Former Cranston Mayor Allan Fung formally launched his GOP run in Rhode Island’s Second Congressional District Tuesday by mixing an optimistic message with criticism of Democrats over inflation and high gas prices.
“Right now, our country needs strong leadership, our state needs strong leadership, and the men and women of the second Congressional district need strong leadership to right the economic ship and keep our neighbors safe!” Fung said during an event at Varnum Armory in East Greenwich. “Now is the time to dream big dreams and do big things.”
Fung, considered the favorite in a GOP primary with former state Rep. Robert Lancia of Cranston, represents Republicans’ best hopes of winning a congressional seat in Rhode Island in many years, in part due to a vote-rich base in Cranston and Warwick. At the same time, Fung (who lost campaigns for governor in 2014 and 2018) is among the Republicans who have struggled to win high-profile elections in the state, and Politico gives Democrats an edge in the CD2 race.
Fung spoke to a group of more than 100 supporters, including the top GOP candidate for governor, Ashley Kalus. He sprinkled his speech with local references, likening supply-chain clogs to crowded traffic on Route 4 on a summer day and comparing the impact of Democratic policies to how people had to line up to buy gas when he was a kid in the mid-70s.
“We’ve gone so far, so far, off the right path, it’s not even funny,” he said. “DC needs to stop spinning its wheels and help, help all of us, help all of us in the Second Congressional District, help all of us in Rhode Island, help us all of us across our country.”
Although he sought to distance himself from former President Donald Trump, Fung also appealed to the kind of nostalgia used by the former president, arguing in part that President Joe Biden has diminished the U.S.’ strength as a global super-power.
Fung told reporters he voted for Trump in 2020. He also said Biden should have done more, sooner, to help Ukraine, although he cautioned against anything that would trigger a wider war.
Seven Democrats are competing in a primary taking place September 13.
When Fung entered the CD2 race in February, one Democrat, General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, quickly tried to link him with former President Donald Trump and the congressional GOP, saying that Fung’s first vote in Washington would be to give control to Republicans “who care more about doing Donald Trump’s bidding than they do about delivering results for working families.”
Fung has raised more than $500,000 for his campaign, while Magaziner — the best-funded Democrat — has brought in more than $1.4 million. The other Democratic candidates are Omar Bah, Joy Fox, Sarah Morgenthau, Cameron Moquin, Michael Neary and David Segal.
In a possible preview of the general election campaign, Fung focused part of his speech on blaming Democrats for slipping American energy independence, “progressive policies that are weak on crime,” and the troubled American exit from Afghanistan.
The rising cost of gas makes the cost of filling one’s tank comparable to buying a steak at the Capital Grille, he said, and the price of groceries is straining budgets.
Fung, 52, who served as mayor from 2009 to 2021, touted his record in Cranston, pointing to improvements in the city’s economic condition during his tenure and how it avoided becoming the scene of a riot in the summer of 2020.
“I stood alongside my police officers as we guarded the local business district, and then again as we stopped the ATV gangs from entering our city and terrorizing our residents,” Fung said. “We didn’t back down, we didn’t flinch, and we stood united. Cranston remained safe because we stood strong together.”
The Cranston Republican said he is running “to say goodbye to the hyper-partisan politicians and usher in a new wave of leaders who are laser-focused problem-solvers. Leaders who will fearlessly tackle the big issues and accomplish things that everyone else said were impossible.”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm for House Democrats, released a statement ahead of Fung’s announcement, calling him “a Trump supporter and enabler, who would empower and enable a Republican party hell bent on attacking our schools, criminalizing abortion, and violently overthrowing elections.”
Added DCCC spokesman James Singer: “Rhode Island voters have rejected Allan Fung over and over again because they see him for what he is: a political coward more focused on serving himself than serving them. Rhode Island can’t afford Fung and the Republican agenda to raise taxes, attack Medicare & Social Security, and strip away health care protections.”
The CD2 seat will be open in January due to how U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin, first elected in 2000, announced earlier this year he would not seek re-election.
This story has been updated.
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org. Follow him on Twitter @IanDon. Sign up here for his free weekly RI politics newsletter.
