35 Dem, 5 Republican primaries for General Assembly this year
There are 113 seats in the General Assembly’s two chambers, and 30 of those elections are over before a single vote is cast because one candidate is running unopposed. But not everyone on Smith Hill was so lucky – some politicians must fight off challengers in the Sept. 11 primary to keep their seats.
Here’s a district-by-district look at which districts have primary elections. Incumbents are in bold. If the current lawmaker isn’t in the primary, I put the name in brackets.
House
In the House, 18 incumbents face primary challengers – all Democrats except Republican Rep. Laurence Ehrhardt, who’s opponent says she was told he’d be retiring and then surprised her by deciding to run again.
- District 2 (D): Chris Blazejewski vs. Dirk Hennessey
- District 6 (D): Raymond Hull vs. Peter Wasylyk
- District 8 (D): Michael Tarro vs. Libby Kimzey vs. John Lombardi
- District 11 (D): Grace Diaz vs. Laura Perez
- District 12 (D): Leo Medina vs. Joseph Almeida
- District 16 (D): Peter Palumbo vs. Michelle Bergin
- District 18 (D): Art Handy vs. William McKenna
- District 30 (R): Robert Bolton vs. Emil Fachon vs. Antonio Giarrusso [Watson]
- District 32 (R): Laurence Ehrhardt vs. Sharon Gamba
- District 34 (R): Stephen Tetzner vs. Christopher Wilkens [Tanzi]
- District 35 (D): Spencer Dickinson vs. Kathleen Fogarty
- District 39 (R): Clay Johnson vs. Michael Picillo [Valencia]
- District 40 (D): Lauri Archambault vs. Jon Restivo [Chippendale]
- District 44 (D): Peter Petrarca vs. Gregory Costantino
- District 45 (D): Rene Menard vs. Mia Ackerman
- District 46 (D): Jeremiah O’Grady vs. John Douglas Barr II
- District 49 (D): Lisa Baldelli-Hunt vs. Stuart Gitlow vs. Michael Morin
- District 50 (D): Jon Brien vs. Stephen Casey
- District 52 (D): Karen MacBeth vs. Augustus Uht
- District 54 (D): Lance Mantia vs. David Pellegrino vs. William O’Brien [Schadone]
- District 56 (D): Agostinho Silva vs. Joseph Faria
- District 58 (D): William San Bento Jr. vs. Carlos Tobon
- District 59 (D): J. Patrick O’Neill vs. John Arcaro
- District 63 (D): Robert Britto vs. Katherine Kazarian vs. Sam Lovett vs. Charles Tsonos [DaSilva]
- District 65 (D): Gregg Amore vs. Timothy Chapman vs. James Miller [Savage]
- District 68 (D): Kenneth Marshall vs. John Hanley [Morrison]
- District 73 (D): Marvin Abney vs. David Carlin [Jackson]
Senate
In the Senate, eight incumbent Democrats and one Republican face primary challengers.
- District 3 (D): Maryellen Butke vs. Gayle Goldin [Perry]
- District 5 (D): Paul Jabour vs. Maura Kelly
- District 9 (D): Michael Pinga vs. Adam Satchell
- District 14 (D): Daniel DaPonte vs. Roberto DaSilva
- District 16 (D): Elizabeth Crowley vs. Joseph Moran
- District 17 (D): Louis Azar vs. John Cullen [O'Neill]
- District 19 (D): Ryan Pearson vs. James Spooner [Moura]
- District 24 (D): Marc Cote vs. Lewis Pryeor
- District 25 (D): Frank Lombardo vs. Nicole Amelia Acciardo
- District 26 (D): Frank Lombardi vs. Gene Dyszlewski [Lanzi]
- District 29 (D): Michael McCaffrey vs. Laura Pisaturo
- District 33 (D): David Gorman vs. Leo Raptakis [Shibley]
- District 34 (R): Frank Maher vs. Paul McFadden
Update: WPRI 12 political analyst Joe Fleming calls to say it’s actually surprising to him that there are four Republican House primaries. ”It’s a rarity that there are so many,” he said. “Usually there’s only one or two.”
• Related: The lucky 30 who’ve already won their General Assembly races (July 23)
An earlier version of this list incorrectly classified the Senate District 34 race as a Democratic primary and missed the Democratic primary in House District 56.
Tags: campaign 2012, democrats, general assembly, house of representatives, politics, primaries, republicans, senate, state government
[...] There are lots of interesting primaries for General Assembly this year, and one of them is House District 63 in East Providence, where four [...]