PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Democrat David Cicilline won the congressional seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Patrick Kennedy, becoming the fourth openly gay member of Congress.
Cicilline, the mayor of Providence, beat Republican state Rep. John Loughlin on Tuesday in the race for the 1st District seat that Kennedy has held for eight terms. Kennedy announced his retirement in February, a few months after the death of his father, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, of Massachusetts.
"This campaign has been about real ideas about how we get Rhode Islanders back to work and how we get this country back on track," Cicilline said in an interview.
Cicilline, 49, said he was aware he'd be entering a Congress that could be dominated by Republicans, and said voters are tired of partisanship.
"We have to go there and find common ground," he said.
On being the fourth openly gay member of Congress, Cicilline said it was good for America to have another diverse voice in Congress to help break down the walls of discrimination..
Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a national organization dedicated electing more gay officials, said the group was proud of Cicilline and grateful to voters.
"Mayor Cicilline will be a strong advocate for all Rhode Islanders, but he will also be an authentic voice for the millions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans who long for the day when we will be treated equally under law," he said.
In addition to being the state's first openly gay congressman, Cicilline also noted that he'll be Rhode Island's first Italian-American congressman.
National Republicans had said their highest priority in the state was winning the seat from Democratic hands. But Loughlin trailed badly in fundraising behind Cicilline, who also has better name recognition after eight years as mayor of the capital city. National Republicans never spent money on TV ads to help Loughlin.
Cicilline raised more than $1.6 million for his run, according to campaign finance reports filed in mid-October, while Loughlin raised just over $600,000.
Cicilline ran as the man who has a proven record of getting things done. He was first elected in 2002 after years of corruption in the administration of Buddy Cianci, who was serving time in federal prison by the time Cicilline was sworn in.
But Loughlin, 51, went after the mayor's record, saying Cicilline had failed in his leadership of the city. He complained that the city's finances were in bad shape and said the mayor couldn't get the basics done, like filling potholes. He said the city's streets looked like "driving around in Baghdad."
He also ran TV ads trying to tie Cicilline to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Loughlin, the House minority whip, is one of a handful of Republicans in the General Assembly. He spent 26 years in the National Guard and Army Reserve and owns a private media consulting firm.
Cicilline tried to paint Loughlin as out of the mainstream in a district that is heavily Democratic. For example, Loughlin supported a partial privatization of Social Security, something Cicilline's campaign hammered in TV ads featuring senior citizens concerned about the idea.
Doug Johnson, a registered Democrat and math teacher from Barrington, said Loughlin's comments that Social Security was a "Ponzi scheme" troubled him. He said Loughlin's criticisms that Cicilline had some ethics problems also bothered him, but Johnson, who voted for Barack Obama in 2008, chose Cicilline. The reason?
"To give Obama more chances to see his programs through," the 54-year-old Johnson said.
In the 2nd District, incumbent Democrat Jim Langevin successfully defended himself against a challenge by Republican Mark Zaccaria, who also challenged him in 2008. Langevin, 46, was paralyzed from the chest down in a gunfire accident as a teenager and is the only quadriplegic in the U.S. House of Representatives.
