AP: Rhode Island Dem Gov Gina Raimondo Faces “Tough Re-Election Fight”

With recent polls showing her approval rating well below 50 percent, Rhode Island Democrat Governor Gina Raimondo’s re-election bid faces even more doubts as she fails to connect with voters. The Associated Press reports that Raimondo “looks to be heading into a tough re-election fight,” noting growing criticism for her “failures of leadership as governor.”

Several Democrat activists interviewed by The Associated Press claimed to be “turned off” by Raimondo’s policies and management failures, committing instead to vote for Raimondo’s primary challenger Matt Brown over the incumbent governor in next month’s Democrat primary. Some were so displeased with Raimondo that they would not even commit to voting for her in the general election if she wins her difficult nomination fight.

With growing scandals, stagnant economic growth, and embarrassing failures in leadership plaguing the Raimondo administration, her inability to connect with the people of her state leaves her facing an increasingly difficult path to victory in November

The Associated Press reports:

“By the numbers, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo should be sitting pretty in her bid for a second term.

She’s a Democrat in a state where Republican President Donald Trump remains unpopular after losing 54-39 percent in 2016. She’s a woman in a year when a record number of female candidates are generating excitement around the country. And her campaign has raised $7 million, seven times her closest rival.

But a lot of voters aren’t sold, and Raimondo looks to be heading into a tough re-election fight.

She faces a spirited, though poorly funded, challenge from the left in the Sept. 12 primary from former Secretary of State Matt Brown. If she wins, she’ll face the victor in the Republican primary, likely Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, who has raised $1 million, or his rival, state Rep. Patricia Morgan. Former state Rep. Joe Trillo, who was Trump’s state campaign chairman, is running as an independent and could act as a spoiler…

…her approval ratings have remained tepid — a stark difference from 2014, when many saw her as a figure to watch nationally.

She has been criticized for failures of leadership as governor, including her 2016 decision to launch a computer system for state benefits such as food stamps, despite warnings from federal officials that it wasn’t ready. The resulting chaos left thousands without benefits, prompted lawsuits and a court-appointed overseer, who is still cleaning up the mess.

A former venture capitalist, she’s still deeply disliked by many members of public employee unions because of her work as general treasurer to cut and make other changes to state pensions. She also invested hundreds of millions of dollars of pension money in hedge funds, a decision she made to reduce risk but which her successor backed away from because of huge fees. She won in 2014 with just under 41 percent in a three-way race, beating Fung, who got 36 percent.

To some, Raimondo’s pension investments, huge fundraising numbers and tax incentives to corporations to lure them to Rhode Island have led to a perception that she’s looking out for corporate interests rather than those of everyday people.

Kendra Anderson, 61, an environmental activist who voted for Raimondo in 2014, is backing Brown this year. She said Raimondo’s corporate connections have turned her off.

‘I was extremely happy and proud of having a woman governor,’ she said. ‘Yeah, I want women to excel, I want women to be in places of power, but I’m not going to do it at the expense of what’s going on.’

A board member of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats of America, Jennifer Siciliano, 48, of Warwick, said she was disillusioned by Raimondo’s cuts to Medicaid reimbursements and corporate tax incentive program. She’s voting for Brown in September and isn’t sure yet who she’ll back in November if Raimondo is on the ballot.

‘I don’t want to have to make that decision yet,’ Siciliano said.”