Regunberg lost a Democratic primary for lieutenant governor five years ago to Dan McKee by about 2,500 votes. The rest is history: Gina Raimondo went to Washington, and McKee moved up to become governor. Now, Regunberg is taking another shot at politics. The former two-term state representative from Providence is running for the open seat in Rhode Island’s First Congressional District. But Regunberg has a lot of competition, since he’s one of 14 Democratic candidates in the race so far. How would he fight for Rhode Islanders in Washington, and what’s his plan for winning this campaign? This week I’m going in-depth with First Congressional District candidate Aaron Regunberg.
Transcript:
Ian Donnis: Welcome back to the public’s radio.
Aaron Regunberg: Thanks. It’s great to be here.
Ian Donnis: Let’s start with the big question. Why are you running for this open seat in CD one?
Aaron Regunberg: Well, I’m in this race, because I believe we need strong progressive leaders in Congress, the the fights that we’re up against Republican extremists are attacking our democracy, our rights, our future. And to take that on, we need folks who can organize and bring people together and have a record of, of winning real change. That’s the the work I’ve been doing in Rhode Island for years, fighting for the kind of core principles and values that I learned from my family growing up, you know, my watching my mom or my sister and me as a single mother, conversations with my grandfather, who is a survivor of the Holocaust, and really taught me that our democracy is worth fighting for conversations with my grandma, who was executive director of her local Planned Parenthood in the years before Roe v. Wade, and would be just kept turning over in her grave right now.
Ian Donnis: Let me stop you there. Because we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. There’s a large field of candidates in the Democratic side of the race, you’re one of 14 Democrats running, what is your path to victory in this race?
Aaron Regunberg: Well, I think the record that I bring to the table is 15 years of fighting to make a difference for regular Rhode Islanders. You know, when I was first elected to the general assembly back in 2014, heard a lot of ‘that’ll never happen.’ A lot of people said, we’d never pass paid sick days, too many corporate interests lined up against it, but we were able to, to organize and bring workers and unions and small businesses together, and we’re able to get that through. Same thing happened with legislation to increase the tipped minimum wage for workers to reform solitary confinement in our prisons to create new clean energy and renewable energy programs in our state and make them accessible for folks. I think it all of those. In all of those fights, there were strong interests lined up against us, but we were able to, to bring folks together and and make it happen. And that’s the kind of work that I want to do in Congress. I think that’s the kind of work that that Rhode Islanders want to see whether it’s on the climate crisis and taking on the fossil fuel industry. You know, I’ve got a two year old son and I spend a lot of time thinking about the kind of world that he’s going to…
Ian Donnis: Let me stop you there because we do have a lot of questions. Aaron, back in 2018, you came very close to defeating Dan McKee in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor lost by about 2500 votes. In the aftermath, was there anything you reflected on that you thought you could have done differently that would have changed the outcome?
Aaron Regunberg: You know, you always you always go back and think of this or that I’m really proud of the race that we ran. I think we confounded a lot of expectations by winning 49% against an incumbent. And, I mean, as far as lessons learned, I think, I think the biggest takeaway for me, just having spent so much time going to different communities across our state is that people are feeling the same kind of issues. They have the same challenges. In every part of our state. There’s a lot of forces, I think, trying to create division in our country and and state right now.
Ian Donnis: Sure, let’s get into some of those issues. You– as you said a little bit earlier, climate change is a key concern for you. You point out you have a young son, you’re concerned about what it’s going to be like for him growing up. At the same time outgoing Congressman David Cicilline, he, you know, probably not that different from you on votes on climate change issues. If you were to be the next congressman, what difference would that make?
Aaron Regunberg: I mean, I think what Congressman Cicilline has been so effective, that it’s not just votes, right? He’s been able to really move agendas he’s been able to organize. He, you know, he’s the force behind the work to take on corporate monopolies. He’s made a real difference in the fights to protect queer and trans folks, the fight to ban assault weapons. And so I think it’s not just it’s not just your vote, it’s can you actually bring people together? Do you have a record of winning real change? I think that’s why I’ve been so grateful for the work David has been doing. And that’s the kind of work that I would want to continue.
Ian Donnis: Speaking of real change, it was clear to many for years that Republicans were trying to remake the US Supreme Court, they didn’t make any secret of that. Nonetheless, Democrats were not really able to muster in any effective opposition, in stopping that from happening. Where do you Where did Democrats go wrong in that?
Aaron Regunberg: I think Republicans have approached the courts as a part of their political strategy and understanding that who runs our judiciary — it’s about power. And I think Democrats have too often just been focused on sort of neutral rule of law. We need to understand that that courts are about power, that we’ve got these right-wing judicial activists who are going way beyond the rule of law. And we need to be pushing up against that. You know, in the ’30s, FDR, he had a real strategy to take on a Supreme Court that was gutting his New Deal programs. And he called out when they were taking down popular programs that were making a difference for people. And we remember that as a failure because court packing his plan didn’t pass. But it actually succeeded. He put enough pressure on the Supreme Court that they relented and the second New Deal was able to continue. We need to take that same approach, we need to call out.. You know, Senator, Whitehouse has been a leader in sort of shifting that conversation. But we need to, we need to be taking that from top to bottom of our Democratic Party of understanding, that this is, this is really a fight for the soul of our country, we need to address it as such.
Ian Donnis: We’re talking here with Aaron Regunberg, one of 14 Democrats running for the open seat and rodents first congressional district. Aaron, we see how Republicans like Kevin McCarthy are making an issue of the debt ceiling trying to make political hay of it. They say that federal spending is too high and needs to be reeled in. Are they correct?
Aaron Regunberg: The irresponsibility of this Republican leadership is really it’s, it’s mind blowing. We need to be investing in our communities. We need to be supporting the programs that people rely on whether it’s Social Security or Medicare, whether it’s the work we need to do to transition our economy to a clean energy future.
Ian Donnis: But what about the amount of federal spending? There are a lot of everyday people who are alarmed that the US is spending too much money? Are they right?
Aaron Regunberg: No, I don’t think so. I think that we talk about US debt. What US debt really is is treasury bonds, right? If we — treasury bonds actually are a really important part of our economy and financial system. We have a system that we talked about the budget deficit, the budget deficit is a surplus in the economy, if we’re bringing if we’re, if we’re bringing in more taxes than we’re spending, that means less money in our pockets to do the work that we need to do for our schools, for our healthcare system. Obviously, there’s, there’s, there’s corruption at the federal level, there’s corporations that rigged the rules to get resources that they shouldn’t be getting. And so we there’s a lot that we can do to cut costs that are not helping people. But what what the Republicans are doing with the debt limit, which by the way, you know, during during Donald Trump’s administration didn’t hear a peep about that they passed the biggest increase to the to the deficit with their, with their millionaire and corporate tax cut that we’ve seen in years and years.
Ian Donnis: There’s not much love lost between you and a progressive group known as the Rhode Island Political Cooperative. Some members of the co-op this week put out a public letter criticizing you. What is this clash between you and some members of the co-op about?
Aaron Regunberg: You know, there’s there’s political disagreements, as as you know, I was vocal in my concerns about some of the decisions and approaches of the Rhode Island political cooperative this last cycle. I’ve had a different approach of trying to actually bring folks together and and get concrete progressive policy through. But, you know, political disagreements aside, I understand those folks are not going to support me. But my focus is, is the issues that are actually affecting Rhode Islanders, you know, the cost of living crisis, that we’ve got corporations making record profits, and they continue to price gouge and hurt people who are trying to get by right now, the climate crisis, our healthcare system, like there’s, there’s some important stakes to this election. There’s some urgency right now, I think in the world. And that’s, that’s, I think, what, what, what we should be focused on.
Ian Donnis: You talk about the stakes. So it’s interesting to see how voters in the traditionally Democratic town of Johnston just outside Providence, last year, voted for four of five state federal offices, they preferred Republicans over Democrats, Attorney General Peter Neronha, was the only Democrat who won majority support from Johnston voters. What do Democrats need to do differently to win back voters in a place like Johnston?
Aaron Regunberg: You know, I was talking before about my experience traveling around our state and seeing that, again, the issues that matter to regular people are the same in Johnston, in Providence, in Tiverton. Folks are worried about the cost of living about security for their families about the health and safety of their families. That’s that’s what we all care about. And the Democratic Party, I think needs to a be engaging with people where they’re at and, and, and talking about how our policies are going to actually address those issues. And B, I think we need to we need to call out the Republican strategy of sowing division and hate. There’s been a long history of that in this country, going back to slavery, and Jim Crow and anti-immigrant fervor and the fight against marriage equality, right? If we, if we keep people distracted and divided, then they’re not going to focus on who’s actually rigging the rules, which is massive corporations and billionaires. And so I think we, we can be explicit about that. I think a lot of democratic consultants would say that the the answer is to abandon the folks that those strategies target to abandon our queer and trans neighbors to abandon immigrants. I think it’s actually having conversations to say, “Who benefits when we’re fighting workers are fighting with each other?” It’s not any of us. It’s, it’s the folks at the top who are pulling the strings.
Ian Donnis: To close on the lighter side. What’s your favorite restaurant in Providence?
Aaron Regunberg: Oh, man, that is, that is so hard. I’ve spent probably the most time at Wildflower, which, you know, everyone spends a lot of time at coffee shops, but that’s like just a second home. It’s hard. It’s hard to list all of them.
Ian Donnis: Our time is up. So we’ve got to leave it there. Thanks for joining us. Democrat running in the first congressional district in Rhode Island, Aaron Regunberg of Providence.
Aaron Regunberg: Thanks for having me.
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The drug war is receding into history, but the aftermath — and how to deal with it — remains the subject of sharp debate. Take plans to launch Rhode Island’s first harm reduction center, also known as a supervised drug-injection site. This comes after the General Assembly approved a new law in 2021 that made the state a pioneer on this approach, which aims to prevent drug overdose deaths. Some lawmakers who supported the concept spoke from their personal experience of losing friends and loved ones to addiction. Others say that providing a safe space to do drugs reinforces harmful behavior. Regardless, plans for Rhode Island’s first harm reduction center, in Providence, are moving ahead. If successful, the program could determine whether more states pursue this approach.
That’s our show for this week. Our producer is James Baumgartner.
I’m Ian Donnis and I’ll see you on the radio.
