It’s been an interesting road to political acclaim in Rhode Island for Sabina Matos, the Dominican Republic native who came to the United States in 1994 and, a year ago, was sworn in as the nation’s first Afro-Latina Lieutenant Governor and the first Dominican native to hold statewide office in the country.

“I don’t think that there is another place in the world where this could happen,” Matos said over a cup of coffee at the Coffee Depot in downtown Warren during a stop to begin her re-election campaign last Friday. She spoke on topics that ranged from Covid’s progression to remote participation in meetings and the ideal way that a Lt. Governor and Governor can work together as the top two officials of the state.

Matos began her political career as a Providence City Councilwoman representing Ward 15. She became active Council President in 2017 before being elected to that role in 2019, and served as one of Rhode Island’s four electoral college electors during the 2020 Presidential Election. Governor Dan McKee chose Matos to succeed his role as Lt. Governor on March 31, 2021, and she was confirmed unanimously on April 13, 2021.

“I’m such a proud American, and I’m so proud of what this country has offered to every different wave of immigrants who have come,” she said.

Tracking Covid’s progression
Matos began her tenure as Lt. Governor in the midst of the pandemic. She recalls social distancing being paramount during her inauguration. In her role, Matos said she has made a point to try and be a champion of small business efforts throughout the state, which have been hit hard by the effects of Covid.

A year later, Matos said that the state’s vaccination rate, which is listed by the New York Times and Mayo Clinic as the highest in the country at around 82-83 percent fully vaccinated, has been a game changer for how the state has been able to recover from the worst times of the pandemic.

“It’s not the same situation we were in a year ago,” she said. “Rhode Island is rating number one in vaccinations and third in booster doses…That changed the dynamic of where we are now compared to last year.”

Still, Matos said that the state has to continue to learn from the pandemic and implement changes that worked and enabled businesses such as restaurants to withstand the damage they inflicted.

“There are so many things we have learned in the last 12 months. The resources that have been put out there to help the small business community to make sure they have things like the Take it Outside grant,” she said. “To make sure they’re able to pivot and add tables outside, have lamps outside. That helps a lot…We have been working with chambers of commerce and business associations to see what things we learned during the pandemic that we can keep implemented after. I think that the pandemic pushed us to be more creative and more open-minded as to what can be done.”

On remote meetings
Matos applauded efforts that the Providence City Council took to implement fully remote meetings, despite the growing pains that came with it.

“The Providence City Council was the first municipality, maybe the first government body in Rhode Island, to have our meetings remote,” she said. “We were also the first ones to get Zoom bombed.”

She said that she was in support of municipalities utilizing technology to open up the public meeting process to more people, but that it would be up to the state legislature to put through legislation that would require municipalities to allow public participation at a meeting through remote methods, such as Zoom. An executive order signed by Gov. McKee allowing for this has since expired, and members of the public may have noticed that remote participation in meetings has stopped, or become less frequent, as a result.

“We were waiting to see if the general assembly was going to take this on [crafting a law to make remote participation allowable],” she said. “This was a discussion that kept coming up between the state and leaders of municipalities.”

However, Matos said she also understood that, for many municipalities, there exists challenges to implementing the kind of technology necessary for making meetings functional while being held in person and remotely — specifically mentioning the cost of technology and finding a suitable venue that allows people to be able to see and hear what is going on.

“They were asking for one or the other [either all in-person or all remote], because it’s a challenge for a lot of them to be able to provide both,” Matos said. “The technology that is involved and having the live meeting and the participation as well, it’s challenging, I have to say.”
Still, Matos said that she thinks eventually such hybrid participation will become normal for government.

“There are things we learned and things that are probably going to stay with us,” she said. “The pandemic forced us to embrace change and to be open to new ideas.”

“I think that eventually we are going to get to a point where this is easier and it won’t be a problem to implement, but right now at this moment I think it is a real and honest challenge for many municipalities to provide the access,” she continued. “It’s not because they don’t want to, it’s because they don’t have the right technology to do it.”

On technology
Pivoting to the topic of technology in general, Matos implored citizens to take more interest in technological investments that are needed in the state to make government more functional for everyone.

“I think we have to understand that technology is not only the future, but it’s the present,” she said. “What we went through these last two years showed us that we need to have the technology in order to ensure we can communicate with our constituents and we’re able to serve our constituents. In order to educate our kids we need technology.”

But, Matos said, securing better technology is also a public safety issue worth investing in, and lamented that her experience has taught her that spending money on technology has proven to be unpopular with voters.

“If you look traditionally, every time you talk about investing in technology, people don’t like that. They think you’re wasting money. But this is so important,” she said. “Especially now that we have seen what can happen with all of the hacking that is happening of corporations, and governments are targeted all the time. We need to be up to date with technology to protect our taxpayers of the state.”

On the Lt. Governor job
One of Warren’s most notable politicians, the late Cool Moose Party originator Robert Healey, once ran for the position Matos now holds on the platform that he would eliminate it entirely — as in his view, the position served no tangible purpose.

Matos said that the events that transpired to see her take over the Lt. Governor position showed why the role is essential, and also displayed proof as to why the Lt. Governor and Governor should run for election as a ticket instead of separate positions.

“We always think about the Lt. Governor being there in case something bad happens to the governor. Well, we saw something really good can happen to the governor, too,” she said, in reference to former Governor Gina Raimondo being appointed as Commerce Secretary under President Biden. “I think it’s in the best interest for the state of Rhode Island to have both offices working in collaboration and to have a Lt. Governor who is up to speed on the decision making that is happening in state government. I think this experience showed that the office is needed, and that the office is important.”

Matos said she has enjoyed a great working relationship with Gov. McKee, and that their vastly differing personal perspectives has been a benefit to both of them.

“We bring different life experiences to the table. I think that just makes us better, to be able to have a conversation with someone and have a different opinion,” she said. “I’ve been doing that a lot in this role. I go to cities and towns and I try to sit down with people — people who probably have a whole different political perspective than mine — and hear where they’re coming from. I’m not saying we’re going to agree all the time, but we need more opportunities to have an exchange of opinions and ideas.”

On her top priorities
Matos said that she would continue to try and bolster small businesses and address their most priority concerns, champion more affordable housing, and work to bring more commerce into the state as a whole.

“There is so much to do. I am just getting to the beginning of it,” she said. “I want to continue doing this work and I want to continue to be at the table and bring a different perspective and a different point of view.”

Matos will compete against Rep. Deborah Ruggiero (District 74, Jamestown, Middletown), and Rep. Cynthia Mendes (District 18, East Providence, Pawtucket), in the Democratic Primary on Sept. 13, 2022. Republican candidates thus far include Paul Pence Jr., and former Providence police officer Jeann Lugo.