A Raimondo return? Rumor of another governor run sets political world abuzz. What we know.
Would Rhode Island voters want Gina Raimondo to come home and run for a third-term as governor?
Seasoned political observer Bob Walsh asks the question a different way in the wake of the unsourced, Raimondo trial balloon The Public's Radio published on Thursday night: "After they've seen Paris, how do you get them back on the farm?"
"She's been on a bigger stage," Walsh said Friday. "And I think there are countless other opportunities for her [including] a big corporate job or a college presidency."
Raimondo's potential return to Rhode Island is generating buzz
Raimondo, who resigned as governor mid-term and mid-COVID recovery for an appointment as Commerce Secretary in President Joe Biden's administration, has not publicly commented on the story, which cites multiple unnamed sources as saying that Raimondo is considering another run for governor.
Potential sources for the Public's Radio story, including several of Raimondo's former staffers, have not yet responded to requests for comment from The Journal.
But Raimondo's cabinet-level job is likely to end when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House. And when asked by a podcaster on Politico.Tech earlier this week what's next for her - and might it include another run for governor, she said:
"I don't know. That is a truly honest answer ... .My husband and I were talking the other day. We don't really know where we're going to be living a year from now or what we're going to be doing.
"Our son graduates high school in June, so we're staying put in DC until June. That much I know, and I'm definitely going to take a minute to quiet my mind and think about what comes next," she said.
The public radio story nonetheless created a buzz on social media – and a fair amount of Raimondo-blaming for the woes that then-Lt. Gov. Dan McKee inherited when he ascended to the governorship in March 2021 in her place, including the broken Washington Bridge on Raimondo-appointed Transportation Director Peter Alviti's watch.
As former Public's Radio political analyst Scott MacKay wrote on Facebook: "Can't figure out what the rationale for this is except to keep Raimondo viable in national politics."
"A lot of hangovers from her administration still afflict RI,'' he wrote. "Failing state takeover of Providence schools; court denial of truck tolls; poor public school test scores statewide; her so-so record on the economy. Her appointee is running the Washington Bridge fiasco. And let's not forget the loss of the Pawsawx."
Former Rhode Island Republican National Committeeman Steve Frias was even more blunt: "Would be an odd decision for a one-time Democratic rising star. Running for governor again would suggest that no one in the private sector (university or Wall Street for example) wants to hire her. She would also have to answer for DOT's performance that led to the bridge failure."
And Providence Mayor Brett Smiley – Raimondo's one-time chief of staff and director of administration – told The Journal that he and Raimondo have spoken since the election last week, but "we have not spoken about a potential run for governor," and "personally I would highly doubt that, although everyone I know holds her in the highest regard."
Could Gina Raimondo run for governor again?
As to the legality of Raimondo – or any other top-level state official running for more than two terms – the Rhode Island Constitution would seem to allow it under some circumstances.
Section 1, Article 4 says in part: "No person shall serve consecutively in the same general office for more than two (2) full terms, excluding any partial term of less than two (2) years previously served."
Whatever the intent, Walsh says both a literal – and liberal – reading could allow former Republican Gov. Donald Carcieri of 38 Studios fame to return to Rhode Island and run again, or Attorney General Peter Neronha to [hypothetically] resign on Christmas Day 2026, so he could run – and serve – a third term.
It's rumor season for the 2026 governor's race
A local Raimondo ally, who declined to go on the record, speculates that someone in Raimondo's orbit who has self-interest in her running did some legal and political research and presented this as an option to her, on the theory she'd have a better political shot at something in the future as an elected official.
But McKee's political spokesman Mike Trainor compared the unsourced rumor to the chatter out of a "Hot Stove League,'' a term that invokes baseball fans gathering around a hot stove in the winter to discuss their favorite teams and players.
In other words, "it's a season of rumors," he said.
He said McKee is "absolutely" planning to run for a second full-term, and will likely make an official announcement at the end of the first quarter in 2025. And he noted, Raimondo appeared at a McKee fundraiser in Washington, hosted by Brad Dimeo, in September.
Helena Foulkes, who has been raising money for a second anticipated run for governor, has not commented.
And House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, who has not ruled out his own run for governor at some point, had no comment Friday on the latest rumor about his close friend Raimondo. But The Journal independently obtained a copy of an invitation to a Nov. 24 Shekarchi fundraising event. Raimondo is the headliner.
And Walsh – the former executive director of the National Education Association of Rhode Island who backed Raimondo in her last run for governor and now advises McKee – speculated she would not challenge an incumbent Democratic governor, "given the support she has gotten in the past from the [Democratic Governors Association] and the politics of doing that."
For the record: Raimondo is still registered to vote in Rhode Island from the South Kingstown summer home where she shifted her voter registration in August 2021.
With reports from Patrick Anderson
This story has been updated to include new information.