Declaring a New Generation of Leadership: Xay's Lt Governor Campaign Insights

In this episode, Xay Khamsyvoravong shares his insights on running for Lieutenant Governor, the importance of results-oriented leadership, and how to reconnect with disheartened voters in a polarized political landscape. His perspective offers a clear blueprint for engaging communities and addressing systemic frustrations.

Key Topics:

• The challenges and rewards of statewide campaigning, especially during a late-start election cycle
• How local issues like health care and infrastructure shape state-wide voter priorities
• The significance of results-driven leadership demonstrated through Xay’s tenure as mayor and utility chair
• Differentiating ideological visions within the Democratic primary and the importance of accountability
• The impact of national political chaos on local voter engagement and how leaders can cut through the noise
• The influence of grassroots movements and community activism, exemplified through the Newport Birthing Center campaign
• Strategies for managing education funding crises and regionalization challenges on Aquidneck Island
• The importance of fostering long-term solutions around health care and government transparency

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction to Xay’s campaign journey and motivation

02:21 - Differences between local and statewide campaigning in Rhode Island

04:29 - Voter frustrations with the status quo and local vs. systemic issues

06:04 - The role of the Lieutenant Governor’s office and addressing partisan politics

08:02 - Challenges of conflicting primary candidates and over-politicization

10:06 - The importance of accountability versus entertainment in politics

12:39 - The Newport Birthing Center: grassroots advocacy and health care priorities

16:27 - Education funding crisis and regionalization on Aquidneck Island

18:06 - Connecting with disillusioned voters amidst national political chaos

20:07 - The broader mission: building trust and solving Rhode Island’s systemic problems

Transcript

Bill Bartholomew 0:00

Welcome back to Bartholomew Town. You're currently a member of the Newport Council, most recent past mayor of Newport and a candidate in the Democrat primary for lieutenant governor. What's it been like on the trail since you've announced? I think we've we've haven't really checked in since you actually announced and really launched the campaign. So now that things are happening, what's that like?

Xay Khamsyvoravong 0:23

Uh the trail is terrific. Look, I love running for office in the same way that people who do marathons love running itself. It's a part of the overall exercise, and you better like actually doing it. For me, as somebody uh whose family came here, my father's a refugee. And so my family moved around lots of different parts of the state. It's been a great reason to get out there, reconnect with people in places that have been formative to who I am as a person. Uh, and the reception has been absolutely terrific everywhere we've gone. So we're having fun. We're getting out there and we're listening to people, which is the most important part of the exercise.

Bill Bartholomew 0:54

Other than geography, biggest difference between running in Newport and running statewide.

Xay Khamsyvoravong 1:00

You really do spend a whole lot more time in the car. Right. So that was one of those things you can't necessarily prepare or build for. I've managed a couple statewide campaigns, so I know the nature of the exercise itself. But being productive with those down periods between stops when you're maybe going from a one-socket to a westerly, you've got to be really thoughtful and intentional about. You've also got to be thoughtful about how you schedule your time and uh and where you're going.

Bill Bartholomew 1:22

Biggest differences you've seen out there in terms of geography from you mentioned westerly, you mentioned Woodsocket. What do you are you feeling kind of a similar energy around the state, or is there any particular area that is right now seems to be, I don't know, more direct in what they need, what they're missing, what they expect. What's it like out there?

Xay Khamsyvoravong 1:45

Our voters and the population that we're hearing from when we're going out, whether it's the local Democratic city and town committees or visiting community events, is very consistent. People are exceptionally frustrated with the status quo. Uh, and that's on both sides of the Partisan Isle, right? People just don't feel like government and the elected officials that we have representing us are doing a good job. The deviation from that is that generally speaking, people really like their local legislators, their local council people, their local school committee people, but writ large about the system itself, they are exceptionally frustrated. Uh, and so I think that was a great question. I appreciate it.

Bill Bartholomew 2:20

What's the next step for you here in terms of entering into this? I always picture the summer festival season, you know, what once was just a sea of people with clipboards trying to get signatures for this kind of convoluted system uh that is it it gets very technical right now. So how are you preparing for that process as you head into the hot summer, trying to get people's attention and also trying to just navigate the nature of running for office in real time?

Xay Khamsyvoravong 2:50

That's a great question, Bill. A lot of this comes down to where you're focusing your time based on who's paying attention at any given point in time. This election cycle feels really late this year. I'm so used to these things being multi-year cycles. I remember back in the day when I was managing statewide campaigns, you'd prep up for a campaign 18 months to two years ahead of time. We're in the middle of less than 100 days until the primary. And voters are tuning in really late this year. That's what we're finding. So we're spending a bit more time on the front end of the schedule dealing with people who are a bit more engaged early on in the process. Uh, these are the folks that are state party committee people, local city and town committees. Um, but as we shift into summer, that becomes much more of a general voter, general population exercise where you're getting out there and you're trying to be seen and meet as many people as possible. Uh, big parades, festivals, uh, community gatherings, also a lot of small backyard house parties, right? This is kind of how it's done here. Uh, and that's one of the fun parts.

Bill Bartholomew 3:42

You recently got the in the endorsement of the of the city and town chairs in the Democrat Party. So too did Helena Folk and Keith Hoffman. Um, pardon me, I'm not m uh Hoffman did not get that, but Peter Nerona, Attorney General Nerona, uh recently endorsed folks, you and Hoffman in a tweet. So there's definitely a faction of the Democrat Party, for those that pay attention to the nature of the party and the party politics that is decidedly behind you. For anybody that's not familiar, not a part of that sort of political class, if you will, again, a term I don't like to use, but that's just the reality of the category here. What is the main differentiation between you and Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos?

Xay Khamsyvoravong 4:28

We're looking at a generational shift. We're also looking at a shift in terms of what we're focused on. I am very focused on the bread and butter issues that are impacting households on a day-to-day basis where we believe government can actually have a difference, make a difference, uh, where I know from my own experience that we're able to have an impact that will deliver and make a difference in the day-to-day lives of people in our community, particularly the people that make our communities work every single day. Uh, we know that healthcare is a big focus, not just the system writ large, but specifically being able to go to a doctor uh when you need to go to a doctor, right? Nearly one in three people in the state aren't able to get an appointment with a doctor when they need one, and that is driving up expenses as people instead are going to emergency rooms and urgent care centers. I think that we've got to be training people for jobs that afford the ability to make a middle-class living, but also that help us impact some of the societal gaps. Great example of this are the trades. We know that part of why we have a shortage of housing in the state is the high cost of construction, uh, in part driven by the fact that we need more people in the trades. The great news is those are jobs that pay a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. And so we've got to be focusing on how we prepare people for that. And I'm also very forward-looking, right? Uh, we are distinctly of a new generation. And so therefore, we know that we will have to deal with the consequences of some of these really big picture trends that we're now just starting to feel the impacts of. Things like climate change, things like AI, this chaos that's coming out of Washington right now. Not only do we have to confront those places when those things that are happening aren't what we think is in our best interest, but we've got to have a long-term plan how we're gonna be able to sustain this fight to make sure life is better for all of us.

Bill Bartholomew 6:03

Not only are you gonna have to uh be be engaged in a it's it's a four-way primary. Look, Sue Andrebois, Cindy Coyne, they're credible candidates. Sue Anderbois, a member of the Providence City Council, uh, Cindy Coyne, former member of the legislature and uh state police officer. Well, let's face it. I mean, right now, you it any you are indeed the I believe the most significant threat to uh Lieutenant Governor Matos inside the party. So just for anybody who is maybe not even familiar, doesn't even know who Sabina Matos is right now. In one one to ten words, like what would you say just in terms of philosophically, ideologically, what's the easiest way to kind of separate you two other than generational?

Xay Khamsyvoravong 6:48

I am objectively focused on delivering results and being held accountable to those results. As somebody who served as mayor of one of the most iconic cities in America, as somebody who chaired the largest drinking water utility in the state Providence Water and oversaw its modernization, my public service has been entirely defined by delivering results for people, results that you can point to, that people can understand, and that actually have an impact on people's quality of life every single day. As mayor of Newport, I lowered taxes on the middle and working class while increasing investments in infrastructure and education and housing. Uh, when I was chair of Providence Water, I just didn't talk about good policies and modernizing the utility. I went out there and actually did it at scale. You know, that entire utility today is powered by renewable energy. That's the result of me being laser focused on delivering results that not only do things like be good for the environment, but also in the instance of Providence Water, it saved our ratepayers nearly a million dollars per year. Our policies have to not only make sense of the value set that we have, but they have to boil down to the bottom line for people. Especially right now, we're hearing consistently that they are struggling with the inflation, with the high cost of living, and with just keeping up to make sure they are able to maintain some basic level of a quality life.

Bill Bartholomew 8:15

And look, he's a Republican, most likely will be the nominee. Look, uh the reason I bring this up is because you've already engaged with him on uh a press release level. And look, Mr. Laughlin has, you know, uh throughout the course of the time I've listened to his his radio show on occasion, here and there, you know, it happened to be in the car, you turn it on. You know, he'll have an idea that on the surface level, you go, it's interesting, but oftentimes these are headline grappers. No f look no further than this inspector general nonsense that was put forth. And I think objectively, anybody who looks at it has to understand he had this convoluted idea that you turned the lieutenant governor's office into an inspector general's office. Now there is an inspector general movement inside the General Assembly. We'll see where all of this goes. You were essentially out front saying in response to Laughlin's idea there, let's get real. If you're going to have an inspector general, you have to do it properly and have it be an objective individual with the agency, subpoena power, and an investigative experience to be able to do it properly. And now today we've got a press release from Laughlin. He wants to turn the Lieutenant Governor's office into, quote, the overwatch for the ocean state. It's a plan to transform the lieutenant governor's office into a taxpayer-focused watchdog operation dedicated to exposing fraud, waste, abuse, and government inefficiency all without increasing spending or creating a new bureaucracy. I wonder if Elon Musk will be there with a chainsaw on day one. Your response to this, let's just call it what it is, this notion of trying to turn the lieutenant governor's office into some kind of opposition slash oversight slash doge-like office that Mr. Laughlin has put forth. Is he gonna sell Rhode Island on this, do you think?

Xay Khamsyvoravong 10:05

I want to make two things really clear, right? Not only should we be collecting people who are problem solvers, not just entertainers, because we've got enough of those in Washington right now. As Democrats and as people who are reasonable in the ocean state, we've got to push back on these bad ideas when we hear them. Taking the failed playbook out of Washington, bringing it up here, trying to dress it up as something otherwise, is not something it's gonna work for. And we've got to call these things out for the nonsense that we are that they are when we see them, right? What he's proposing, regardless of what he calls it, is a bootleg version of Doge. Except he's not even hiding behind this concept that he wants to try and save money and fix problems. He wants to create outrage content, clickbait for a podcast and for a newsletter. And while I enjoy a good entertainment as much as anybody else, what we really need right now is a real plan on how we're gonna be fixing things. And so it's disappointing when you kind of keep seeing these partisan ideas get hacked up from Washington brought north. And we've got to push back on that nonsense when you see it up here. That's what I've been doing. I've honestly been a little bit shocked and disappointed that my colleagues in the race haven't jumped into that fight because that is the common problem that we need to be addressing right now, which is pushing back on this chaos coming out of Washington and making sure it doesn't infiltrate us in the ocean state. Because we've got enough problems as it is solving problems. We don't need somebody else out there throwing haymakers and then going and hiding behind a wall.

Bill Bartholomew 11:26

Yeah. And it's also just from a pragmatic standpoint. It's not good politics from a healthy politics standpoint to have a lieutenant governor's race that's based on the hypothetical transition of the office into something that's constitutionally not viable and at the end of the day isn't going to serve the people anyway. So um with you there all the way. I just want to turn in these last moments to Newport, where you are on the council, you were the mayor, mayor is elected from the council body. Look, the there's there's a couple of major issues in Newport. I mean, obviously we could go through housing, we could go through any number of them, but the birthing center and more generally healthcare right now. Uh what is the latest? What are you hearing on the ground as a counselor about the status of the Newport Birthing Center? At last um pr proper report out, if you will, readout, it was it's gonna stay open for a year. This is the the birthing center at Newport Hospital was threatened to be closed. There was pushback and action taken uh to keep it, and it'll now be kept open by Brown Health for another year. But they're also calling for philanthropy to step in to provide well over a million dollars in funds to keep this thing open. That was the last we heard from from them on an official level that I know of. What do you hear?

Xay Khamsyvoravong 12:38

Well, let's start with in part why I think the office of Lieutenant Governor could be so valuable, and that's because of the experience that we've had in Newport, right? The ability to use a bully pulpit and the power of convene to get people together to go out there and push for solutions is very important if you do it right. In this instance, our objective with Brown Health as a community was to say you need to be making sure that you're putting people over profits when it comes to considering whether or not you keep this particular line open or any other service that the hospital is providing to the community. In this instance, we were successful in getting something major from Brown, which is a commitment to keeping that center open on the interim and to working on figuring out a way to make sure it's sustainable in the long term. What we have is a request from Brown for roughly $5 million in additional investment that's needed to keep that birthing center opening at a high quality of service. We know that it rates as one of the highest quality such centers in the area. We know that that is part of what makes Newport a maternity-friendly community. So we've got to keep that up. Now we know about a third of that money has come in so far from the state. Much credit to Governor McKee, but as well as to the legislature for keeping that funding intact. Representative Lauren Carson was a fierce advocate for us to make sure we got that funding, and she delivered, deserves full credit for making that happen here. Now the exercise turns to what happens with the balance of the funding that you need? To what extent should that be coming from philanthropy? To what extent should that come from things like the increased reimbursement uh that the General Assembly provided in the budget? Those are the open questions right now. But the objective here, the objective is to make sure it is something that is sustainable into the future. So this isn't an annual fight that this community needs to wage.

Bill Bartholomew 14:15

What what do you suspect right now in terms of if you drive around Newport, you see some signs, save the Newport Birthing Center? What do you suspect just from an anecdotal standpoint from being on the council, being on the ground? The is the general awareness of the island about the threat to the birthing center, has this thing been a political news story, or is this thing a major news story that is resonating that has the chance to really bring community together around an issue, or continue to bring community together around an issue, but on a large scale?

Xay Khamsyvoravong 14:49

Oh, that's a great point, Bill. And I love that you see the signs in town. A lot of effort uh from this group called Moms Over Margins went into that great effort. Uh, I think it's two things. Look, I think in general, people are really frustrated with institutions across the board right now, uh, whether it's government, whether it's healthcare, they really don't feel like the people that run those organizations are listening to and hearing them and working with enough urgency to solve those problems. Uh, to that extent, the birthing center fight really awakened people. It gave them something that they could hold on to, work on, focus on, a place where they could make a difference. Uh, everybody, I think, out of the pandemic took on different passions. Uh, being engaged with government, being engaged uh with the institutions that impact our lives is something that a lot of people woke up to that, hey, maybe this should be part of the project. Maybe civics are part of the project I should be engaged with. Uh and they are locked in and very focused on this issue. These groups meet every single week right now. It's a huge coalition of people ranging from uh labor organizations that help organize nurses to moms in the community, to doctors, to uh just community members in general who care about this issue, care about this birthing center, and care about making sure that the people's voices heard and very clearly understood that we expect these institutions to put people over profits. And that's important when we're the ones who are paying the bill.

Bill Bartholomew 16:04

On the on a similar front, um in terms of societal organization and footing the bill, with Newport schools right now. It doesn't look like re regionalization is gonna happen anytime soon on Aquitnik Island. Your sort of takeaway on where Newport schools are, where the island's future may lie in terms of regionalization as well.

Xay Khamsyvoravong 16:26

A couple things. First, I think we've got to reconcile with the fact that we are regionalized in a lot of ways. One in four kids in our career and technical programs are coming from outside of Newport. Similarly, we have a large number of out-of-district placements, which is part of the annual driver of the budget that's very hard to predict and keep a tab on. And so the two communities are collaborating an awful lot. Same thing with after-school programs. We saw this with the Learn 365 efforts that we put in with our community learning center, uh, where we try and collaborate and work together where we can. But writ large across the state right now, we are in the midst of an education crisis. Not only do we have systems that aren't delivering what we need to make sure that we've got a workforce that's prepared, or that we're preparing people to live lives that are productive and allowed them to earn a middle-class uh livelihood, but we also are getting pushed into a financial death spiral, right? Look at the different city and towns across the state that we're facing huge deficits, largely driven by changes in school funding. It's very clear that the state needs to grab the education issue by the horns and wrestle it to the ground, both financially, but also in terms of modernizing our education system to make sure that it's meeting the need we have.

Bill Bartholomew 17:35

Your take right now, looking at national politics, we had a U.S., we're recording this on Monday morning, June 15th. Last night there was a UFC bout on the lawn of the White House. Um, on one hand, you could say, Oh, well, that's just entertainment. On the other hand, everybody knows aesthetically what took place on the lawn of the White House. How do you run a campaign on a local level and connect with people when when you look at the federal level, never mind policy-wise, but just in terms of their that aesthetic? When so many people are looking literally six in ten Americans are tuning out Trump-related news, and in turn the trickle-down effect has to be politics on the whole at some level, meaning government on the whole, there has to be a bomb went off, so to speak, that has turned a lot of people away from politics. So, with that background, how do you engage with people? I know you're a talented leader, I know you're a talented politician uh or political figure, I know you're a talented arbiter on the council. But for the average everyday person, that's like, man, we're living we're being run by morons. We're being run by morons. How do you how do you connect with that person that has just checked out because they're so disheartened?

Xay Khamsyvoravong 18:54

That is the theory of the case for why this job? Why this job instead of any other job to run for instead of staying locally in a community that I love that has been incredible to me. The theory of the case here is take a job that's been the butt end of a joke for a long time and actually do something with it. Actually show people that if they are willing to engage, uh, that if they are thoughtful about the dialogue that we have around these issues, that we all agree need to be fixed, whether it's healthcare or our economy or the housing situation. And we actually use that office to fix and address some of these issues, not just to get people outraged about things, but to actually deliver solutions and improve people's lives, that maybe we start getting back that faith in democracy because we know that whether it's with the satisfaction of the direction that things are going right now in the state, or whether it's people's belief that democracy is still a viable option for us, that it's something that can deliver and make a difference in their lives, that's the goal and the objective. That's why I think most of us are running for office. That's why most of us are serving in office is to make that case. And we need a new generation of leaders who are able to be articulate and also honest about the challenges that we're facing and our need to band together and focus on them. We spend a lot of time in this state trying to be a miniature version of what Washington does, bickering and arguing amongst one another. When the reality is that this should not be in us versus each other within the state, but in us versus the enormous challenges that our little state is facing that's part of the broader sea change that we're we're addressing as a country. And so whether it's climate change or AI or changes in the economy or the absolute chaos out of the dysfunction that we see in Washington, we've got to band together to cut through that, figure out how we sail our little ship through those violent seas to actually make sure we get through on the other end and are better off.

Bill Bartholomew 20:33

Zeit comes of Oravong, Newport counselor, immediate past mayor, running for lieutenant governor of Rhode Island in the Democrat primary. I'm sure we'll talk again before that, but good luck as you're out there.

Xay Khamsyvoravong 20:44

Thank you, Bill. I appreciate you having me on.