It’s cold outside but the 2022 election season is starting to heat in Warwick. 

Recently entering the race is Republican Ryan Cummings who plans to run for House District 22, the seat currently occupied by Rep. Joseph Solomon Jr. Earlier this year Zakary Pereira announced he would run in the Democratic primary against Solomon Jr. as a member of the Rhode Island Political Coop. 

Cummings isn’t the only Republican candidate to recently announce their campaign in Warwick. Expected to run in House District 21 is Marie Hopkins. Democrat State Rep. Camille Vella Wilkinson currently holds the seat. 

While official declarations of candidacy are June 27 to June 28 e a number of legislative races with multiple candidates are shaping up. 

In House District 19 Rep. Joe McNamara is expected to face a rematch of the 2020 Democratic primary with Stuart Wilson. Senate District 29 is expected to feature a rematch for the third time as Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey faces off against Jennifer Rourke in the Democratic primary. In Senate District 30 Sen. Jeanine Calkin is expected to face off against Mark McKenney who announced his campaign earlier this year. McKenney unseated Calkin in 2018 before losing to her in 2020. 

House District 22

Cummings, a 25-year-old security officer for NESCTC moved to Warwick four years ago from Cumberland. He said what made him decide to run was the “incompetence of this state.”

One of the pieces of legislation that Cummings would hope to pass if elected involves suspended drivers licenses.

He said the law would be called “Liv Law” in honor of Olivia Passeratti, a 17-year-old from East Greenwich who died in a crash on New Year’s Eve. 

Following the crash Aramis Segura, 30, of Charlestown, was arrested and charged with Leaving the Scene of an Accident Resulting in Death, Driving to Endanger-Resulting in Death, Obstruction of Justice, and Operating on a Suspended License.

Segura is on probation for Breaking and Entering, and following the arrest social media posts showed that Segura posted on Facebook hours before the crash that he was planning on drinking and driving. 

“This was a targeted attack,” said Segura. “Each and every time he got a slap on the wrist. We need to hold people accountable for their actions.”

“Moving forward Liv law would make driving with a suspended license an automatic felony with a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Nobody is above the law. We need checks and balances in this state and the office of inspector general will provide this.”

Rhode Island currently doesn’t have an inspector general position but Cummings said he hopes to help create one if elected to the General Assembly. 

As for Covid-19 Cummings thinks that mandates requiring staff to be vaccinated needs to be lifted. 

“We are in a public health crisis not only with Covid but also with the day to day operations at our hospitals,” said Cummings. “Now with these unconstitutional mandates this state has created a staffing crisis. Because of this crisis they are allowing Covid positive nurses work which is inexcusable. There is no place where that should be allowed. It's time to suspend these mandates and allow unvaccinated non-positive nurses to return to work. “

Cummings said that he also wants to make Warwick a “2nd Amendment Sanctuary City.” Cummings said it would mean, “having (the) second amendment untouchable no matter how hard they try.” He also said that the state needs a complete overhaul of the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families. 

Solomon, who has represented District 22 since 2015, said he is running on his record. 

“I am proud of my record of accomplishment working for the voters in district 22 and look forward to meeting constituents again during the campaign season,” said Solomon. 

After Congressman Jim Langevin announced he wouldn’t be running for re-election, Solomon said he was seriously considering a bid for the seat. But last week he said that he decided against it. 

In 2020 Solomon faced off against former Providence Journal Staff Writer Gerald Carbone. Solomon beat Carbone 52.2 to 46.9 percent. 

On Sunday Carbone said he will probably run for something but hasn’t decided for what. 

“In June I'll look at the ballot and see which races could use a good candidate. It certainly won't be mayor,” said Carbone. “Frank (Picozzi) is running that office exactly how I intended to do it, only better.”

When asked what makes him stand out compared to his opponents, Cummings said, “I support and uphold our constitution and our God given rights. I am a new voice.”

House District 21 

While she is a newcomer to politics, Hopkins is no stranger to Warwick attending Christopher Rhodes in the 70s and 80s. The house her husband, their three kids and she live in today is next door to her 92-year-old grandmother. 

“She and my grandfather built the very first house in our neighborhood, back in 1962, she lives there still,” said Hopkins. 

Her grandfather graduated from Pilgrim in 1969 and her parents live in Warwick Neck. Her brother lives in Cowesett. For the last 14 year Hopkins has raised her family in Warwick. Her youngest son now attends Warwick Veterans Middle School. 

“Warwick is a great community and I am happy to have raised my own three children here,” said Hopkins. 

When asked what made her decide to run for office, Hopkins said, “I have always been interested in politics.  Like most people who are raising a family and working, I never really found time to get involved.  However, as my kids are getting older, I found myself paying more attention to the changing world around us.”

“I started to attend GOP meetings and parents' meetings.  I started to really listen to what Rhode Islanders cared about.  I realized that most people do not even know the name of their local representative,” said Hopkins. “I wondered why that was.  Shouldn't they be involved in the community?   We need leaders that really represent the people and not just the status quo.  That's what public service should be. I decided I could be that change.”

Hopkins said that in her view there are two issues facing Rhode Island above all. 

“The absolute most important issues facing Rhode Island are education reform and health care policies,” said Hopkins.  “Education is especially important to me.  I am an advocate of school choice, and I firmly believe that it will benefit the state and its students if we can provide wider alternatives.  There are so many educational options and models, we don't need to limit ourselves. I think we need to go back to a model where parents and teachers collaborated more because at the end of the day, we all want what is best for the children.  That is something everyone can agree on, even if we don't have a unified approach yet.   Most importantly, I would like to see a return to more traditional curriculums; I think this can be easily achieved, and I feel that most parents agree with this.”

The other issue that Hopkins pointed to is healthcare. 

“Healthcare policy is an issue that is dividing us as a state and a nation.  As a nurse, I recognize the trying times we are living in, and I understand the many complex puzzle pieces that comprise the current healthcare landscape,” said Hopkins.  

“I believe that medical professionals have proven themselves to be assets to their communities, and I am incredibly proud to be part of that profession,” Hopkins added. “The pandemic has upended all our lives, but we need to unite and heal together, without division, as we begin to pull ourselves out of this emergency. I see a lot of fragmentation and differing opinions.  When all is said and done, health is an individual concern, and we need to start treating the individual, not the culture. Everyone has health needs; the need to be heard and understood, the need to be respected, and the need to feel safe.   Our policies have failed a lot of that.  We can do better.”

When asked what makes her stand out Hopkins said, “like our wonderful Mayor, I plan to be present and accessible.  I will be a representative that people know.  I want to actually be involved. I am a mom, a teacher, a nurse, so being involved is the better part of my nature. It's what I do. At this point, I am just ready to serve the wider community.  I will be an asset.  That’s my commitment to this District that has been so important to me for so much of my life.”

Incumbent Vella Wilkinson said she has had an opponent every election since first being elected in 2016. 

Last year she faced off against Republican nominee Ronald Loparto winning with close to 60 percent of the vote. 

Vella Wilkinson pointed to her 30 years of public service including her time as a Navy Officer for 16 years, as a State Commissioner for the Commission for Human Rights for 17 years, and as a Warwick City Councilor for six  years. 

“I feel that I bring a very unique set of skills to the seat as the Representative for District 21,” said Vella Wilkinson. 

With her years of experience in government at all different levels she feels like it's something that makes her stand out as a State Representative. 

“When I look at an issue I look at it with a broader range of how do we address it, who are the stakeholders, who is most impacted by it,” said Vella Wilkinson. 

Vella Wilkinson pointed to being an active listener as one of the important skills she has as an elective official, saying that many times legislation is often created after having conversations with constituents. 

During a recent interview she said that at the beginning of the pandemic one of the pieces of legislation she sponsored and was enacted into law came from a constituent who was concerned that NA (Narcotics Anonymous) and AA meetings weren’t allowed to meet during the lockdown. 

Because of the way the Executive Order was written it classified NA and AA meetings as not being essential. 

The legislation which passed last June permits AA and NA to hold meetings during a declared disaster emergency.

One piece of legislation Vella Wilkinson hopes will pass this year is a birth control accessibility bill. 

Vella Wilkinson said that she has introduced it the previous two years but it didn’t’ pass both chambers. 

According to a press release the legislation would authorize a pharmacist to prescribe and dispense hormonal contraceptive patches and self-administered oral hormonal contraceptives, provided that the pharmacist has completed a training program approved by the state board of pharmacy.

Although she said that she is “unapologetically pro life” Vella Wilkinson said that she wanted to find a way of being supportive of women's needs while also protecting life.

After doing research she learned that the majority of abortions in younger woman is due to unplanned pregnancies. She realized that it would be important to do something to address those numbers and learned that other states have passed similar legislation to the one she has since introduced. 

Vella Wilkinson also learned that states that passed the similar legislation have seen a marked decrease in abortions for those 19 to 29 years old since passing the legislation.