Just days after City Council and Mayor Brett Smiley traded votes and vetoes on rent stabilization, candidates took the stage at Brown University for the first mayoral candidate forum of this year’s race.
On Wednesday April 22, student organization Brown Votes hosted four candidates headlined by the incumbent Smiley and his challenger State Representative David Morales. Members of the crowd asked questions about housing, navigating federal policies and how best to manage the capital of the Ocean State.
Brown Votes said hundreds of people registered to attend the forum both online and in the auditorium at the Salomon Center for a preview of this fall’s mayoral race. Despite many open seats, small contingents of Morales and Smiley supporters cheered on their preferred candidates..
As of December 31, Smiley held $1.2 million dollars in his campaign fund, compared to Morales’ $89,000 dollars. Despite the large financial gap, Morales is counting on a dedicated canvassing campaign and endorsements from leading progressives like California Congressman Ro Khanna and former New York Representative Jamaal Bowman.
Earlier this month, an internal poll conducted by Morales of 300 Democratic voters put the challenger’s campaign ahead of Smiley.
Other candidates on stage were Allen Waters, a conservative independent launching his fifth political campaign of the past seven years, and Michael English, a self-described blue-collar Democrat convicted of child molestation in 1998.
The Elephant in the Room: Rent Stabilization
The first question jumped straight into the housing crisis. Providence rent prices jumped 16%, then 12%, over the past two years. On Thursday April 16, City Council voted 9-6 to limit annual rent increases to four percent each year. Smiley quickly vetoed the ordinance. City Council now has one month to find an additional yes vote and reach the two-thirds majority required to pass the measure.
“I find it absolutely shameful that during this time of need, we have a mayor that would veto such a measure,” said Morales. “That being said, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. I support developing new, affordable housing that all of our neighbors can call home.”
Housing production is the focus of Smiley’s approach to the crisis, along with some temporary, targeted funds for emergency assistance.
“The underlying root cause is a housing shortage,” said Smiley. “In the last three years, we’ve built 2,000 new units— over 20% of which is permanently subsidized and affordable.”
Providence “at war” with Trump?
Candidates shared their opinions on how to upgrade local schools, manage city surveillance cameras, and improve public transit, but a major theme addressed responding to federal policies under the Trump administration.
Smiley said Immigration and Customs Enforcement is bringing “wreckage into cities.”
“In the fall, we signed an executive order to re-establish the general orders for the Providence Police to ensure that they do not cooperate with ICE,” said Smiley. The order came after the Providence External Review Authority determined local police violated a city ordinance when they collaborated with immigration officers. “After we saw what happened in Minneapolis, we signed another executive order to ensure we do not use any public places for ICE activities.”
In response to ongoing ICE activity, politicians at the state house introduced legislation that requires federal agents to obtain judicial warrants before making civil arrests at Rhode Island courthouses. Morales, a sponsor of one of those bills, criticized Smiley for not doing more to protect residents from ICE and drew applause when he shouted “Porque en Providence, cuidamos a nuestro comunidad inmigrante.”
“Just a week and a half ago, a man was tackled outside the courthouse in downtown Providence and taken away by masked agents,” said Morales, whose mother is an immigrant. “Yet, there is silence that comes from City Hall with the exception of performative press conferences.”
Providence is already considered a sanctuary city due to limited cooperation with federal agencies, but Morales is promising to pass an official sanctuary ordinance for the city.
Another forum question asked candidates how to address food insecurity in light of federal cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Research shows 20% of Providence residents depend on SNAP or food assistance in some form. Waters said “we got to work with what we have.”
“I’m not at war with Donald Trump,” said Waters, who previously ran for seats in both Republican and Democratic parties. “I’m the only independent candidate here. Everyone else belongs to a political party.”
Smiley clapped back with some of his strongest words of the night.
“Of those families on SNAP in Providence, 16,000 of them are children,” said Smiley. “So when the federal government cuts aid to children in Providence, we are at war with the federal government.”
After Trump attempted to cut off food assistance during the government shutdown in October, Providence sued the Trump administration, and the federal court ruled in their favor and restored the benefits. The food assistance cutoff remains in legal battles, but new immigration eligibility restrictions are now in place for SNAP programs.
English: Blizzard management reminiscent of prison
After major winter storms left Providence smothered in snow for months, city officials spent triple the budget originally dedicated for snow cleanup. Smiley defended their response and the Department of Public Works Director Patricia Coyne-Fague.
“I hired her because of her experience. She was the director of corrections for the state,” said Smiley. “What we needed was a strong manager who could manage budgets and manage people. That’s what we got, and she has my confidence.”
In February, the largest snowfall in Rhode Island history left streets blocked for days, and Morales criticized Providence’s response to the emergency.
“Emergency vehicles were literally getting stuck in the snow. And that is what happens when you do not have qualified individuals leading the departments,” said Morales. “Our administration will prioritize a public works director with a background in traffic engineering, so we can be thoughtful about the future of our infrastructure.”
“I have a criminal record. I was in the ACI,” said English. “When they had a problem, you know how they solved it? They locked your frickin’ door and left you there for two or three days, delivered your food to your front door, and you guys felt it when the snow came, because you were stuck there too.”
According to reporting in the Providence Journal, English was convicted of child molestation in 1998 after allegedly engaging in sexual acts with a 13-year-old girl when he was 26. English initially served 15 months in prison before being released in 2000. Nine years later, English violated a no contact order with the victim and returned to prison for another 19 months.
Waters Brings Conservative Foil to Stage
On stage, Waters preached liberty, economic competition and a break from the Democratic party. Some of his responses drew jeers and laughter from the crowd, like when he criticized the “leftist movement” in the City Council and called Brown University “one of the most anti-American institutions in the United States.”
Waters also brought a history of controversy to the stage. On social media earlier this year, Waters shared a picture of him and his girlfriend, along with a picture of Mayor Smiley and his husband, and a picture of Morales with a cat.
“Pick your PVD Mayor. Some men love men, some men love cats, but me, Allen Waters for Mayor? I hope you like men who love women most of all,” said Waters on Facebook.
Morales responded by saying “Homophobia has no place in Providence. It has no place in our politics, our neighborhoods, or our public discourse.”
Brown Votes organizers said the student group invited all candidates who declared their intention to run.
“We’re hosting this event to promote dialogue, discussion, democracy,” said Rosie Shultz, a member of the Brown Votes civic engagement team. “We wanted to make sure that we equally invited all of the candidates on the ballot.”
A full video of the debate is available on Steve Ahlquist’s YouTube.
All candidates for local elections must officially declare their intention starting on June 22, and official sample ballots for the primaries will be available around August 8.
Voters must register by August 9 in order to vote in the primary election, when local citizens can weigh in on which of these candidates should be leading City Hall next year.
[CORRECTION: A previous version of this article included a typo of Jamaal Bowman’s name. The Providence Eye regrets the error.]Eric Halvarson is a City News Reporter at The Providence Eye.
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