PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island's Senate Democrats stuck with Senate President Dominick Ruggerio and promoted Val Lawson to majority leader on Thursday night, but not before a public fight over whether their 75-year-old leader is still healthy enough to run the chamber.

Lawson, D-East Providence, replaces the current majority leader, Cumberland Democrat Ryan Pearson, who wound up in Ruggerio's crosshairs earlier this year after raising the delicate subject of his health and future at a private meeting.

The vote to endorse Ruggerio, D-North Providence, for another term and give Lawson the No. 2 job came at a caucus meeting of Senate Democrats held at the Waterman Grille. The meeting itself was controversial, with Pearson's allies arguing he had control of the caucus as majority leader under the rules, but Ruggerio's side contesting that.

Pearson did win a public fight with Ruggerio over whether the caucus should be open to reporters, after the Senate president said publicly he wanted the press kept out. (House Speaker Joe Shekarchi has already announced he will let reporters attend his chamber's Democratic caucus on Friday.)

The caucus followed months of behind-the-scene tension in the Senate. Ruggerio has been frequently absent from the public stage this year as he fought cancer, and frustration among some Democratic lawmakers about the situation grew after many felt it put the chamber at a disadvantage during end-of-session negotiations with the House last spring.

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