State Senator Jessica de la Cruz has been one of the few bright spots for Rhode Island Republicans. Since first winning election in 2018, de la Cruz has moved up to become the GOP leader in the Senate.
Jessica de la Cruz is one of the most high-profile Republicans in the state and she’s flirted with the idea of running for higher office. But the landscape for Republicans is pretty bleak here. The last Republican governor to win office was Don Carcieri in 2006. A GOP candidate has not won any of the four other state general offices since 1994. And Republicans hold just 14 of 113 seats in the General Assembly. What does de la Cruz make of all this? Is Donald Trump damaging efforts to build the GOP in places like Rhode Island? And does de la Cruz plan to seek higher office in the next state general election in 2026? This week, Ian Donnis goes in-depth with the Republican leader in the Rhode Island Senate, Jessica de la Cruz.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to remove a quote from Senator de la Cruz in which she stated that Vice President Harris had called President Biden a “racist” before she accepted the Vice Presidential selection. AP fact checkers found that claim to be untrue.
Ian Donnis: Welcome back to the Public’s Radio.
Jessica de la Cruz: Thanks for having me. I appreciate you.
Ian Donnis: We’ll concentrate on Rhode Island in our discussion, but a couple of questions about the war in Israel. Off the bat, the Republican caucus in the Senate put out a statement expressing support for Israel after the attack on October 7th. As a supporter of Israel, I wondered, do you believe that the Israeli military and government is playing into Hamas’s hands by killing and displacing a disproportionate number of Palestinian citizens?
Jessica de la Cruz: That’s a great question, and it’s one that we get a lot, but I think that time has shown that Israel warns the Palestinians, you know, we’re going to be attacking and we encourage you to leave the area. And many times Hamas will not allow Palestinians to leave using them as human shields. And that’s the unfortunate thing about war. But to my knowledge, I believe it’s widespread and well known that Israel does give time for those individuals to seek shelter.
Ian Donnis: Let’s bring it back to Rhode Island. You’re one of the bright spots for Rhode Island Republicans. At the same time, a Republican candidate for governor has not won that office since Don Carcieri in 2006.
Republicans only hold 14 seats of 113 in the legislature. So what do Republicans need to do differently to enjoy more political success in Rhode Island?
Jessica de la Cruz: Well, I, there’s a lot of things I think that, that we could do. You know, first when you look at, if you and I were to look at a map of the state and how it’s comprised, we know that there are districts that are so difficult to capture that you would probably call them impossible. I’m not a person to say impossible, but I would say very close to impossible. But then there are districts in which we can win that have very popular incumbents and whenever I tell candidates that are running for office they’re an incumbent for a reason people like them. And so those seats, once they become open seats, and those individuals retire, I think those are good opportunities for us to try to capture those seats, and I think Johnston is one of them. Johnston voted for Trump twice, so can a Republican win in Johnston? Absolutely.
We saw, Gerry Leonard win Woonsocket. Is that a possible pickup for us? It’s definitely, certainly a possibility. And it doesn’t necessarily only come down to a quality of candidate because we do need quality candidates. And I would argue that we have had quality candidates, but when it comes to the legislature, are those candidates willing to give up their summer to knock on doors and wear out shoe leather? Because if they’re not, then they’re not going to win.
Ian Donnis: Back in the 80s and 90s, Republicans won more statewide offices in Rhode Island.The party was more moderate at the time. Does that show that Republicans in Rhode Island need to be more moderate to win more offices?
Jessica de la Cruz: I think that Republicans in Rhode Island as a whole tend to be more moderate.
If I were in a different state, I think, people would question, you know, how Republican am I. But here in Rhode Island, they may say, well, she’s right wing, so, I just have to stay true to who I am, and that’s what I tell candidates. Do not be fake. Do not put on pretenses. People can see through it. Just be yourself, be honest, and be a person of integrity.
Ian Donnis: Last year, Ashley Kalus was the Republican candidate for governor, and it seemed a disadvantage for her that she’d been a Rhode Island resident for just a short time and got a kind of late start. As we move closer to 2026, what are Republicans doing to strengthen their chances of regaining the governor’s office?
Jessica de la Cruz: For me, I think the biggest – the focus for us should be the legislature. People say to me all the time, well, you, you should run for governor or we should do, and you know, and I say to them, constitutionally speaking, the governor in Rhode Island is one of the weakest in the nation and where the power lies is in the legislature.
So until we have more Republicans in the legislature to support that governor in their initiatives, we are doing a Republican governor, a huge disservice because most people will look at the governorship and say, things are going wrong in the states, the governor’s fault, when really, in fact, the fault lies with the legislature.
So until we can fix that, I would put more emphasis on the General Assembly than the governorship.
Ian Donnis: Notwithstanding your accurate observation about the power of the General Assembly, are you open to looking at a run for statewide office in 2026?
Jessica de la Cruz: No, I’m going to be a state senator. I’m going to run for state senate. If I have an opponent, then obviously, I will take that opponent very seriously. As I tell all candidates, take your opponent seriously. And yeah, so I plan on being a state senator.
Ian Donnis: The 800 pound gorilla who we have not yet mentioned is Donald Trump. He is dominating the Republican conversation, has been for years. Do you think he has had a negative effect for Republicans in Rhode Island as far as trying to win office?
Jessica de la Cruz: Yeah, I would say so. I mean, 2018 was a really tough year for Republicans. I won that year. I actually outperformed Trump in my district. but I think it hurt Republicans in 18 and in 20 and 22. But what I remind people and one of the things that I did at the door when people would ask me about national politics is I want you to make a decision based on who I am because I’m not running for president. I’m running for state Senate. This is what I believe. This is who I am. And I asked voters to give me a chance and they did. So, I would tell candidates to pivot, you know, ask voters to inquire about the candidate themselves. What is their platform? What do they believe? Because, you know, quick little, little rabbit trail here is I put a lot of emphasis when I was younger on the national elections. And it wasn’t until I had kids that I realized that my state government has more say in my life than the President of the United States. Now, he’s, that person is a powerful person and obviously, with policy and national policy. But when it comes to taxation, to education, infrastructure, the General Assembly has more say in my life than the president of the United States. So we need to pay attention to local politics just as more, if not more than the presidential election.
Ian Donnis: There is a presidential race approaching next year. Who is your preferred candidate?
Jessica de la Cruz: My preferred candidate will be the Republican nominee.
Ian Donnis: Let me ask you this about Donald Trump. critics have a lot of material to work with. They cite recently how he called his political opponents vermin and said immigration is, quote, poisoning the blood, unquote, of the U.S. Is there anything he could do that would disqualify him in your view as a candidate.
Jessica de la Cruz: Well, I don’t get to decide. The people of the United States decide whether or not he’ll be on the ballot. Unfortunately with politics, it’s pretty nasty and it’s one of the reasons why I didn’t want to get involved and, Representative Sherry Roberts of the House said, yeah, it’s all those things.It’s dirty, it’s gross, it’s nasty, but, unfortunately, in order to make change, we need to get involved. And so, a lot of times there’s a lot of hyperbolic talk. … So I find those things disturbing. I certainly would not engage in that. But, again: Voters will have to decide.
Ian Donnis: Liz Cheney is no liberal and she’s been among the people who’ve been raising a flag about Donald Trump’s campaign saying that in her view he would seriously erode the rule of law in America if elected. Is that a real concern in your view?
Jessica de la Cruz: Again, that’s up to the American people. They’re going to decide. They have plenty of candidates in front of them, and they’re going to choose who they believe will best represent them.
Ian Donnis: One top issue of concern for you has been the Zambrano campus of Eleanor Slater hospital. It sounds like things are on a much better keel there than a few years ago. What is your update on how things are going there?
Jessica de la Cruz: Well, I do talk to the administration, the hospital administration that is, once a month we have a standing meeting and to, to talk about the timeline of the hospital, you know, when are they going to break ground? What, what studies are they doing? Feasibility studies right now. And hopefully, I mean, I’m not very enthused about the timeline, but the timeline is the timeline. So, if we can move it up and move it, you know, along a little bit quicker, that’d be great. But I certainly don’t want to, you know, sabotage any of their efforts by by doing something calling for a quicker process and then having something go wrong in the midst of that so I’m happy with the progress. I just wish it was a little bit quicker, but You know, it is what it is.
Ian Donnis: AR-style weapons were initially created for the military. Critics cite that in arguing that they should not be in the hands of civilians. Gun rights supporters, like yourself, believe the Second Amendment protects the legal use of such weapons. But if a weapon of war is legal, where does one draw the line? Should other weapons – should citizens be able to legally possess other weapons of war?
Jessica de la Cruz: Yeah, that’s a great question. so an AR is not a weapon of war. Our military would certainly never use that in a military combat. And when we’re talking about military style weapons, it’s different from if we’re talking about a style of weapon as opposed to the actual weapon.
Something can look scary and not be as powerful as the military arms that our military uses. And, you know, in committee, I’ll point to the legislation that was submitted to ban quote unquote, assault weapons. That legislation would effectively ban almost every firearm in production, meaning that there would be very few, I would say 95 percentage and up of firearms that would be illegal in Rhode Island. And that is semi-automatic handguns would be legal. You would be able to own a revolver, a pump action, a shotgun, or a bolt action shotgun. But most of the firearms – Illegal in Rhode Island if we pass that legislation. So it really comes down to definition. And, one last thing and then we’ll move on to whatever, other questions you have for me. But a lot of times when people come before me, a committee, I would ask them, you’re supporting this legislation. Can you define for me what an assault weapon is? And can you define, explain to me what the legislation says, and nine times out of ten. They had no idea what the legislation did, and they could not define an assault weapon. That’s, that’s scary.
Ian Donnis: The new legislative session starts January 2nd. What are your top priorities?
Jessica de la Cruz: My top priorities are going to be education, the economy, and the environment. But, for me, education is first and foremost. I’m a mom of three. Education, is the pathway to a bright future and a lot of times what we’re seeing is students are graduating and they’re not able to read, They’re not able to do math, and that is going to severely impact how they’re able to provide for themselves, their family, their physical health, and even our economic health as a state, and so, we see with the RICAS scores that all but one school, one school, had 70 percent proficiency in ELA. Every other school was below that, and Central Falls was NR, not rated, because the numbers were so low that if we did provide the data, it would identify the students that were proficient. And because of privacy reasons, we don’t want students to be outed in that fashion. So what we need to do is something totally different, radically different, and if that comes down to school choice for students and failing schools, That needs to be an option.
One of the other options I just came about through a Senate committee commission hearing was innovation zones. So schools that are failing, have them apply to become an innovation school where all rules are out the window and they can be as innovative as they want to be.
Ian Donnis: Jessica de la Cruz, a Republican leader in the Rhode Island Senate. Thank you so much for joining us.
Jessica de la Cruz: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
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Governor McKee’s most recent nominee to the state Ethics Commission stepped down last week after news reports about questionable behavior. The panel was created by Rhode Islanders in 1986 to be one of the strongest such bodies in the U.S. But competing views about the Ethics Commission’s mission led to a meltdown about 20 years ago. It’s no surprise that a panel charged with policing ethics complaints in Rhode Island inspires cheers and some jeers. But compared to the situation two decades ago, the commission has been on a far better footing for years. 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 producers are James Baumgartner and Mareva Lindo.
I’m Ian Donnis and I’ll see you on the radio.
