Rhode Island Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey said Monday he will not seek re-election, an announcement coming three days after his Democratic primary opponent became a focal point for national media coverage.
McCaffrey has served in the Senate from a district in Warwick since first winning election in 1994, and his retirement from politics was not anticipated.
“It is with a heavy heart that after nearly three decades in the State Senate I am deciding not to seek re-election to an institution that I deeply admire and respect,” McCaffrey said in a statement. “This decision does not come lightly, but it is one that I have arrived at after innumerable conversations with family, friends, and supporters.”
The decision by the number two Democrat in the Senate to end his tenure comes after Jennifer Rourke, a co-founder of the Rhode Island Political Cooperative, and a two-time previous candidate against McCaffrey, was assaulted during a pro-abortion rights demonstration outside the Statehouse Friday night. The RI Political Cooperative is a group that advocates for some progressive candidates.
Jeann Lugo, a GOP candidate for the Senate seat held by McCaffrey, was arrested and charged with simple assault and disorderly conduct. Lugo, who was off-duty from his job as a Providence police officer at the time, indicated on Twitter that he was ending his campaign, and then deactivated his account. He has been suspended with pay while the episode remains under investigation.
In a statement, Daniel Griffin, a lawyer for Lugo, said, “There is far more to what occurred regarding the incident than what is being reported.” He said he is working to analyze what happened and that, “based on seconds of edited video devoid of any context,” Lugo and his family have been threatened on social media.
The assault on Rourke received extensive national media attention, from outlets including CNN, The New York Post and The Daily Beast That could have made the Democratic primary between Rourke and McCaffrey a source of ongoing and widespread coverage.
In 2019, when the General Assembly approved a bill to create a state-based right to abortion, McCaffrey and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio were among those who voted against it in the Senate, even though the measure would not have received a vote without the blessing of leadership.
That vote reflected the 58-year-old McCaffrey’s political identity as an old-school Irish Catholic social conservative.
McCaffrey became majority leader in 2017, when Ruggerio succeeded Teresa Paiva Weed as Senate president.
At 73, Ruggerio is the longest serving member of the Senate and he has maintained that he’s seeking re-election. Lenny Cioe, a RI Political Cooperative candidate, is making his second run against Ruggerio.
In recent years, progressives have made more gains in the General Assembly, and the effect has been more pronounced in the 38-member Senate, the smaller of the two legislative chambers.
The Senate’s Democratic leadership responded by moving left on some issues, including climate change, with McCaffrey expressing support for higher taxes on affluent Rhode Islanders.
At the same time, after the U.S. Supreme Court last week overturned Roe v. Wade, state leaders are facing heightened calls to have the state employee health plan cover Medicaid. Legislation to do that has stalled in the legislature for the last three years.
The next election for Senate leadership will be held in January.
Based on what happens in the September primary and the November general election, the candidates to succeed McCaffrey as majority leader could include Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin of Providence, Senate Finance Chairman Ryan Pearson of Cumberland, Senate Health and Human Services Chairman Josh Miller of Cranston, Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Dawn Euer of Newport, and Sen. Hanna Gallo of Cranston.
In his announcement, McCaffrey called serving as majority leader the most rewarding experience of his time in government.
In a nod to the changes that come to the Statehouse over time, he recalled being relegated to an office in a second-floor men’s room after being first elected, due to his status among a group of dissidents.
“I have been blessed to fight for the causes I believe in while also using the position as an opportunity to sit down with colleagues from across the political spectrum to effectuate their legislation,” McCaffrey added. “I have fought vigorously for the priorities of the Senate and its members, but this role also comes at great expense to my personal and professional endeavors. Now is the appropriate time for me to step away from public life.”
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org
