4. James Sheehan, District 36^[4]

Defeated incumbents[]

In primary[]

4 incumbent Senators (all Democrats) sought reelection but were defeated in the September 8 primary. The defeated were all beaten by progressive challengers who saw the incumbents as too conservative for the Democratic party.^[5]

1. William Conley Jr., District 18
2. Betty Crowley, District 16
3. Mark McKenney, District 30
4. Harold Metts, District 6

Predictions[]

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[6]	Safe D	October 21, 2020

Detailed results[]

District 1 • District 2 • District 3 • District 4 • District 5 • District 6 • District 7 • District 8 • District 9 • District 10 • District 11 • District 12 • District 13 • District 14 • District 15 • District 16 • District 17 • District 18 • District 19 • District 20 • District 21 • District 22 • District 23 • District 24 • District 25 • District 26 • District 27 • District 28 • District 29 • District 30 • District 31 • District 32 • District 33 • District 34 • District 35 • District 36 • District 37 • District 38

District 1[]

Democratic primary

District 1 Democratic primary^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Maryellen Goodwin (incumbent)	1,601	79.3
	Democratic	Evan A. Lemoine	419	20.7
Total votes			2,020	100.0

• No other candidate filed for District 1.

General election

District 1 General Election, 2020^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Maryellen Goodwin (incumbent)	7,491	96.9
	Write-in	Write-ins	236	3.1
Total votes			7,727	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 2[]

• No other candidate filed for District 2.

District 2 General Election, 2020^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ana Quezada (incumbent)	6,222	97.3
	Write-in	Write-ins	170	2.7
Total votes			6,392	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 3[]

• No other candidate filed for District 3

District 3 General Election, 2020^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gayle Goldin (incumbent)	10,850	97.1
	Write-in	Write-ins	328	2.9
Total votes			11,178	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 4[]

Democratic primary

District 4 Democratic primary^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dominick J. Ruggerio (incumbent)	1,974	54.7
	Democratic	Leonardo Cioe Jr.	1,633	45.3
Total votes			3,607	100.0

General election

• No other candidate filed for District 4.

District 4 General Election, 2020^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dominick J. Ruggerio (incumbent)	9,590	94.0
	Write-in	Write-ins	611	6.0
Total votes			10,201	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 5[]

Democratic primary

District 5 Democratic primary^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sam Bell (incumbent)	2,139	72.5
	Democratic	Jo-Ann Ryan	812	27.5
Total votes			2,951	100.0

General election

• No other candidate filed for District 5.

District District 5 General Election, 2020^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sam Bell (incumbent)	7,656	96.8
	Write-in	Write-ins	257	3.2
Total votes			7,913	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 6[]

Democratic primary

District 6 Democratic primary^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tiara Mack	1,506	59.8
	Democratic	Harold Metts (incumbent)	1,011	40.2
Total votes			2,607	100.0

General election

District 6 General Election, 2020^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tiara Mack	6,722	88.8
	Green	Kevin Gilligan	781	10.3
	Write-in	Write-ins	71	0.9
Total votes			7,574	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 7[]

• No other candidate filed for District 7.

District 7 General Election, 2020^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Frank Ciccone (incumbent)	6,877	96.5
	Write-in	Write-ins	251	3.5
Total votes			7,128	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 8[]

District 8 General Election, 2020^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sandra Cano (incumbent)	6,606	71.4
	Republican	Richard Karsulavitch	2,610	28.2
	Write-in	Write-ins	31	0.3
Total votes			9,247	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 9[]

Democratic primary

District 9 Democratic primary^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Burke	1,106	50.9
	Democratic	Geoffrey Rousselle	1,066	49.1
Total votes			2,172	100.0

General election

District 9 General Election, 2020^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Burke	7,367	58.5
	Republican	Jeffery Kozlin	5,200	41.3
	Write-in	Write-ins	26	0.2
Total votes			12,593	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 10[]

District 10 General Election, 2020^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Walter Felag (incumbent)	9,245	64.1
	Republican	Mark Smiley	5,145	35.7
	Write-in	Write-ins	22	0.2
Total votes			14,412	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 11[]

• No other candidate filed for District 11.

District 11 General Election, 2020^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James Seveney (incumbent)	10,927	96.2
	Write-in	Write-ins	430	3.8
Total votes			11,357	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 12[]

• No other candidate filed for District 12.

District 12 General Election, 2020^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Louis DiPalma (incumbent)	11,686	97.1
	Write-in	Write-ins	351	2.9
Total votes			12,037	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 13[]

• No other candidate filed for District 13.

District 13 General Election, 2020^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dawn Euer (incumbent)	10,103	96.8
	Write-in	Write-ins	329	3.2
Total votes			10,432	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 14[]

District 14 General Election, 2020^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Valerie Lawson (incumbent)	8,062	72.3
	Independent	Major Pettaway	3,017	27.1
	Write-in	Write-ins	68	0.6
Total votes			11,147	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 15[]

Democratic primary

District 15 Democratic primary^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Meghan Kallman	1,662	60.9
	Democratic	Herbert Weiss	635	23.3
	Democratic	Robert Morris Jr.	431	15.8
Total votes			2,728	100.0

General election

• No other candidate filed for District 15.

District 15 General Election, 2020^[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Meghan Kallman	7,812	96.8
	Write-in	Write-ins	260	3.2
Total votes			8,072	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 16[]

Democratic primary

District 16 Democratic primary^[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jonathon Acosta	973	50.5
	Democratic	Elizabeth Crowley (incumbent)	768	39.8
	Democratic	Leslie Estrada	187	9.7
Total votes			1,928	100.0

General election

• No other candidate filed for District 16.

District 16 General Election, 2020^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jonathon Acosta	4,838	95.3
	Write-in	Write-ins	238	4.7
Total votes			5,076	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 17[]

District 17 General Election, 2020^[30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Thomas Paolino (incumbent)	9,456	59.1
	Democratic	John Douglas Barr II	6,510	40.7
	Write-in	Write-ins	26	0.2
Total votes			15,992	100.0
	Republican hold

District 18[]

Democratic primary

District 18 Democratic primary^[31]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Cynthia Mendes	1,727	61.6
	Democratic	William Conley Jr. (incumbent)	1,078	38.4
Total votes			2,805	100.0

General election

• No other candidate filed for District 18.

District 18 General Election, 2020^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Cynthia Mendes	10,013	94.8
	Write-in	Write-ins	545	5.2
Total votes			10,558	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 19[]

• No other candidate filed for District 19.

District 19 General Election, 2020^[33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ryan W. Pearson (incumbent)	11,338	95.3
	Write-in	Write-ins	556	4.7
Total votes			11,894	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 20[]

• No other candidate filed for District 20.

District 20 General Election, 2020^[34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Roger Picard (incumbent)	8,989	96.6
	Write-in	Write-ins	315	3.4
Total votes			9,304	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 21[]

• No other candidate filed for District 21.

District 21 General Election, 2020^[35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Gordon Rogers (incumbent)	12,314	95.2
	Write-in	Write-ins	615	4.8
Total votes			12,929	100.0
	Republican hold

District 22[]

Democratic primary

District 22 Democratic primary^[36]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Stephen Archambault (incumbent)	1,342	59.1
	Democratic	Melanie DuPont	927	40.9
Total votes			2,269	100.0

General election

District 22 General Election, 2020^[37]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Stephen Archambault (incumbent)	7,282	50.2
	Republican	Paul Santucci	6,053	42.1
	Independent	Stephen Tocco	1,004	7.0
	Write-in	Write-ins	35	0.2
Total votes			14,374	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 23[]

District 23 General Election, 2020^[38]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jessica de la Cruz (incumbent)	10,361	66.5
	Democratic	Paul Roselli	5,131	32.9
	Write-in	Write-ins	84	6.0
Total votes			15,576	100.0
	Republican hold

District 24[]

• No other candidate filed for District 24.

District 24 General Election, 2020^[39]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Melissa Murray (incumbent)	6,771	95.4
	Write-in	Write-ins	323	4.6
Total votes			7,094	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 25[]

• No other candidate filed for District 25.

District 25 General Election, 2020^[40]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Frank Lombardo (incumbent)	10,829	95.8
	Write-in	Write-ins	473	4.2
Total votes			11,302	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 26[]

District 26 General Election, 2020^[41]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Frank Lombardi (incumbent)	8,074	61.1
	Republican	Anthony Fagundes Sr.	5,090	38.5
	Write-in	Write-ins	41	0.3
Total votes			13,205	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 27[]

District 27 General Election, 2020^[42]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Hanna Gallo (incumbent)	8,079	54.7
	Republican	Pat Cortellessa	5,865	39.7
	Independent	Jonathan Keith	813	5.5
	Write-in	Write-ins	16	0.1
Total votes			14,773	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 28[]

District 28 General Election, 2020^[43]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joshua Miller (incumbent)	8,259	70.0
	Independent	Robert Schattle	3,472	29.4
	Write-in	Write-ins	62	0.5
Total votes			11,793	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 29[]

Democratic primary

District 29 Democratic primary^[44]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael McCaffrey (incumbent)	1,952	58.2
	Democratic	Jennifer Rourke	1,403	41.8
Total votes			3,355	100.0

General election

District 29 General Election, 2020^[45]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael McCaffrey (incumbent)	9,751	65.5
	Republican	Jean Trafford	5,044	33.9
	Write-in	Write-ins	83	0.6
Total votes			14,878	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 30[]

Democratic primary

District 30 Democratic primary^[46]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jeanine Calkin	1,509	55.4
	Democratic	Mark McKenney (incumbent)	1,217	44.6
Total votes			2,726	100.0

General election

• No other candidate filed for District 30.

District 30 General Election, 2020^[47]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jeanine Calkin	10,611	92.4
	Write-in	Write-ins	872	7.6
Total votes			11,483	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 31[]

Democratic primary

District 31 Democratic primary^[48]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kendra Anderson	1,016	30.9
	Democratic	Steve Merolla	852	25.9
	Democratic	Brian Dunckley	771	23.4
	Democratic	Michael Mita	653	19.8
Total votes			3,292	100.0

Republican primary

District 31 Republican primary^[49]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Scott Zambarano	389	80.7
	Republican	John Silvaggio	93	19.3
Total votes			482	100.0

General election

District 31 General Election, 2020^[50]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kendra Anderson	8,221	54.4
	Republican	Scott Zambarano	6,871	45.5
	Write-in	Write-ins	23	0.2
Total votes			15,115	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 32[]

• No other candidate filed for District 32.

General election

District 32 General Election, 2020^[51]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Cynthia Armour Coyne (incumbent)	13,122	95.7
	Write-in	Write-ins	584	4.3
Total votes			13,706	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 33[]

• No other candidate filed for District 33.

District 33 General Election, 2020^[52]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Leonidas Raptakis (incumbent)	11,610	94.0
	Write-in	Write-ins	735	6.0
Total votes			12,345	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 34[]

District 34 General Election, 2020^[53]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Elaine J. Morgan (incumbent)	8,967	54.0
	Democratic	Jennifer Douglas	7,618	45.9
	Write-in	Write-ins	13	0.1
Total votes			16,598	100.0
	Republican hold

District 35[]

District 35 General Election, 2020^[54]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bridget Valverde (incumbent)	9,363	55.5
	Republican	Charles Callanan	7,479	44.3
	Write-in	Write-ins	23	0.1
Total votes			16,865	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 36[]

Democratic primary

District 36 Democratic primary^[55]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alana DiMario	2,499	75.2
	Democratic	Steve Merolla	824	24.8
Total votes			3,323	100.0

General election

District 36 General Election, 2020^[56]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alana DiMario	8,609	50.1
	Republican	Doreen Costa	6,770	39.4
	Independent	Matthew Mannix	1,779	10.4
	Write-in	Write-ins	23	0.1
Total votes			17,181	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 37[]

District 37 General Election, 2020^[57]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	V. Susan Sosnowski (incumbent)	10,129	69.2
	Republican	David Tacey	4,453	30.4
	Write-in	Write-ins	51	0.3
Total votes			14,633	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 38[]

• No other candidate filed for District 38.

District 38 General Election, 2020^[58]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dennis Algiere (incumbent)	12,327	96.0
	Write-in	Write-ins	511	4.0
Total votes			12,838	100.0
	Republican hold

See also[]

• 2020 Rhode Island elections
• 2020 Rhode Island House of Representatives election
• 2020 United States elections

References[]