Two R.I. legislative races still in play
Clockwise from top left: Democrat Pete Appollonio Jr. had a 25-vote lead over Republican Sen. Anthony DeLuca, top right, in the Senate District 29 race as of Wednesday at noon. Republican Chris Paplauskas, bottom right, has a 49 vote lead over Democrat Maria Bucci, bottom left, in the open seat race in Cranston for House District 15. (Contributed photos)
Recounts are still on the table in two state legislative races, with razor thin margins in contests in Warwick and Cranston, respectively, based on preliminary and unofficial results Wednesday.
Final results will not weaken Democrats' ironclad grip in the Rhode Island State House. The total number of Republican lawmakers is likely to remain the same: 14. Based on preliminary results as of noon Wednesday. House Republicans would pick up one seat — bringing its number to 10 out of 75 state representatives, but the Senate would lose one of its five Republican seats, leaving four Republicans in the 38-member chamber.
Ballots submitted to drop boxes on Election Day had yet to be counted, alongside votes from military and overseas voters.
The math is based on two races still in play.
One is Warwick's Senate District 29, where Democratic challenger Peter Appollonio Jr. held a 25-vote lead over Republican Sen. Anthony DeLuca as of midday. DeLuca, a freshman senator and former East Greenwich firefighter, won the open seat in 2022, flipping the district long held by outgoing Democratic Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey in 2022 with relative ease. His 2022 opponent was Democrat Jennifer Rourke.
Rourke again sought the party nomination this year, but lost in the September primary to Appollonio, a former West Warwick police officer. Appollonio drew support from a deep bench of state and federal Democrats in the general election contest against DeLuca.
Both DeLuca and Appollonio declined to comment when reached by phone just after midnight, wanting to wait for all ballots to be counted. Neither responded to follow-up inquiries for comment Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, Cranston City Councilor Chris Paplauskas maintained a 49-vote edge over Democrat Maria Bucci in the House District 15 race. The open seat was formerly held by Republican Rep. Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung, who instead sought the Cranston mayoral seat this year.
Paplauskas, who works for a sign manufacturing company, said in an interview Wednesday morning that he was feeling confident, despite the still unfinalized results.
"I like where I am at," Paplauskas said, chalking up his potential victory to his 10-year record as a city councilor. "I've worked hard for the city for 10 years, and I think that carried over."
Bucci, who unsuccessfully challenged Cranston Republican Mayor Ken Hopkins in 2020, did not immediately return calls for comment. Paplauskas also said he had not heard from his opponent.
By contrast, the House District 39 rematch between Exeter Democrat Megan Cotter and Justin Price was hardly the squeaker anticipated. Cotter defeated Price with a definitive 659-vote lead as of midday Wednesday. The freshman representative ousted Price from the seat representing Richmond, Exeter and Hopkinton by just 32 votes, confirmed by a recount, in 2022.
No recount requests had been received by the Rhode Island Board of Elections as of Wednesday afternoon, said Chris Hunter, an agency spokesman. In races with 20,000 or fewer votes cast — the case for the state legislative contests in question — candidates can ask for a manual re-feeding of ballots when the losing candidate trails by 2% or 200 votes, whichever is less, according to state law.
Candidates have until 4 p.m. Nov. 12 to physically deliver to the state elections board a signed and notarized letter requesting a recount.
This story will be updated.
