STORY OF THE WEEK: For all the yak about cranky Rhode Islanders and dissatisfaction with the direction of the state, Tuesday’s primary amounted to a big vote of confidence for incumbents. This was true across the ideological spectrum. Cranston Mayor Ken Hopkins thrashed GOP rival Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung by 17 points. While a generic candidate often has a good shot of getting at least 30% of the vote, Democratic U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse rolled up 83% in his primary race against a little-known challenger.

General Assembly incumbents prevailed in 11 of the 12 primary races in which they were running. That was true regardless of whether they were conservative Democrats like Reps. Sam Azzinaro (D-Westerly) and Charlene Lima (D-Cranston) or progressives like Reps. Brandon Potter (D-Cranston) and Cherie Cruz (D-Pawtucket). The lone exception was Kelsey Coletta’s win, on her second run, over Rep. Edward Cardillo (D-Johston), not exactly a very active member of the House caucus. Attention now turns to November – with a statewide election in 2026 not far behind.

So what to make of the across-the-board success for the status quo? To be sure, Rhode Island faces persistent and difficult problems – under-performing public schools, the housing crisis and the need for a more robust economy, to name a few. But although every political race is a bit different, incumbents enjoy a huge advantage – winning re-election at a rate of about 80% (governors), 94% (U.S. House) and 100% (U.S. Senate in 2022). The advantage is less – but still significant – for state lawmakers. A study by The Council of State Governments found that 67% of incumbent state legislators won re-election in 2022. The best way to stay in office, it seems, is to get there in the first place.

WINNER: The string of incumbent wins made House Speaker Joe Shekarchi, who deployed help to aid members facing tougher challenges, one of the big victors of the primary.

LOSER: Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien made a big push to oust Rep. Cruz, but the mayor’s candidate, Elizabeth Moreira, got less than 40% of the vote. Another Grebien-backed candidate, Steve Larbi, made an unsuccessful challenge to Ward 5 City Councilor Clovis Gregor. One commonality is how Gregor and Cruz have advocated for the restoration of Morley Field as a recreation area for local kids. But the week wasn’t a complete washout for Grebien – see the item after the next one about how one of his allies, Lori Urso, is poised to move into the state Senate.

MR. PRESIDENT: Speaking of incumbents, perhaps the most notable primary victory was by R.I. Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, who won 70.2% of the vote amid the third challeng by progressive rival Lenny Cioe. Ruggerio, 75, is the longest-serving lawmaker in Rhode Island, so his favored status in his district is unsurprising. At the same time, Ruggerio did not attend stretches of the last General Assembly session due to various health issues, and he did not step out of a car this week when the ProJo wanted to get a photo of him for a story. As Kathy Gregg reported, Ruggerio did not attend his victory party at the Dillon Council Knights of Columbus and he offered this explanation for limiting his public appearances: “I recently had a procedure that successfully addressed complications from the shingles virus, and I am presently at home recuperating. While the surgery was successful and I am feeling better every day, I have been advised by my doctors to stay out of crowded spaces for the time being.” A new General Assembly session begins in less than four months, so the leadership of the Senate – and a possible change – is a story sparking interest at the Statehouse and beyond.

MOVING ON: In a move somewhat reminiscent of how then-Sen. Gayle Goldin (D-Providence) left the chamber in 2021 for a job in the U.S. Labor Department, Sen. Sandra Cano (D-Pawtucket) announced Thursday she was resigning for a different opportunity. Dan McGowan first reported that Cano is expected to land a job with the U.S. Small Business Administration. The key difference from Goldin’s exit, of course, is the timing, since Cano’s future would be less certain if Donald Trump wins in November. Lori Urso – who ran Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien’s primary campaign, formerly served as deputy chief of staff for General Treasurer James Diossa, and is now president/CEO of the Old Slater Mill Association – is expected to get Democratic backing to fill the vacancy created by Cano’s departure.

CRANSTON: Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung unseated a speaker when she defeated Democrat Nick Mattiello in a 2020 race for state representative in Cranston. But Cranston voters made their preference clear when they handed Mayor Ken Hopkins a 17-point primary victory over Fenton-Fung. The outcome is a vote of confidence for Hopkins’ management of the city – something that Fenton-Fung cited as a liability – and he will now square off with Republican-turned-Democrat Robert Ferri in November. The primary outcome follows losses by Allan Fung – Fenton-Fung’s husband and longtime former Cranston mayor – for governor (2014, 2018) and in CD2 (2022). Fenton-Fung, who was well-liked by her legislative colleagues, told reporters she expects to run for office again, although she said her first step would be taking some time off. The 2026 statewide election is drawing closer, and the RI GOP has a thin bench, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Fenton-Fung take another shot then.

THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE: If your bingo card for 2024 had Donald Trump sharing a conspiracy theory during a nationally televised debate about immigrants eating dogs, raise your hand. GOP strategist Karl Rove called Trump’s debate with Kamala Harris “a train wreck for him, far worse than anything Team Trump could have imagined.” For some observers, Trump’s performance underscored how it’s always someone else’s fault. A New York Times-Siena College poll ahead of the debate found a dead heat between the two candidates, although Allan Lichtman, the so-called prophet of presidential elections, predicts a win by Harris. Writing at Politico, Charlie Mahtesian reminded Democrats of the peril of being overly confident: “It’s worth remembering that snap polls conducted after every presidential debate in 2016 and 2020 also judged Trump to be the loser — and by wide margins. Public opinion polls in general underestimated the level of support for Trump in both the 2016 and 2020 elections.”

FOREIGN MATTERS: Trump declined to say during the debate if he wants Ukraine to win in its war with Russia – a stance at odds with the worldview once espoused by Ronald Reagan. In related news, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Reps. Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo of Rhode Island, and Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts were among those signing onto a letter urging President Biden to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons. Meanwhile, as Punchbowl reported this week, “Just a few hours before Trump refused to endorse a Ukrainian victory, dozens of lawmakers — including House Republicans who chair national-security committees — formally demanded that President Joe Biden lift remaining restrictions on Ukraine’s use of U.S.-provided Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS). This would give Ukraine’s military an edge as it looks to bolster an ongoing offensive inside Russia. A slew of Republicans, including Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.), the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, signed a separate letter arguing that lifting the ATACMS restrictions would ‘fully enable Ukraine to achieve victory.’”

GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Voter frustration over the Washington Bridge is a potential X factor in Rhode Island’s November election and beyond. But the task facing the RI GOP is not made any easier by how a third of the nine Republicans in the House of Representatives – Reps. Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung of Cranston, Brian Rea of Smithfield and Patricia Morgan of West Warwick – are not seeking re-election. In the Senate, Sen. Anthony DeLuca (R-Warwick), who won with support from Smith Hill Democrats in 2022, could face a tough challenge from Democratic primary winner Peter Appollonio Jr. Considering these headwinds, does it make sense for a proven legislative vote-getter like Morgan to make an uphill campaign against Democratic U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse? (In 2018, a challenge to Whitehouse by former state Supreme Court Justice Robert Flanders was called on election night in about five minutes.) “Do I feel like she could do it?” RI GOP Chairman Joe Powers said during an interview this week. “She definitely can make an impact in this race right now. That’s going to make people at least stop and think about the direction that the state of Rhode Island” is going in.

HOUSING: More than a year after my colleague Nina Sparing reported that Woonsocket residents could not benefit from statewide protections against losing their home in a tax sale, the discrepancy has been corrected.

ORGANIZED LABOR: A special meeting has been scheduled at 6 p.m. on Oct. 21, at the office of the National Education Association Rhode Island, for a vote on RI AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Crowley’s candidacy for union president for the remainder of the term of George Nee, who recently announced his resignation. Here’s an excerpt from Crowley’s letter seeking support from union members: “Thanks to our work with Climate Jobs Rhode Island, we are leading the way on not only protecting the environment but ensuring that these emerging jobs in this industry are union jobs. We have also played a significant role in enacting legislation benefiting all Rhode Islanders including protecting voting rights, gun safety, and paid time off. As George likes to say, we truly are ‘the People’s Lobby,’ and as I said when you elected me in 2020, ‘when we fight, we win.’ ”

GOT DEMOCRACY? The honors colloquium at the University of Rhode Island has a series of upcoming lectures focused on the theme of “Democracy in Peril.” The series begins Tuesday, Sept. 17, with Zack Beauchamp, a senior correspondent at Vox, and continues into November.

IN MEMORIAM: Two passings of note this week. Robert B. Mann, the consummate defense lawyer, died at age 76, and Katie Mulvaney does an excellent job describing him. And noted philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein died at age 93. As Antonia Farzan reports, “Feinstein made his fortune by selling so-called ‘collectibles’ like Mars-themed stamps from Sierra Leone that he suggested would skyrocket in value. But he was better known as a prolific philanthropist who lived in a modest ranch house in Cranston right up until his death, while giving away millions to schools and scholarship programs.”

KICKER: Do we have our challenges with healthcare in Rhode Island? We sure do. But if it makes you feel any better, we’re hardly alone. Britain’s vaunted state-funded health system must “reform or die,” according to a new report.

Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@thepublicsradio.org.