Lincoln Chafee

The state deserves and needs representation in Washington with the Republican Party.

Rhode Island has always functioned best when we had either one Democrat senator and one Republican senator, whether it was Senator John Chafee, even Link Chafee, and also in Congress.

Yeah, you did have Congressman St. Germain, but you had Republican Claudine Schneider.

So this notion, I don't think it's that complicated.

One of the ways I like to say it, Cara, is that Don Carcieri broke state government and tried to bury it in a grave.

Lincoln Chafee tried to dig the hole 10 feet deeper.

Gina Raimondo could never build a ladder tall enough to get out of the hole.

And Dan McKee was never sure if he was in the hole or out of the hole, looking up or looking down.

years?It hasn't been 20 years, Tara.

In fact, the g- Republican Party ran the administration in Rhode Island for 20 years, from the mid-1990s through the 2010s.

You know, don't forget, Lincoln Chafee ran as an independent, but he was really a Republican, and he governed like a Republican.

And for that 20-year period, not only did they run state government, they ran the judiciary branch.

So, you know, he still is at a disadvantage in that way, but this is as, as good of a, uh, you know, chance that the, that the Republicans have, or non-Democrats, quite frankly, have, uh, to win, to win the governor's race in a really long time.

I guess, obviously, Link Chafee did win the governor's race, uh, to win a statewide race, excuse me.

Um, So I think John's in a very good spot.

Now, I've written about this before.

Justine got a scholarship for an outdoor leadership course on a sailboat in Maine.

And Noam interned with Senator Lincoln Chafee's office.

Everyone was on fire, it seemed.

I thought, okay, sophomore year, I see you.

And then there'll be polls after that, and then we'll see where we go.

As you know, John Robitaille in 2010, if you had to look at a comparison, uh, was, uh, with Link Chafee, the, you know, the former governor and senator, and Frank Caprio.

And if you look at the exact same poll, and that's actually when Ken Block got six point five percent, that's the only time he was ever on the ballot, the general ballot.

I've won two primaries, by the way.

And so I don't think that Ken Block has a choice.

Now, if this was Chafee, we'll say, and he was a United States senator and a mayor, and he wanted to say, let's sit down, that's a different story.

But I just think that for me, I spent way too much time.

I fought a good fight.

And I think as we get through these debates, people are going to start to decide who they want to go with.

And I think that history states that a lot of things change from now till the end, you know, to November 3rd.

So you might remember John Robitaille and John Robitaille in 2010 when he ran against, you know, former Senator Lincoln Chafee and Frank Caprio.

Exactly.

Yep.

Linc Chafee, the independent

... independent-

Or to say that you need an opposite party person, meaning him, to be the lieutenant governor for checks and balances on what could be an incoming Democrat, such as what, what lieutenant governor office could have been if there had been a Republican under Dan McKee, who by all accounts, you're talking about someone with less than a 15% approval rating.

I'll give you the last word on it, but I believe when she was the handpicked person of the governor, Dan McKee, who just got blown out in a primary, who has the lowest approval rating in recent, since Chafee, I think it was a missed opportunity to not fully ingratiate her into a member of Team McKee.

Well, I, you know, I, I agree with that.

And he could have used that moment also to remind...

Uh, but I, I think, I think she'd probably be winning even if it were a two-person race.

Yeah.

And you go back to 2010, which ga- you know, gave the state Lincoln Chafee.

Um, if you take Ken Block out of the mix there, John Robitaille would've, would've been the governor.