Rhode Island political consultant Kate Coyne-McCoy has joined the campaign team for the re-election of U.S. Rep. Val Demings, who is gaining serious consideration as a possible running mate for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
“I’m absolutely thrilled,” Coyne-McCoy, who will serve as a senior adviser, told The Public’s Radio.
The vice-presidential prospects for Demings, who is African-American, have improved due to the national outpouring of protest over the death of George Floyd, Politico reported this week.
Another report suggests Biden’s choice could be between Demings and Kamala Harris of California.
“With a biography straight out of central casting, Demings represents the perfect embodiment of the American Dream,” one of her supporters wrote in an opinion piece in The Hill. “Descended from slaves and raised in a poor, black southern family during the turbulent 1960s, Val Butler faced enormous obstacles from the start.”
Demings, a former police chief in Orlando, represents a Florida congressional district anchored by that city. She previously worked as a social worker.
Deming was elected in Congress in 2016.
She is being opposed by Republican Vennia Francois.
Coyne-McCoy, who said she has known Demings for about six years and worked with her before, has a long record in Rhode Island politics.
A former head of the RI chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, she ran in a four-way Democratic primary in the Second Congressional District in 2000. Jim Langevin won that race.
Coyne-McCoy went on to serve as a regional director for EMILY’s List and she ran a super PAC that supported Gov. Gina Raimondo’s 2014 campaign.
Coyne-McCoy has worked for a number of other candidates. Because of her work for Demings, she said, she is ending her work for other candidates, including Cranston mayoral hopeful Maria Bucci.
Coyne-McCoy has a home in Florida. She said she will maintain her base in Rhode Island.
