On a recent weekday afternoon, Democrat Robert Ferri made his way on foot through a residential neighborhood near Garden City, dropping campaign fliers in mail boxes and looking for voters to talk about his run for mayor of Cranston.
“Hi, how are you?” he asked a woman answering her door.
“Good,” she responded in a soft voice.
It’s not easy, since few people are home at this time of day. And drawing some of those who are home into conversation is no piece of cake.
Gamely, Ferri tried to spark interest: “I’m Robert Ferri, I’m running for mayor. How are you today?”
In the same soft voice the woman responded, “Good.”
And so it goes.
“Just kind of canvassing the neighborhood, trying to make some friends and get some support,” Ferri tried again.
The prospective voter continued her refrain: “Good”
As Ferri kept talking, the woman didn’t reveal her preference for mayor, although she took his flier and wished him luck.
But as a Democrat, Ferri faces a bigger challenge than sparking dialogue with reticent voters. That’s because electing Republican mayors is a tradition in Cranston, even though the GOP remains locked out of state and federal offices in Rhode Island and has struggled for years to increase its meager General Assembly representation.
Local historian Steve Frias, a former state GOP official, says different factors explain the party’s local success. Cranston has a critical mass of fiscally conservative voters and it resembles a suburb with its many neighborhoods with lush green lawns.
And Frias said Republican success over time has created a reservoir of support for Mayor Ken Hopkins to draw on.
“There are people who I’ve seen on the Hopkins campaign that got their start volunteering for Mayor Taft in the 1970s,” Frias said. “There are people who are experienced. They have networks. They can raise money. They have donors. They’re activists, and that’s a very powerful institution in a way.”
Ferri himself ran as a Republican when he first won a City Council seat in 2020 — and he supported Hopkins for mayor that year before later changing parties to become a Democrat.
Ferri is no fan of Donald Trump and he said the local GOP places too much emphasis on conformity.
Ferri and Hopkins each first ran for office after turning 60 and they’re close in age.
Ferri is 68, while Hopkins is 70. Ferri ran a bowling alley, Town Hall Lanes in Johnston, for 20 years, while Hopkins was a longtime teacher and coach.
Now, though, the gloves are off.
During a recent Cranston West debate co-sponsored by The Public’s Radio, Ferri charged that budget cuts made by Hopkins have hurt the city’s ability to serve residents.
“As I ring people’s bells and answer the phone and look at my emails every day, people are complaining that they can’t get a tree trimmed,” Ferri said, “or get a sidewalk fixed or they’ve got too many rats in their yard. Our services have suffered.”
Ferri charges that Hopkins has not done enough to prioritize affordable housing. He said using tens of millions in federal COVID aid in past budgets raises questions about a possible structural deficit that’s being overlooked.
And Ferri rejected the idea that it was a conflict for him to support a City Council probe of how Hopkins gained control of an antique sports car without paying for it. Hopkins calls the controversy a “political hit job.”
As he approached the end of his first term, Hopkins claimed credit for fostering economic development in different sections of Cranston, including Pawtuxet Village, Knightsville and the area near the Park Theater.
He said this shows how Cranston is on the right path, and he rejects Ferri’s criticism of the city’s finances.
“We’re in great shape,” Hopkins said. “Financially, through the Moody’s bond ratings, [the city] has an A++ bond rating. We have used finances to plug some of the holes in the early stages of COVID. As of this last budget, we had a zero tax increase, there’s $19 million in the rainy day fund, up from 14 when I took over.”
The ability of GOP mayors to win election in Cranston hasn’t carried over to other offices.
The city’s General Assembly delegation is mostly Democratic and Democrats gained a City Council majority when Ferri switched parties. But during an interview near Garden City, Hopkins said Republicans must be doing something right to have such a strong hold on the top job at City Hall
“Cranston has 30,000 registered Democrats and only 9,000 registered Republicans,” he said. “But there’s 45,000 independents, and I think a lot of independents don’t want to show their hand politically, so they stay independent, but they swing-vote on the Republican side.”
Hopkins, the only GOP mayor in the state, has maintained a fundraising edge in the race, even with the state’s Democratic congressional delegation and House Speaker Joe Shekarchi hosting a Chapel Grille fundraiser for Ferri in September.
Hopkins and Ferri have clashed on a number of other issues, ranging from on-street overnight parking to how to deal with noise from the police firing range near Cranston West.
In the end, though, the race for mayor may turn on whether Cranston voters feel sufficiently motivated to break with the status quo.
A disclosure: the campaign manager and co-finance director for Robert Ferri’s campaign serve on the board of directors for The Public’s Radio. Election 2024 coverage by The Public’s Radio is sponsored in part by Ascent Audiology & Hearing, Providence Picture Frame and Rustigian Rugs. Find more of our elections coverage at thepublicsradio.org/2024elections.
