First, Amo has to win the November election against Republican challenger Gerry Leonard. But the 1st District is heavily Democratic and Amo is considered likely to win. How did this son of immigrants from Liberia and Ghana overcome expectations to emerge as the new rising star in Rhode Island politics? And what can he accomplish if he does make it to Congress? I’m Ian Donnis and this week I’m going in depth with the Democratic nominee in the 1st District, Gabe Amo.
Ian Donnis: Welcome back to The Public’s Radio and congratulations on your victory this week.
Gabe Amo: It’s great to be back. And thank you so much, Ian, for your note of congratulations. And I’m excited at the general election ahead.
Ian Donnis: After your win you heard from your former boss, President Joe Biden, what did he tell you?
Gabe Amo: He one, congratulated me, told me he appreciated the message of our campaign — positivity talking about the investments of the Biden-Harris administration. And he also offered to be helpful as we work towards November 7 In the general election.
Ian Donnis: When the polls closed at 8pm on Tuesday, did you think you were gonna win?
Gabe Amo: I wasn’t certain, but I felt good. I had great conversations at the polls throughout the day, in towns like Barrington and Bristol, in Providence and Pawtucket. And people were overwhelmingly positive. And so you know, for as much as that’s worth, it gave me a bit of momentum, at least emotionally as I walked into the Rori, the Guild on Tuesday night.
Ian Donnis: You were not well known by rank and file voters across the first district when you announced your campaign in April, how do you explain how you won?
Gabe Amo: I think it’s a combination of things. One, I think it’s the consistency of message. On April 18, when I entered this race, I talked about my political roots, I talked about my hard working parents that inspire me, I talked about the work that I had done for two presidents of the United States and a governor here in Rhode Island. And most importantly, I talked about the issues that people across the state are confronting, and why we need effective leadership from day one, to address those challenges and best serve the district. And I think that was the first core piece of this. I also think our ground game, it wasn’t talked about a lot. But we knocked on a lot of doors, we went to a lot of events, we texted, we called we engage people, we got proximate and that matters in our politics and matters in our elections. Imagine — it matters in our government. And so I think that was a big part of it. And of course, we had TV ads and ads matter. They matter because they both connect the message to the messenger and the recipients of that message and the combination of those things yielded what I think is a very strong case for our candidacy and our campaign and the work ahead.
Ian Donnis: Heading into the primary on Tuesday, Aaron Regunberg was the perceived front runner he ran more to the left of you he received endorsements from Bernie Sanders and AOC. Do you think that kind of thing turned off voters?
Gabe Amo: Frankly, endorsements weren’t the thing that I was pursuing at great length. I think ultimately, it was the positive message that we put forward that I think appeal to a broader set of folks across the first congressional district. So while endorsements are prized for us, the only endorsement that really mattered was that of the voters across the first district, and I think they spoke resoundingly.
Ian Donnis: Let’s switch gears and talk about some issues. We saw how the Sacklers were basically able to bend the US Food and Drug Administration to their will, when they’re rolling out opioids. There are a lot of military defense boondoggles like the Littoral combat ship. Billions of dollars were squandered on that before the Navy cancelled it and there doesn’t seem to be any accountability. The takeaway seems to be that the rich and corporations get to play by different rules than regular people. What can you do about that if you’re elected to Congress?
Gabe Amo: Well, I think especially when it relates to federal funding, the oversight role that the federal government has is tremendous. And I think deploying a really active set of members on the right committees to make sure that we hold to account folks who are you know, the recipients of our money through Medicare, folks who are the recipients of our taxpayer dollars through the defense budget, and holding people to account is a big part of the role and I think when we saw Congressman Cicilline’s leadership in that function as related to big tech, we have an example here in Rhode Island of someone who has gotten to work on those issues, and I hope to follow in his footsteps in that way.
Ian Donnis: In contrasting yourself from Aaron Regunberg on defense spending, you said you would not support a 10% cut. You said you would go after waste, fraud and abuse, which is kind of a cliched thing that candidates always say and it’s so ambiguous as to be almost meaningless. How would you drill down on actually rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the defense budget?
Gabe Amo: Well, I think it’s important to do your homework. I haven’t been elected to the seat yet. We have an election in November. When I — if I’m elected, I will work very hard with my colleagues because the waste, fraud and abuse is put out there because it’s a real thing. It exists. And so we have to get to the bottom of what that is across the defense budget, but all over the federal government, we need accountability for the precious investments that we have from from this federal government. And I look forward to that work.
Ian Donnis: Let’s talk a little bit about your former boss, President Joe Biden, recent polling shows that his support is eroding among Black, Latino and other non-white voters compared to previous Democratic candidates pre-election. What’s your explanation for that?
Gabe Amo: I think right now, particularly in this media environment, it’s sometimes hard to break through. But the President has done historic things for communities of color, but for everybody. I mean, when you look at the Child Tax Credit, for example, that has now expired because of congressional inaction, that cut child poverty by 50%, the expanded credit, but cut black child poverty by even more. That is something that we should be celebrating. So we’ve got a lot of work as Democrats, and as people who want the president re-elected, to communicate the message, communicate the wins, we’ve got a bipartisan infrastructure law that is going to create so many jobs, we have the inflation reduction act that is going to create so many jobs and also combat some of the challenges that we have with environmental justice. So the communities that are affected by this President’s agenda need to hear not just from the president, but people like me, people like me who are running for office, and if elected, I’m going to be an active surrogate to make sure that we continue the progress of this administration.
Ian Donnis: A lot of voters seem very ambivalent about a looming rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Are you worried about that as a Democrat that Trump has a real potential shot at winning?
Gabe Amo: Of course, Donald Trump is the biggest threat to democracy that we faced, and it is not merely him as a person. But if you look at January 6, if you look at some of our democratic norms eroding, that threat is something that I think we should be concerned about. I believe that President Biden deserves a second term based on the historic achievements of the first two years, but also because of some of the unfinished business that I as a member of Congress would hope to work on, whether it’s federal investments in housing. Whether it’s taking care of the issues as it relates to our care, economy, elder care and child care, there’s work left to do. And that’s something that a Democrat in the White House, President Biden will pursue. And that’s not something that President Trump will. So for Rhode Islanders, they need a continuation of the progress of the Biden-Harris administration.
Ian Donnis: As you said earlier, you still face a November election against Republican opponent, Gerry Leonard, but I imagine you have thought in your mind, you know, if you’re elected to Congress, if Donald Trump wins, it could be quite hairy. How if you do wind up in Congress, how do you view your obligation as an individual and hypothetically as a member of the legislative body known as Congress, if Donald Trump becomes president and starts undoing various prosecutions against him and so forth?
Gabe Amo: Well look, I think it’s two lanes, I think there’s the the national lane, which is a vigorous defense of some of the historic investments of the Biden-Harris agenda. That’s like the inflation Reduction Act that on one side is doing so much to combat climate change, but then doing a historic thing like negotiating the prices of pharmaceutical drugs for the first time in our nation’s history through Medicare. Then the local lane that is focused on getting as many resources back home to Rhode Island to deal with the critical issues of coastal resilience, investing in our blue economy, and so much more. But I am very hopeful that there will be a second term of President Biden, and I’m not, I’m not operating from a position of fear I have I have great hope. And we’re going to turn that hope into action to re-elect President Biden,
Ian Donnis: Your Republican opponent, Gerry Leonard will probably argue that Rhode Island would be better served by having some ideological diversity in the state’s congressional delegation, including Republican member if Republicans hold the house. And so how would you respond to that?
Gabe Amo: I think if you look at my performance the other night, I had support from Democrats, from folks who are unaffiliated. I was successful in 16 of the 19 cities and towns across the district. I feel that more so than, you know, my general election opponent that I am reflective of the hopes and priorities of people across this district and I will spend the next several weeks making that case to people in every venue possible.
Ian Donnis: Do we need more urgency in responding to the challenge of climate change and if you land in Congress How would you go about doing that?
Gabe Amo: Yeah, there is most certainly a climate crisis. We saw extreme temperatures this summer. We see the intensity of storms. We also are dealing with so many issues as it relates to our public health because of climate change. So I think we need to do so much. The first thing we need to do is, is invest the resources from the inflation reduction act as rapidly as possible. That’s the thing that we can do now, and make sure that there is no work done by Republicans to undo that progress. That’s mission number one. And that’s what I’ll focus on when I get to Congress.
Ian Donnis: You cut your teeth on the campaign staff of Sheldon Whitehouse when he first ran for the Senate in 2006. You’ve been a staffer. This was your first run for office. Did you always envision that you would one day be a candidate?
Gabe Amo: I think sometimes you got to, you know, look for your pitch, right. And I swung at this one because I truly believe the Rhode Islanders deserve a congressperson who can hit the ground running and be effective from day one, because they have the experience to do so. You know, I’ve been a staffer. But when you are a staffer you help execute when an elected official visions, there’s a lot of us and we get a lot done. And now as a potential next congressperson from this district, I look forward to using that skill set to help folks
Ian Donnis: When did the idea of running for office first come to you?
Gabe Amo: I think it’s come in waves over my life. But for me, it’s always been about impact. And I look for moments where I can make an impact and this was one when Congressman Cicilline made his announcement in February. I thought it was a good time for me to get in.
Ian Donnis: Democratic nominee in Rhode Island’s first congressional district, Gabe Amo, thank you so much for joining us.
Gabe Amo: Thank you so much, Ian.
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The mayor of Providence, Brett Smiley, wrote a new chapter this week in the city’s relationship with nonprofit universities and healthcare entities. Smiley announced an agreement in which those institutions will pay more money — payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT — for property they own in the capital city. A few administrations ago, it made national headlines when then-Mayor Angel Taveras pushed for more money from the big local nonprofits. Now, the idea that the entities should pay what some call their fare share makes fewer waves. But Providence has been hard up for revenue for years — and that’s not about to change any time soon. And the city’s underfunded pension consumes more money each year, with no solution in sight. You can read more about that in my Friday TGIF column posting around 4 this afternoon on what used to be known as Twitter @IanDon and the publics radio dot org.
That’s our show for this week. Our producer is James Baumgartner. We had additional help this week from Mareva Lindo and Alex Nunes.
I’m Ian Donnis and I’ll see you on the radio.
