She won't even need to file her candidacy papers until the end of next June. But Senate District 12 candidate Jenna Magnuski is already starting to prepare for her first campaign for statewide public office.

"I don't think I know how to wait to get myself out there," the Little Compton resident joked Wednesday, hours after announcing that she'll take on incumbent Louis DiPalma in the November 2022 general election.

"I'm really going to be working on broadening out and getting out there, getting connected and building relationships," she said of the district, which covers Little Compton, Tiverton, Newport and Middletown.

A progressive Democrat, Ms. Magnuski lives in Little Compton with her husband, his sons, and two children. She works as a museum educator and is pursuing a Master's degree at UMass Boston.

Away from work and school, she has become a well-known figure in Little Compton, having first gotten involved in community advocacy because of her son's learning differences. She is currently involved in three local school communities: The Wellness, Social-Emotional Learning and Education Equity, and School Improvement groups.

An elected member of the Little Compton Budget Committee, she is also a member of the Little Compton Coalition for Racial Justice and is part of a group of Little Compton residents who created Love Wins Little Compton, a non-profit that supports the needs of the LGBTQ+ community.

Ms. Magnuski said she is thankful for the leadership Sen. DiPalma has offered during his tenure. But she believes that if she were elected, she would do things differently:

"I would work to do more, and more quickly, to preserve our environment, and support workers and small business overall but especially in the economic recovery that we are all in."

She also wants to support students with different needs, work on racial and social justice causes, and "I would center inclusion and equity in all the legislative work I did."

Ms. Magnuski pointed out that her campaign staff is all-female. It consists of campaign manager Megan Gonzalez, assistant campaign manager Kristine Aguiar and treasurer Megan Wordell.