Riding a wave of anti-incumbency, State Rep. David Morales defeated Providence Mayor Brett Smiley in Wednesday’s Democratic primary, notching a major win for the progressive wing of the party.
“Providence, let’s get ready,” he exhorted his supporters. “Over the next four years we are going to build a ‘Providence for All.’”
Those last three words were his campaign slogan. The crowd in the courtyard of the Riff Raff bookstore in Olneyville enthusiastically joined in to complete the sentence.
At 27, Morales is the youngest member of the state legislature and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. He framed the race as a simple choice about housing after Smiley vetoed Providence’s first-ever rent stabilization ordinance. Smiley insisted that rent control would slow much-needed construction of new housing. —Morales vowed to revive the measure during his first hundred days in office.
On public safety, Morales called for changes to the Providence police force, including prioritizing the recruitment of multilingual officers. He wants a stronger civilian review board. And he wants to get rid of Flock cameras.
He also insisted the city do more to combat enforcement by “fascist” ICE agents.
Endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Providence mayor Jorge Elorza, he sought to cast the incumbent Smiley as an ineffective representative of the political establishment, beholden to wealthy real estate developers and other well-connected elites.
Serving ‘an honor,’ Smiley says
Smiley wasn’t frowning when he entered his election party to make a concession speech. He arrived to applause and hugged his way through the crowd that gathered for him at the Narragansett Brewery in Fox Point.
In his speech, he first thanked the campaign team that has worked with him during his 12 years running for the mayor’s office in Providence. Smiley said his team knocked 100,000 doors this election. He then moved on to his husband, Jim DeRentis.
“It does not get enough coverage in the world how hard it is to be the family member of an elected official,” Smiley said. “I got some of the glory. My husband Jim got nothing but stress.”
“I haven’t been home for dinner in a while, and I haven’t cooked a meal in four years,” he said as the crowd laughed.
He then thanked his City Hall staff.
“We have so much to be proud for,” Smiley said. “We have built more housing than in the last 20 years. We are building new schools in every neighborhood. This city is safer than it’s been in 35 years.”
Turning briefly to Morales, Smiley said the city needs to keep building new homes to emerge from its housing crisis. He urged his challenger to focus closely on Providence public schools, which recently returned to local control for the first time since the state government took over in 2019.
“Serving as your mayor has been an honor. It’s really been the honor of my lifetime,” Smiley said as he wound down his speech. “For those of you who have known me for a long time, this is the only job in public office I ever wanted.”
On the campaign trail, Smiley defended his record, insisting his policies paved the way for thousands of new homes, improved public safety and drove recorded incidents of violent crime to historic lows.
In the aftermath of a mass shooting at Brown University, Smiley had a national stage, offering daily updates on the search for the shooter.
But Smiley faced scrutiny for implementing the city’s largest property tax increase in a decade. Having run a back-to-basics campaign in 2022, he managed what many perceived as a slow cleanup after last winter’s historic snowfall.
Smiley also faced frequent protests from opponents of Israel’s war in Gaza. He continued to support Israel despite the high civilian death toll during Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks by Hamas militants.
From California to Providence
Raised in California’s Great Central Valley, Morales is the son of a single immigrant mother, who watched his big night on the phone via FaceTime. Morales thanked his mom from the stage, and as soon as he finished, he blew her a kiss over the video link.
His hometown, Soledad, is just south of Salinas. Morales says that as a teenager, he picked fruits and vegetables to help pay the bills. The family struggled for years to keep a roof over their heads before finally landing a spot, and some security, in public housing.
Morales came to Providence to attend graduate school at Brown University, where he earned a master’s degree in public affairs at age 20.
The next year, he became the youngest member of the Rhode Island legislature, defeating an incumbent in District 7 (Mount Pleasant, Valley and Elmhurst). Three terms later, he’s still the youngest legislator.
Outside of politics, Morales has also competed as a wrestler, performing as “The Commissioner.”
Asked whether he brought one of his wrestling masks to the victory night, Morales smiled.
“No, the Commissioner will not be making an appearance tonight,” he said.
From the beginning, Morales’ campaign has been compared to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani – a comparison he embraced. As the winner of Wednesday’s primary in the heavily Democratic city, he is the overwhelming favorite to win the general election.
