Democrats looking for weak spots in the midterm defense of their House majority probably didn’t expect to find one in deep-blue Rhode Island. Nevertheless, one of Rhode Island’s two congressional seats remains highly competitive late in the campaign, with former Cranston mayor Allan Fung, the Republican nominee, stubbornly remaining a few points ahead of the Democratic nominee and state treasurer, Seth Magaziner. The race is shaping up to be a test of the prospects for centrist-leaning Republicans to succeed in Democratic-leaning districts—or any district.
Fung is a relentlessly friendly, pro-business political overachiever. A Providence-born son of immigrants, he exudes gratitude for the opportunities afforded to his family. A four-term mayor of Cranston and two-time GOP gubernatorial nominee (in 2014 and 2018), Fung has focused his campaign on kitchen-table issues like home-heating expenses for the approaching winter and the high grocery bills and gas prices squeezing the middle class.
Magaziner, a diffident if not undistinguished candidate, is the son of high-powered Clinton-era policy advisor Ira Magaziner, whose client list includes the likes of General Electric and the governments of Ireland and Sweden. Like all Democrats in 2022, Seth Magaziner is running hard against the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision last June, which returned abortion law to the legislative branch, and the “threat to democracy” that Republicans supposedly represent. He has suggested that Fung is an extremist who supports imprisoning women and doctors who carry out abortions and has pointed out that Fung expressed support for Donald Trump by briefly donning a Make America Great Again hat.
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