FORUM: RI Lt. Governor Democratic Primary Candidates

Four Democratic candidates for Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor squared off in a forum moderated by Bill Bartholomew.

The Candidates

Sabina Matos — Incumbent Lieutenant Governor First appointed to the office in 2021 when Dan McKee moved up to governor; won a full term in 2022. Previously served on the Providence City Council, including as council president. Seeking a second full term; has made grocery affordability and housing central to her agenda.

Sue AnderBois — Providence City Councilor, Ward 3 Elected to the council in 2022; left a job at The Nature Conservancy to launch her campaign in November 2025. Cites her work chairing the North Main Street Task Force as a model for bringing stakeholders together on housing and infrastructure issues.

Cindy Coyne — Former State Senator, Barrington Served in the RI Senate from 2015–2023, chairing the Judiciary Committee; a retired State Police lieutenant. First candidate to formally enter the race (June 2025). Points to legislation banning untraceable "ghost guns" as a signature accomplishment.

Xay Khamsyvoravong — Former Mayor/City Councilor, Newport Entered the race in March 2026, the last of the four to join. Brown University grad, RWU law degree, spent 15+ years in banking including as SVP at Webster Bank; earlier was deputy chief of staff to General Treasurer Frank Caprio. Has led in fundraising for much of the race and campaigns on housing, infrastructure, and education investment "without raising taxes on working families."

Transcript

Bill Bartholomew 0:00

Welcome into the Bartholomew Town WPRO candidate forum series. I'm Bill Bartholomew today, a forum in the Democrat primary for lieutenant governor. So what we've done is we've drawn the order out of a hat in terms of what you'll hear for opening statements and closing statements. And we will begin with uh Cindy Coyne, who uh I'm gonna give also short bios here, so feel free to jump in if this is not uh how you want to be identifiable. We'll put it that way in all cases. Uh Cindy's a retired Rhode Island State Police Lieutenant and former state senator from Barrington who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee. Um you're campaigning on two decades of public safety and law enforcement credentials. Your 60-second opening remarks.

Cindy Coyne 0:40

Thank you, and thank you for the opportunity to be here. I appreciate the opportunity to have the conversation today. I've dedicated my career to public service. First on the state police, I put 20 years in, um, all while raising four children with my husband. And so I understand the daily pressures that our families are under. Uh, after that, I served on the Barrington Town Council and again as a state senator for eight years. So I have about three decades of public service. Uh, I wanted to make a positive difference for my community and uh for my district. Uh now what I want to do is I want to put my uh experience, my skill set, my institutional knowledge uh to work for the state, make a positive difference as your next lieutenant governor.

Bill Bartholomew 1:25

All right, thank you, Ms. Coyne. And Sabina Matos is uh the sitting lieutenant governor uh since 2021, former Providence City Council president, now seeking your second full term. Your opening remarks.

Sabina Matos 1:36

Thank you, Bill. Thank you for this opportunity. For those of you listening, my name is Sabina Matos. I have served in the role of lieutenant governor for the last five years. Before that, I was president of the Providence City Council for over 10 years, in which I had the opportunity to work really hard to improve the life of the residents of the city of Providence and my community. I have been serving in this role and doing the work of making sure that the office of lieutenant governor is connected and accessible to everyone in the state of Rhode Island, accessible to every community so everyone is represented. As someone who came to this country as a 20 years old, not speaking the language, and having been able to get the support from the community in the state of Rhode Island, take getting RIPTA to go to school, to get an education from Rhode Island College, making sure that I provide for my family. I understand the importance of this office and how this office can make a difference. And I have been making a difference.

Bill Bartholomew 2:34

All right, thank you very much. Sai comes of Orivong, former mayor of Newport, 20-year municipal uh finance career, currently a city councilor as well. Your opening remarks.

Xay Khamsyvoravong 2:44

Bill, I'm running for lieutenant governor because I believe we need a new generation of leadership in the state, leadership that is capable of working with this next governor to tackle the enormous challenges facing families in the state and to push back on the absolute chaos that we see coming out of Washington right now. I believe that we can do this because I believe in the promise of Rhode Island as somebody who has lived it. My father came here as a refugee escaping war and communism, was sponsored by a church group in Minnesota, brought him right here to Rhode Island. Through hard work, my family's achieved the American dream. I was born, raised, educated, and got married right here in the ocean state. Led a 20-year successful career in business and along the way of work to modernize government, chairing the state's largest drinking water utility and serving as mayor of one of the most iconic cities in America. I want to do the work of Lieutenant Governor helping working families in the state. I appreciate this form this morning.

Bill Bartholomew 3:31

All right, thank you very much. And lastly, here today, uh Sue Anderbois, Providence City Counselor in Ward 3, a career built in climate and energy policy at the Nature Conservancy and Rhode Island's Office of Energy Resources, among other stops. Your opening remarks.

Sue AnderBois 3:45

Yeah, thank you so much for hosting this, Bill. I really appreciate the opportunity to address folks today. So I'm Sue Andrebois. I'm running to be our next Lieutenant Governor. And I'm running because I think people across Rhode Island and across our country have really lost faith in government. They have not seen their leaders standing up for them and standing up for the things that matter in their lives. Um, as Lieutenant Governor, I'll leverage my vast experience across government, across leading um uh complex teams at large organizations in the nonprofit sector, as well as government, to tackle some of our hardest issues, our more most intractable issues, and take a whole of government approach to do so. Day one, I plan to take on um a lot of our energy challenges. We've seen in this state a outside company, Rhode Island Energy, really being able to lead and make decisions on behalf of their shareholders and their business as opposed to Rhode Islanders. And I intend to change that and make sure that energy system works for all Rhode Islanders and is built in a way that helps our environment and our wallets.

Bill Bartholomew 4:40

Thank you very much. Uh we'll begin our our first question here with Lieutenant Governor Matos. We've seen it in real time here in Rhode Island what happens when a governor departs their office and the lieutenant governor assumes their constitutional duty of becoming governor. So with that in mind, that may be the very most important part of why we're here today. Let me ask you, Lieutenant Governor, are you ready to be governor?

Sabina Matos 5:02

I'm ready to be governor. I'm ready to be governor. I'm have worked in the Providence City Council. I have passed, uh, have worked in passing 10 budgets. I have been a public servant. I have made a difference in my community. I know what it's like to work with the labor movement. I know what it's like to work with investors to get things done. Just look at the community that I represented in the city of Providence. Oneyville, it used to be the place that no one wanted to say they were from, right? And I worked really hard to ensure that we built affordable housing in Oneville, that we uh supported our healthcare system, to add a new building for the local health care, to build, to bring resources and to bring um places like the Water Fire Art Center, to work to ensure that we had the farm fresh building right there that has been such a big addition to the community. Work to bring companies like um Gott and Green. I know what it takes to get things done. I have done it. I have experience of working with leaders in the um financial sector sector, business in uh business leaders, and also labor leaders.

Bill Bartholomew 6:16

All right, thank you, Lieutenant Governor. Um Mr. Comes of Warwick, are you ready to be governor?

Xay Khamsyvoravong 6:21

Absolutely. I think executive experience is very important to consider in the selection for the specific office because we've seen it now come into play. I have worked in a substantial executive role both in the private sector and the public, serving as chairman of the state's largest drinking water utility. We stepped in immediately to start modernizing that utility, keeping rates low while helping to do things like shift it entirely over to renewable energy, saving ratepayers nearly a million dollars a year, while allowing us to make major investments in things like getting lead out of drinking water. As mayor of Newport, we similarly lowered taxes for middle and working class families while increasing investments in education, infrastructure, and housing. This is the type of action that you need to be able to take immediately upon taking office. In order to do that, you need to be working hand in glove with this next governor. That's the work I intend to do if elected.

Bill Bartholomew 7:05

All right, Counselor Andrew Bois, are you ready to be governor?

Sue AnderBois 7:07

I am ready to be governor, and I'm excited to leverage my experience on behalf of all Rhode Islanders should that come to play. Um, for example, um, I served as Rhode Island's first director of food strategy, and I worked across about eight different state agencies with both the director level staff as well as um state workers across about eight different state agencies to implement a really complicated and strategic plan uh across our whole food system. I've also served for many years on the Providence City Council, on the finance committee, the Ways and Means Committee, almost every committee except for the Ordnance Committee, but I attend that one regularly and have um leverage teams across large geographies and complex issues in my role at the Nature Conservancy, where I most recently was the Northeast Director of Climate and Energy as well as the vice chair of our North America policy work. So understand policymaking from both um a very Rhode Island perspective, but also how it relates to other places. I also have extensive experience as an advocate at our General Assembly and have been have helped pass legislation, um complex um renewable energy legislation and others at our statehouse and have the support of about 15 sitting and very recent uh legislators from every corner of Rhode Island who know that I'm capable of doing this job with them. So would be ready day one.

Bill Bartholomew 8:14

All right, thank you, counselor. And lastly, uh Senator Coyne, are you ready to be governor?

Cindy Coyne 8:19

I am, thank you so much. I bring reliable, practical, and tested leadership experience at every level of government. I spent 20 years on the state police where I lived by the values of integrity, accountability, transparency, and just plain hard work. When I ran for the Barrington Town Council, I was a political. What my constituents wanted was somebody honest and somebody who was going to work hard, somebody who was going to listen to their everyday problems and solve them and make sure that they use their taxpayer dollars responsibly. I was excited to be the first Democrat elected in over 100 years to represent the state senate in District 32. Um, while I was in the Senate, I championed issues to support our aging population, worked to enhance public safety, fought to protect reproductive rights, advocated for higher wages, and passed legislation to protect our environment. It's really important that you can understand both sides of an issue, be able to come to agreement, come to compromise, learn how to collaborate and navigate that um difficult situation when it arises. And yes, I'm ready to bring my experience to the office of governor if the need arises.

Bill Bartholomew 9:56

Let's keep this at about two minutes each and sort of expand into what your vision for that entrepreneurial role is, or in the case of Lieutenant Governor Matos, what your what your day-to-day looks like and what the office actually functions as. So we'll begin with uh Mr. Cumbs of Oravon.

Xay Khamsyvoravong 10:12

Thanks, Bill. Look, we've got some serious workforce challenges in the state that are inhibiting not only our economic growth, but the quality of life that families have here. As Lieutenant Governor, I would focus specifically on those workforce shortages we know are having a major impact on families in Rhode Island. First, our primary care system is in free fall right now. One in three of us don't have a primary care physician. I want to make sure the state gets the 300 primary care physicians we need to ensure that when people need a doctor, they can get an employment with one. Second, we know that one of the things that is driving the shortage of housing right now is a lack of construction. Part of the problem is that we have a shortage of tradespeople. These are jobs that pay. If fair days pay for a fair day's work, we should be encouraging people to go into the trades. I want to make sure that every person in the state going through our school systems is encouraged to graduate not only with an academic degree, but a certification and some sort of technical skill set. And third, we need to be ready and realistic about the impact that AI is going to have on the state. We know that nearly 30,000 jobs are going to be impacted in the next five years alone. We need to make sure that small businesses and employees are in the driver's seat to ensure they keep making a fair day's pay for a fair day's work well into the future. Focusing on workforce is the best way we can help raise people's incomes and make sure we tackle the affordability crisis that we're facing today.

Bill Bartholomew 11:24

We've got about 60 seconds left of that, two minutes. Just uh how would you, in terms of the functionality of the lieutenant governor's office, how would you execute those visions?

Xay Khamsyvoravong 11:32

Well, you need to use every single one of the advisory bodies possible to help drive that. So, for example, Small Business Advisory Council and the Long-Term Care Coordinating Council. These are two areas that have a direct nexus to health care. If you talk to a small business owner like I did with visual creations this past week, one of their biggest concerns is the rapidly escalating cost of health care. I would lose these, use these different coordinating councils to specifically focus on addressing that issue that they're all facing right now and advocate for it, just like we did in Newport. In Newport, we found that Brown Health is going to close the labor and delivery unit at our local hospital. We got community members from organized labor to nurses in the hospitals to the business community to a lot of the philanthropic community to work together to advocate to make sure that our health insurance industry puts people over profits. That's the type of work that we'll do using the bodies that Lieutenant Governor has at its disposal.

Bill Bartholomew 12:18

All right, Counselor Andrew Block, in terms of what you would do on a day-to-day basis, your vision for it, and also how you execute that vision, two minutes.

Sue AnderBois 12:25

Yeah, thank you, Bell. This is what I'm really excited about, this entrepreneurial vision. And I'm gonna talk about two things. Um, first, I am incredibly driven by one simple question, which is what are you gonna do about it? I've like joked about this before, but it's like literally tattooed on my arm. It says, What are you gonna do about it? It's my daily mantroil. And so taking action is something that um drives me every day. And I find that I get frustrated by democratic leaders and leaders across government who talk a lot about the issues we face, but then you're like, but what are you actually doing day to day? So I see there as two main roles in this office. One is to take on some hard systemic challenge that's facing us. For me, I'd be excited day one to take on our energy challenges. We're seeing our energy rates go sky high, while at the same time, we see our government, including unfortunately Governor McKee, try and disinvest in the things that are um going to help us stabilize our rates. That's energy efficiency, that's deep investments in clean energy. And we have not had an energy plan in the state in over 10 years. It was a great plan. I was uh part of writing it um over a deck over a decade ago. Um, but actually writing, um, creating and implementing a new energy plan that helps us know where and how we want to expand our distribution system, how we want to modernize the grid, and how we're gonna plug in clean energy and energy efficiency resources, and then actually executing that plan starting day one and standing up to the utility who for too long has been able to make a profit off of Rhode Islanders without providing real benefit to us. The second is that the Lieutenant Governor's Office oversees these three advisory councils. And something that I think I really uniquely bring to this role is like, and this is gonna be really nerdy, but I can rock a government task force. That's one of my very favorite things to do, understanding how to make government work, who needs to be at the table, and how to make that really effective, um, regardless of topics. So I'm excited about those three topics: um, small business, emergency management, long-term care. Um, but regardless of topics, I have a long track record in really making those types of systems work and making some real change out of them. And the example I'll give to listeners is my work on North Main Street, whereas I'm not a uh traffic engineer, but in North Main Street on Providence, we've made more safety improvements in the last two years than the last 30 years combined, because I recognized that was an unsafe road with really complicated challenges and needed someone to kind of cut through the morass and bring people together and make some real change. So that's what um the types of things I'll bring to the office.

Bill Bartholomew 14:36

All right, thank you so much. Senator Coyne, uh, in terms of that entrepreneurial role and your vision and executing it.

Cindy Coyne 14:42

Thank you for that uh question. Uh, we have all learned and I've educated along the way uh uh some of my uh listeners uh at some of the state and city committees, as well as uh certain neighborhood meetings, what the Office of Lieutenant Governor does. And one of the areas that are very near and dear to me is our aging population. And so I had the opportunity as a state senator to serve on the long-term care coordinated council. Um, right now, going through the General Assembly, it did not pass this year, but there is a state tax credit for family caregivers. Now, my mom was a caregiver for my dad who had Alzheimer's, and she cared for him for over five years. And it came time where she had to make that uh decision to put him in a nursing home. The resources and tools uh available to our family caregivers are there, but they're all over the place. We want one-stop shopping so that most of our older uh population will know where to go to find this information. It's out there, it's there. We have some great agencies, but we need one-stop shopping, one button to push to be able to find all this information. And I do support a state tax credit for family caregivers. And I'll be working really hard at pushing that piece of legislation when I become the next lieutenant governor. Uh, in addition, we also advise on emergency management, which is also very important to me, having served in public safety for 20 years. Right now, FEMA is under attack by a Trump administration. Uh, we did not receive the $19 million from the federal government for support in the blizzard of 2026. We rely on our neighboring states with what's called an emergency management assistance compact. It's very important. Without those states' help, we wouldn't have been able to have the big equipment come in and remove our snow. We want to make sure that our collaboration and our partnership is strong. We need to revisit uh the last time that that was looked at uh for our compact was in the early 1990s. We need to revisit that and make sure that we're secure with our partnership. And then finally, I'd like to also improve our national rankings when it comes to uh small business climate. Uh, we have gone from ranking of 44 to 46 and now 48, and that needs to be changed.

Bill Bartholomew 17:06

All right, thank you, Senator. Okay, Lieutenant Governor Matos, over the course of your time as Lieutenant Governor, you've uh spearheaded a number of initiatives. Most recently, the grocery store covenant project comes to mind. So that's one of many. So what have you done? How would you outline your priorities and in terms of executing those priorities? How have you done it and where you want to continue to take the office? 60 seconds. I'm sorry, two minutes. Two minutes.

Sabina Matos 17:30

All right. Thank you so much, Bill. Actually, um, I know what the office can do and what it cannot do. A few things that we have to keep in mind. The lieutenant governor used to be the share, uh, used to be the head of the Senate until early 2000. That changed. The lieutenant governor is not a shadow governor, right? Um, there is the function, the mandate that is under state constitution, that the lieutenant governor will become a governor if the governor is not available. If the governor gets appointed to uh be um at a cabinet position, but there is work that happens every day in the office. I can tell you about the work with the Small Business Advocacy Council. That is where I started investing and bringing new investors to the state of Rhode Island. And this is how I learned by going out into the communities, all 39 cities and towns, from Westerly to One Socket, listening to the people of the state of Rhode Island, I learned that One Socket had been struggling to open a supermarket. And when I tried to bring the investors to open a supermarket, we learned that the big corporations were using this loophole that when they leave a community, they put a block so another grocery store would not open in that location. I couldn't believe that this was happening and that this was real and it was legal, quote unquote. I started working on this with my team, and we finally got this legislation passed both in the General Assembly for the House and the Senate and signed by the governor, making sure that in the state of Rhode Island, moving forward, we're not gonna have any more uh big corporations dictating what community is gonna have access to fresh food. That's one of the work that I had been doing. I also have been working on creating a center for employee ownership here in the state of Rhode Island to ensure that when someone is thinking about retirement, a business owner that has been dedicated their life to creating a business in our state, when they're ready to retire, if their family member is not taking over the business, we can ensure that they can sell the business to their employees. In that way they get paid what they deserve for building that company, but we also keep those employees employed and we keep those companies here in our state. They don't close the doors. We help the employees to increase their income. The data shows that an employee owner makes on average 33% more than just being an employee. And the part that I like the most is that they uh are able to build wealth, wealth that they can use for to live to their family or that they can use for retirement. Because I believe capitalism has to work for more people. Capitalism shouldn't be the same thing as monopoly. And this is what is happening in this nation when we see one person becoming a trillionaire. That's the work that the office can do and that I've been doing. And besides that, if you let me know if I still have time, you've got about 15 seconds. Okay, perfect. So there is the work with our military families, which is so important to me. I believe that every time I get to work with our military families and support them, I'm able to say thank you for all of the opportunities that this state and this nation has given to me and my family. So there's very important work that happens on that office every day. It's not just sitting around or using it as a springboard to become governor.

Bill Bartholomew 20:53

Sticking with you, Lieutenant Governor, we'll keep this short here. There's a concept that's been floated out there by the Republican, likely, I guess we will be the Republican in your in this race, to turn aspects of the lieutenant governor into an inspector general's office without breaking down that plan and the nature of it, just in as in short form.

Sabina Matos 21:13

Yes.

Bill Bartholomew 21:14

Should the lieutenant governor's office be used for oversight? And if so, how would you execute that 60 seconds? Yeah.

Sabina Matos 21:30

So I'm using the office as an oversight to the big corporations. When it comes to the inspector general, as we know, the General Assembly already passed the legislation. Um, and they're working on that. If this office of lieutenant governor were to be the inspector general, we will need more resources. And this is uh something that I believe um the Republicans have not been thinking about that in order to be an effective inspector general office, uh, we need the resources into that office also. Right.

Bill Bartholomew 21:59

And the subpoena. Powers and uh and this would also be in the purview in terms of the whole of government versus the current General Assembly package, which overviews just the uh legislative branch. Uh Senator Coyne, just to that point in general, because now it's part of this conversation, I guess, in the Lieutenant Governor's office that it could be an inspector general, your take on oversight and the specifics of the inspector general notion.

Cindy Coyne 22:21

Right. So I've been out front right from the start of my campaign on the need for an inspector general. I've talked um many times about the need for the inspector general. And so when the General Assembly decided to adopt that, I was extremely excited about it because fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, um there is no place for that in uh in government. And we want to make sure that our tax dollars are spent responsibly. I do believe that we need independent oversight. I do believe that the public's confidence has been shaken. We need to restore the faith and trust in government right now. When we took a look at things like the Washington Bridge, the Mount Hope Bridge. Um we need to make sure that um the public uh trusts our government. And so I do believe that there is a need for independent oversight. I'm glad to see the General Assembly has passed uh the Inspector General, and I do believe it should be independent.

Bill Bartholomew 23:20

But should it be involved with the lieutenant governor's office in any way?

Cindy Coyne 23:23

Well, if um if uh the need arises, yes, but I believe it should be an independent office.

Bill Bartholomew 23:30

Okay, Councilor Andy Bois, same question on the inspector general oversight role of the lieutenant governor in general.

Sue AnderBois 23:36

Yeah, so transparency is incredibly important to me. It's been a big piece of uh my work on the Providence City Council, ensuring that people can both understand what's happening in government, have a say in it, and that it's very public and open and they have that opportunity. Um, so one, I just want to say that first and foremost, um, because to Senator Coin's point, like uh the lack of faith in government is real and warranted in a lot of in a lot of sense, um, in a lot of um times. Um But I don't believe that that's the role for the lieutenant governor's office. As you already mentioned, like we it doesn't have access to um the resources, doesn't have the subpoena power. And I think what would happen is it would just create a like politicization of the role and of transparency. And so instead of actually getting to the root of like, what's happening? Where's it going? It would just be a mouthpiece for making those things um more political and less, less actually transparent. And I worry that it would cause like more of a breakdown in people's trust in government when you just see this kind of like fighting without real power to actually do something about it, without the lieutenant governor being able to actually act in that capacity. Um, it just becomes like a conversation and um something for to discuss in the media and less something that like actually would make any real change or increase transparency. So I was glad to see um new speaker Blasizewski take that up and pass it as an independent um office and an independent um activity because I don't believe it belongs in the office of Lieutenant Governor.

Bill Bartholomew 24:55

All right, Mr. Comms Warring up finally on this Inspector General oversight notion.

Xay Khamsyvoravong 24:59

Look, Bill, I'm all for transparency and accountability, but without real action and power behind it, it's kind of just a meaningless phrase that gets thrown around. Twenty years ago, when I was the deputy in the state treasury, we put online in real time our offices checkbooks so anybody could see everything we were spending. The reality, though, is that what was put forth by the Republican in this race was a bootleg version of Doge. It was not a true version of the inspector general. Part of the role of the lieutenant governor is to stand up and call out these nonsense MAGA policies when they start to creep into state government. We should be focused on fixing problems here, not generating more outrage content and clickbait. I was the only candidate running on the Democratic side to call that out for the nonsense that it is. That's the type of job that I'll continue doing if elected lieutenant governor, to make sure these wacky MAGA policies don't find a home here in Rhode Island where we need to be focused on fixing problems.

Bill Bartholomew 25:46

All right, thank you very much. Let's move to a broader discussion right now on affordability. And look, the numbers back up what everybody who lives here is feeling. And I think that's that seems like an anecdotal remark uh that everybody who lives here is feeling, but you hardly can talk to somebody that wouldn't at least know that there's an affordability crisis right now. So um staying staying with you, uh, Mr. Cums Roarvong. How would you, as Lieutenant Governor, actually work to address the affordability crisis? Two minutes.

Xay Khamsyvoravong 26:12

We've got to work to get incomes up. We need to get people into jobs that pay a fair day's pay for a fair day's work that actually pay things like health insurance. Let me give you one example of this. We know that there's a substantial shortage in the building trades right now. The nice thing about this is these are also jobs that we need filled to help build the housing that we desperately need for our working class and middle class residents in the state at this very moment. We should be encouraging every person in the state to consider whether or not earning a technical skill set is something that they should do. This has the added benefit of also helping to future-proof our workforce. We know a lot of people are going to get displaced. So if you think that things are hard to afford right now, how hard is it gonna be if you lose your job because you get displaced by AI? So we need to be serious about training the future workforce coming through our school system right now, but also training our existing workforce to be ready for jobs and can actually pay them a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.

Bill Bartholomew 27:05

Lieutenant Governor Matos.

Sabina Matos 27:07

Yeah, thank you. So I have to say that apprenticeship is something that I have been working on for a long time. When I work to reform the tax stabilization agreement in the city of Providence, we make sure that we put language on those uh agreements that included apprenticeship, because I have known for a long time that this is the only way how we can ensure that we protect the jobs uh options for our residents in the city of Providence and the state of Rhode Island. But the work that I've been doing in my office is to ensure that there's affordability of groceries in our state. And I can tell you, I've been working on this topic uh for uh quite a while right now, and I had people telling me this is not an important issue. Nobody cares about grocery. Guess what? Everybody now is talking about grocery and affordability. We have been fighting for this, ensuring that we fight big corporations with the restricted covenants, but also just introducing the fair price grocery agenda, which has all the bills that are part of it. One of them is to ensure that when a corporation, a big grocery store is advertising a discount, and you go into that store, they have to honor that discount without asking you, asking you to present a smartphone or a computer device. And this came directly from residents, from seniors. When I was uh in Warwick with FEMA responding to the flooding, the uh a senior citizen approached me and told me it's not fair that when I go to the store and they're offering a discount, they were not honoring if I don't have a smartphone and I will never have a smartphone. That's one of the other bills. The other bill is actually have to do directly to what's happening in Washington, that they are not implementing the laws that we already have on the book. And the other bill is about the Robinson Pac-Man Act. What I'm looking to do is to make sure that here in the state of Rhode Island, we are implementing the Robinson Pac-Man Act. For that way, we can ensure that a big corporation cannot come to a farmer and dictate the prices that they're gonna pay, let's say for potatoes, and then tell them you cannot give that discount to anybody else. This is the fight that we have to do because all of those tactics is what is making uh our uh food prices to be so high and our grocery prices to be so high. It's not just one thing, it's a combination of things. But the number one reason is corporate greed.

Bill Bartholomew 31:58

Thank you, Lieutenant Governor Senator Coyne on affordability.

Cindy Coyne 32:01

Thank you. As a mom of four kids, I know about affordability challenges in high grocery prices. $6.99 for a bag of Doritos. My goodness. Anyway, um, I have three children who live out of state. I'd love to see them come home, but the cost of housing is just too expensive. And to uh Zai's point, uh, we need a more trained workforce in order to be able to get these houses built. Um, but I also go back to taking um the cost of health a real concern. And that's why I'm pushing for a state tax credit for our family caregivers. They actually take the burden off our health care system. Do you know on average that a family caregiver spends $7,200 of their own money out of their own pocket to take care of their loved one? One out of four adults are taking care of someone at home. It's it's um it's quiet. Nobody really recognizes them, and they need to be elevated and they need to be given the resources, they need to be given the tools, and they need to be given some sense of um relief for the cost of the burden of health care that they take on themselves because they love the ones that they've taken care of and they want to keep them home.

Bill Bartholomew 33:22

Let's let's stick with this um primary care question, if we could, for just a moment. I'm so sorry. Yeah, I'm so sorry. But we're just we're just too in the zone here. Um please on affordability counselor and floor.

Sue AnderBois 33:36

Thanks, Bill. Um and sorry to be so No, you're well well played.

Bill Bartholomew 33:40

I'm glad someone's on top of things.

Sue AnderBois 33:41

Thank you. Um uh but yeah, no, thank you. And fighting for everyday working people like myself is one of the reasons that um I'm running to be lieutenant governor, and it's one of the reasons that I ran to be on the city council in Providence, um, frankly. So a few of the things that I'm excited to work on um once I'm Lieutenant Governor, one, and I've already mentioned the energy issue, I don't want to hammer that too much, but I do want to give an example of um in Providence, I've passed a series of ordinances starting with um a commitment to making Providence, Rhode Island, or the country's first climate job city, which is addressing the climate crisis in partnership with our um friends in labor to make sure that as we're building the new green economy, we're not making the same mistakes we made in the old economy and building it on the backs of working people. Um, and so that was our first, but then I've passed a series of ordinances to help um report on our energy use, to label our energy use, um, to invest in all carbon neutral, I invest in all municipal buildings to be carbon neutral by 2040. I created our first green revolving fund. Um, and we're actually seeing a decrease in our energy bills, a decrease in our last budget. Our energy bills went down. I want that for all of Rhode Island. Um, and so I think if we have um leaders with vision who then know how to execute underneath and have um that ability to see, okay, well, what are the steps? We could have that. We could have that in our energy plan. We could stabilize our energy rates, which are a huge issue. I have neighbors who their energy bills are $400, $500 a month. I had a neighbor a few weeks ago who's older, she's in her 80s, Rhode Island Energy shut off her electricity right before our big first um heat wave helped her get it back on, but they were asking her for $10,000 to turn it back on. Nobody I know has $10,000 just in their pocket that they can, like I don't, just to um uh get their energy turned back on. So I want to address those types of issues head on. Another big priority of mine um at as Lieutenant Governor and also has been on council is tackling our um transportation challenges. I think in Rhode Island we look at things in an incredibly siloed way. We look at Ripta, we look at uh bridges, we look at Rydot. It's actually all one in the same. It's mobility. It's how do we get to our doctor's appointments? How do we get to the grocery store? How do we get to all these places? And when we don't invest in a um uh transportation system that works and think about these things in systemic ways and then pass the policies necessary to implement it, it increases the cost for everyone. Instead of being able to take the bus, which costs, you know, $2, $2.50, you're having to invest in more time because you have to connect through a system that doesn't make sense, which is money if you're uh it's money for everyone and is money, especially if you're an hourly worker. And um, people are investing in their own private ways to get around. They're calling, they're buying an old car, they're you know, doing all sorts of other things, and they're getting isolated in their home. So tackling also our transportation challenges so that people can get away around in ways that make sense to them and that are at least expensive, which includes strong investments in public transportation and also bike and walkability. So we're not so reliant on cars and funding um parking lots in this state, is another big thing that I'm excited about. There's a lot that I'm gonna do uh to address the affordability crisis uh as lieutenant governor, but those are some big ones for me, those big systems around energy and transportation. And those are big ticket items in people's wallets.

Bill Bartholomew 36:43

All right, thank you all. And uh the a lot of differentiation there in terms of focus on that as well. So a good conversation there. Let's bring it central, but I just wanted to sorry to interrupt you, uh Sue. Um the the healthcare matter is is critical, right? And in preparation for this debate, I caught up with Dr. Amy Nunn and Dr. Philip Chan at the nonprofit Rao and Public Health Institute. We were just talking about different pressing areas that may be overlooked. But then at the same time, you you mentioned something, centered, that I think is basic, which is primary care providers. So 60 seconds each, sticking with with you, counselor, and we'll go just around the table. What would you do as lieutenant governor to try to expand options, opportunity for primary care providers connecting with patients in Rhode Island?

Sue AnderBois 37:25

Yeah, that's a great question. And for my first many years in Rhode Island, I actually didn't have a primary care doctor. There just weren't any. And so my gynecologist was my primary care doctor for like the first four years I was here, which is not ideal. And a lot of people are going through that. Um, and I was lucky that I had no health challenges, but that that was luck, not um sign. And um, so there are a lot of things we can do. We have to make sure that the funding mechanism works, that we are making sure that primary care physicians are being paid what they're worth and not being paid less in Rhode Island than they are in our surrounding states. It's a huge challenge. I have a lot of neighbors who are physicians um in Providence who actually work in Massachusetts or they work in Connecticut because it just makes more financial sense for them. That's that's crazy. We need to make sure that the funding models work and that folks can do this work here in Rhode Island. Um, I would work through especially the long-term coordinating care council to ensure that um, especially older Rhode Islanders who are and Rhode Islanders with disabilities who are participating in the long-term coordinating care council and receiving benefit, receiving services from the agencies that participate in that, that they understand this, like how they can navigate the system, what exists. And then I would use that care, that long-term coordinating care council to really solve some of these policy issues, take advantage of the fact that we have brilliant people around that table and not just use it at a place where people are like reporting information, but okay, what do we do with this amazing, helpful information you've shared? What policies do we need to advocate for? What changes do we need, and um move that forward? So that I would really use that body to leverage that as a policy making shop with the General Assembly and with the governor.

Bill Bartholomew 38:56

Thank you. Lieutenant Governor Matos, you currently chair that long-term coordinating care council. Are you doing any of that work and what other work would you are you doing, or would you continue on when it comes to primary care?

Sabina Matos 39:06

So I'm using a different approach, and is what I'm doing is reminding everybody that the medical practice, they are small businesses. Um they're nursing home, they're all small businesses. Sometimes we forget that those are small businesses that are employing people in our community. So my approach has been advocating with the governor, with the commerce to ensure that we're paying attention to the care economy as a small business, uh, part of the small business ecosystem of the state of Rhode Island. I have sat down with a primary care doctor that has been struggling just to keep the doors open. I heard the plight in the stress that they're going through, trying just to keep the practice open. If this practice closed, it's gonna have to have a big impact in the health of people in our community, especially for um children in our community that relied on the services. It breaks my heart to hear what they're going through. I believe the state has taken some good steps that we need to continue to invest more on. And it's one program that the governor had to um had six million dollars that went into primary care through a grant program. We need to put more funding into that program because one of the biggest challenges that uh the small practices are going through is how can they upset the cost of going through the hiring process to bring a new doctor on board. So I'm advocating for that. That's how I'm using the work of the office. And I understand the challenges. I just got a letter uh from my doctor who's gonna retire. And let me tell you, a lot of the doctors are retiring right now is because of the way how the big corporations are handling health care right now. They retire because they cannot take it anymore. So we have to remember that at the end of the day, this is about fighting corporate grief.

Bill Bartholomew 41:06

Senator Coyne on healthcare and primary care providers, particularly.

Cindy Coyne 41:09

Thank you. Um, I do agree that the Long-Term Care Coordinated Council, which I served on uh for a number of years, is a great resource uh for putting together and uh listening and building relationships and solving problems to come up with good policy changes to be able to bring that forward to the General Assembly, which we did when I was on there for a number of years. Uh, but I really do believe the General Assembly has made strides uh in this area by uh agreeing to uh build a medical school down at URI. I know it's going to be about 10 years' time before we see the results of that, but it's making that first investment, recognizing that we have an issue and not having enough primary docs on hand, and that we actually have to do something about it. My understanding is most of these doctors are retiring. We're we're down 300 primary care doctors, and something needs to be done right now. Uh that being said, I'm happy to see that there are more physicians assistance coming into state, and we need to make sure uh, you know, that the General Assembly continues to um up the contributions when it comes to uh being competitive with our neighboring state for reimbursement rates.

Bill Bartholomew 42:32

All right, thank you very much. And uh, Mr. Comsavor on primary care providers.

Xay Khamsyvoravong 42:36

Bill, this is one of the three issues that I outlined at the very beginning that I'm focused on for the exact reason that Sue laid out, which is my wife lost her primary care physician. It took her nearly a year to find a new one, despite being the daughter-in-law of a beloved local pediatrician and the former first lady of Newport. The reality is that that I know a guy situation doesn't work anymore in Rhode Island because we are 300 primary care physicians short. One in four of the remaining are set to retire in the next five years. We need to be attacking this with the same level of urgency that we went after addressing COVID when it first hit our state. Five percent of our overall health care spending right now is going towards primary care, but over 40% of the claims actually being filed through the system are coming from primary care. The average primary care physician is spending 40% of their time doing billing paperwork while also getting paid 30% less than they are in Massachusetts or Connecticut. That is fundamentally unacceptable. We need to start by getting reimbursement rates up by increasing the amount of Medicaid funding that we have going towards primary care. We need to follow up with complete student loan forgiveness, which I will get done as somebody who previously served on the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority. And finally, we need to get in there and cut the red tape that is making sure that most of the time that our doctors are spending in the office is actually on paperwork. They need to get back to patient care. We need to get back to making sure that we put people over profits. That is the work that I did advocating to keep the birthing center open at Newport Hospital. That is the work that I will focus on doing as Lieutenant Governor to make sure we fix this primary care system to start getting our health care costs back under control.

Bill Bartholomew 44:04

All right, thank you very much. Let's let's keep this discussion as in in the affordability range, if you will, going on housing, which is, I mean, where do we even start, right? How do we even begin? We could do a forum for four hours on this. So um let's stay with you with you, Mr. Comms Vorabang, as mayor of Newport. You saw a lot of chaos in the housing sector playing out. Um, how would your experience so far translate to work as lieutenant governor? I want you to think about this.

Xay Khamsyvoravong 44:32

For the 20 years before I served as mayor, Newport added a single unit of housing per year, one unit of housing per year. In 18 months, we got that pipeline up to 300 by doing things like developing existing open spaces, cutting red tape. But the reality is that the cost of construction is still exceptionally high in housing. If you're gonna go down the subsidized path of affordable housing, the cost of construction is almost double what it is if you were to construct a house with any public subsidy. The baseline cost of constructing on the private end of things is still astronomically high. The only way for us to address that is to address the shortage that we have right now and the tradespeople we need to build the housing that our residents need in order for this place to thrive in the future.

Bill Bartholomew 45:11

Thank you very much. Lieutenant Governor Matos, even as Providence City Council president, I remember us having discussions on podcasts about your housing initiatives. That's continuing on today. Describe those and describe your vision going forward specifically as Lieutenant Governor, what you can do to address the housing crisis.

Sabina Matos 45:27

Yeah, so as you know, even before I was in elected office, I was on the board of Oneville Housing. So housing and building affordable housing has been very close to me from the beginning. I believe that building affordable housing is how we change our communities. I saw it firsthand in Oneiville, the difference that it made when Oneyville Housing, now one neighborhood builder, built all those affordable housing, being very strategic and concentrated on the areas around the uh the school district to ensure the public school to ensure that it was safe for the kids to walk to school. I have been able to work to add hundreds of units of housing in my um in my time in the Providence City Council in Oneville and other in other parts of the city. What I believe we could have to do is to continue to support the organizations that know how to do this work. One neighborhood builder, swab, uh The women's development, those are the organizations that have been building affordable housing in our communities. They know how to do it. We have to continue to support them by doing similar things to what the Providence City Council did recently, which is giving them a tax break while they're in construction. We need to use more other tactics like that to help them so they can continue to build more affordable housing in our community. And also we have to incentivize the private sector to build mixed use units. I don't believe in the concentration of poverty. That's a model that doesn't work. We have to make sure that every housing that is being built, every investment into housing is going into mixed use unit to ensure that there is a mix of income in those units.

Bill Bartholomew 47:10

Thank you, Lieutenant Governor. Senator Coyne on housing, in your time in the Senate and even in your time on the city council, you've presided over an abrupt and dramatic change in the cost of housing in Rhode Island. How is that informed how you would approach your work in housing?

Cindy Coyne 47:25

Well, everyone deserves a safe, stable, and affordable place that they can call home. I'm happy to see that the General Assembly over the last couple of years have produced like 50 pieces of legislation to help in the housing area. But as you know, it's going to take time for that to get going. And I do believe in putting some effort towards mixed use. And when you think about it, intergenerational housing is also very key because right now, in order for some families to afford to live, and even those young graduates from college are living at home. And I love the fact that we have the ADUs now. I know a couple of families who have had their single, um, you know, older adult children living with them and using the ADUs, as well as, you know, retired folks who are on a fixed income. So I think the ADU concept has been wonderful addition to being able to afford a home. But again, uh it's about the workforce, training a workforce, having enough people to be able to build their homes and seeing some effect from you know all of these legislation that the General Assembly have just passed go into effect. So I'm really excited about all of these new bills and what we might see from them.

Bill Bartholomew 48:48

All right. And to that point, so to speak, as we we turn to you, counselor, a lot of the new bills or some of the new bills are tying housing with climate, tying housing with transportation as an incentive. You've already identified that that is a key area of interest for you. So how would you take that ecosystem and what you've experienced as a Providence counselor and apply it to your housing policy or goals as Lieutenant Governor?

Sue AnderBois 49:08

Yeah, no, and thank you for that, TF. Housing has been an incredibly uh important part of my time on the Providence City Council. And it's part of why I even ran. I was really frustrated as someone I moved here from the San Francisco Bay Area many, many years ago, but was seeing what was happening in Providence mirror what had already happened there, where people were getting pushed out, workers were getting pushed out, the price of housing was rising so rapidly. And it was like, it's coming. Why is no one doing anything about this? Um, and that was one of the main reasons I actually ran for council, and that's been a big piece of what I've worked on. And I was just like thinking it through as you asked the question. One of the things I was excited to work on was our comprehensive plans that we could increase and upzone the entire city because we need to be building new housing across the whole city. We need to be building new housing across the state. So I've worked on things like increasing and upzoning across the entire city, including my neighborhood, um, passing a series of tax stabilization agreements, which include affordability components to incentivize new um uh new building, um, reducing barriers and um red tape, um, also protecting um renters and people who are already in our neighborhood. So I was a lead sponsor on a ban of rental algorithms because we were seeing big corporations like if people just like called each other, if landlords called each other to collude on pricing, that's illegal. But when they were doing it with algorithms, they were somehow getting away with it. And so we banned that, even though folks told us that's not happening here. And we actually just had our very first enforcement action that Council President Miller had to enforce just a couple weeks ago, because it is happening here and we have to protect our renters. I was also a sponsor in our rent stabilization um ordinance, which did pass and then was vetoed. And I've worked on other things like reducing parking minimums and other kind of common sense ways that we can reduce the cost of building and create these um systems where we have better transportation. People are more reliant on things that aren't just single family homes with their cars. I also recognize the balance between what happens in a municipality and what happens at the state level. I've been so excited by all the legislation that's been passed at the General Assembly and last year had a really great town hall where it was hours of conversation with then Speaker Shikarchi, where we discussed what's happening in Providence versus what's happening at the state level and how the city and state could be working together. I would love to take that same energy to my work as Lieutenant Governor because we need to be building at least 20,000 new units across the state in ways that make sense in their communities. It makes sense to upzone on North Main Street in Providence. It makes sense to upzone on Hope Street. It doesn't necessarily make sense to upzone in all areas of the state. And so making sure we're building in ways that make sense given the infrastructure we have in different places and then investing in the infrastructure we need to support that new housing, like investments in Ripta, and I'm talking way too much. I see you've got to cut. No, it's all good.

Bill Bartholomew 51:43

I want to make sure we can finish your point because it's it's distinct. But uh before before we move on, just and I know we had decided to not do yes or no questions, but I feel like this is an important one, just in terms of your general disposition on rent policies, rent control, rent stabilization, a more Keynesian hand versus yes or no. For example, Mayor Smiley is a in provenance hardlined, not in favor of rent control or rent stabilization. As we go around, we'll start with uh Mr. Comzavorovan. In general, are you open-minded to the idea of rent controls on a statewide basis? No. No senator.

Sabina Matos 52:18

No.

Sue AnderBois 52:18

I voted yes on it three times. So, yes, I'm open to that conversation and thinking about how we design it in ways that continue to allow us to build while also protecting renters and not letting people get pushed out of our neighborhoods.

Bill Bartholomew 52:29

Okay, we have nine minutes left of broadcast time. So at this point, I think what I'd like to do is uh shift to closing remarks. And once we get there, uh if we have time, I would pose one final question. So these are intended to be about you know two minutes or so. Should we so I will put my hand up when we get to approximately one minute and 45 seconds, just in terms of broadcast time. And we begin in we will go in the same order that we did our opening remarks, starting with Senator Coyne.

Cindy Coyne 52:56

Thank you so much for the opportunity to have this debate uh this morning. And I hope that my message was clear. And my message is this that my career has been dedicated to public service, first as a state trooper for 20 years, then as a Barrington town counselor, and most recently as a state senator, where I championed issues to support our aging population, worked to enhance public safety, fought to protect reproductive rights, advocated for higher wages, and passed legislation to protect our environment. I want to continue to make a positive difference for our state and tackle the challenges we are faced with every single day. You can be assured I will do it with a set of values that I live by: integrity, honesty, transparency, and accountability, and just plain hard work. We can do better together. And I respectfully ask for your vote and for the listeners' vote when it comes time for primary election season.

Bill Bartholomew 53:59

Thank you very much, Senator. Lieutenant Governor Matos, your closing remarks.

Sabina Matos 54:02

Thank you, Bill. Uh, thank you for this opportunity. I would like to tell the uh people of the state of Rhode Island that I've been serving in this role for the five the past five years. I have been go I think to every single community here in the state of Rhode Island, from westerly to One Socket. I've been listening directly to the people in those communities. I understand the challenges that One Socket has been dealing with when it comes to access to supermarket and fair price um grocery accessible to them. I know about westerly challenge to increase the access to more transportation and trying to get the commuter rail to um to have more stops and raising the platform. I know the challenges that we uh have that are happening in other communities in it could be Central Falls, Providence, uh could be East Providence. I know the challenges of the people of the state of Rhode Island because I'm out there with all of you and I'm present and I'm listening to you. As someone that came here and didn't speak the language, I know how important it is for us to have a government that works for the people. And that's what I've been doing. I worked really hard to get an education at Rhode Island College. I worked really hard, and many times I had to take rip the buses to be able to get to work. I know what it's like to work as a factory worker in a jewelry factory here in the state of Rhode Island. I know what the struggles that every people, every day Rhode Islanders are going through, and that's what I've been fighting for. I have been doing the work, fighting for a fair price grocery agenda, ensuring that we fight corporation greed, fighting for the small businesses to make sure that they have the support that they need, and also fighting for housing to ensure that we have affordable housing in our community. I have been doing the work. I know what the office does, I know what the office can do, and that's what I've been doing.

Bill Bartholomew 55:56

All right, thank you, Lieutenant Governor, Councillor Kamzavorovon, your closing remarks.

Xay Khamsyvoravong 56:00

Well, Bill, first, thanks for absolutely nailing my name every single time. I realize that after just an hour, most of your listeners will probably never be able to pronounce my name. And that's okay. Uh, it's a name so long, it's gonna take up two lines on the ballot when we get there. Um, but the reality right now is that Rhode Island families are facing a really tough situation, right? The affordability issue has gotten out of control, and we need to focus on jobs in the economy if we're gonna fix that. I'm the candidate that's focused on fixing our primary care system and making sure that we get things like housing under control where you can actually afford it. I'm also set on pushing back against the chaos that we have coming out of Washington, making sure those bad policies don't get rooted here. And in the same way that when you get a tough diagnosis when you go into the doctor, you choose the best doctor possible, regardless of whether or not you can pronounce their name. I hope that your listeners will find that I am the best person possible for the job and the task that we have ahead. The reality is that we need a new generation of leadership in the state that are equipped with both the urgency and the skill to be delivering for down families. I believe that I'm that person. And that whether you live in Winsocket or Westerly in Newport or Nar Gansett, we can't wait any longer for change. If your listeners want more information, then go to my website, psi4ri.com. That's x-a-yfor-i.com. Thanks so much for this forum.

Bill Bartholomew 57:16

All right, thank you, Counselor. And and Counselor Andrew Baugh, your closing remarks.

Sue AnderBois 57:18

Yeah, thank you so much, Bill, and thank you for hosting this forum. This is so important. Um, what I want your listeners to hear is I'm driven by one simple question many times a day. And I've already said it, but that's Sue, what are you going to do about it? And I think we want to elect leaders who understand that we have real challenges in this state. We have hard challenges, but we have solvable challenges. And I think for so long we've seen our leaders not want to touch those hard challenges because they're hard. They have to stick their neck out. They might not be able to completely do them in four years. And so people avoid some of the harder conversations, the harder things. Those are the types of things I want to run straight at. And I believe that the office of lieutenant governor could be a place where we take on these harder systemic challenges and then we work with our partners in the General Assembly. We work with the governor and her or his administration, and we create whole of government solutions. And if people buy into that vision, which I hope they do, because I deeply believe in the value of government and what we can achieve. But if they do, I have a really unique background that we can leverage, and I'm excited to leverage on behalf of Rhode Islanders. I've worked in all branches of government. I'm currently a very effective member of the Providence City Council representing Board Three, but I serve as the deputy majority whip, I chair several committees, I serve on most of the committees, including the Powerful Finance Committee and the Ways and Means Committee. I was Rhode Island's first director of food strategy, and I created our first ever food plan from the ground up with farmers and fishers and folks in every neighborhood, food businesses, and then actually implemented it across eight different state agencies. I've been an advocate at our General Assembly and helped pass really complicated legislation and have the support of about 15 members of the General Assembly and local council people across the state. And I just believe in this radical collaboration. I know that we have hard challenges, but I also know that we can solve them together. And I would be so excited to leverage my experience and my abilities on behalf of Rhode Islanders to take on our hard challenges, like our energy challenges, our transportation challenges on behalf of Rhode Islanders. I don't shy away from a challenge, I run straight at it and uh and unravel that knot. So thank you so much for your vote and your support. And Bill, thanks for hosting.

Bill Bartholomew 59:17

Of course. Thank you all. So one final question here. We have about two minutes, so just a short answer here. It's a lot of talk about aliens. All right. So a lot of talk about space aliens, things like this. Let's say, I don't know, Joe Rogan comes out and says they're real or whatever. How do you explain Rhode Island to somebody who has no idea about it in an elevator in 20 seconds? How do you pitch Rhode Island? And we'll go, we'll start with Lieutenant Governor Matos and work around the table.

Sabina Matos 59:44

Well, I always said that um being in Rhode Island in the summer is uh where you want to be. You don't want to be any place else. I love the state. The state is beautiful. One of the things that I uh I enjoyed of having the role of lieutenant governor is before when I was council president for Providence, we were going 11 months. I didn't have a lot of time to travel throughout the state of Rhode Island. Now, um in this role, I have the opportunity to visit all 39 cities and towns, and I see the beauty of the state, I see the diversity of the state, and I always um, whenever I have the opportunity to sell the state, that's what I do. I tell them come to Rhode Island. It is a place that is beautiful and it has so much diversity of cultures. And you can eat the best food from any part of the world.

Bill Bartholomew 1:00:30

All right, Senator Coyne.

Cindy Coyne 1:00:32

Yes, I believe that it's small size is what makes it absolutely special because you can get from one end of the state to the next in less than an hour. You can be at the coastline enjoying the beach and having a wonderful time, and then you can be diving into a lake up in the northwest corner. And there are great restaurants from Village Haven up in uh the northwestern to uh Twin Oaks uh in the center, uh down to Matunic Easter bar, the Oyster Bar down in the South County area. So uh food, uh cultural diversity, um, you know, uh small size. Uh it's just a wonderful place to be, whether it's the summer fall with the changing leaves or even in the winter. So uh I encourage anyone who's listening. Uh, if you don't live in Rhode Island, come visit us.

Bill Bartholomew 1:01:24

All right, Counselor Comes of Orban.

Xay Khamsyvoravong 1:01:26

You know, Twin Oaks is my first date spot with my wife. Um look, the beauty of this state will captivate anyone that comes here, but it is the people that will keep you here. My father came here as a refugee, and we talk about the hard work portion of the American Dream, but it really is the kindness of a community that wraps its arms around you and tries to help you every step of the way. That is part of, I think, what makes campaigning so much fun for all of us, but it's also part of what makes the state so special. I believe that we can make sure the American dream is within reach for everyone as long as we keep continuing to reach out and figure out solutions to the big problems we're facing.

Bill Bartholomew 1:01:59

All right, Councillor Andrew Blanc on Rhode Island to the Galiens.

Sue AnderBois 1:02:02

Yeah. Um, anyone I've ever worked with or known knows that I'm like Rhode Island's biggest cheerleader. Um, for a while, I was using hashtag smallestate best state um back when hashtags were not so cringe for the younger people. Um, but we really have everything in this state, and I just I love this place so much. Um, we have the best art, we've got grit, we've got the best food, which I can definitively say as Rhode Island's first director food strategy. We have the best food in the country, and then we also have the ocean, we have the environment. Over half about half of the state is open space. We have the best people, and then we can also go on a hike and only see animals. So it's one of those places where you have a little bit of everything, and it's all within um so close within touching distance. And so definitely come visit, but also enjoy it while you're here.

Bill Bartholomew 1:02:43

All right, Providence Counselor Sue Anderbra, Newport Counselor, Zai Kumza Boravong, uh former state senator and barrington counselor, um Cindy Coyne, and Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos. I'm Bill Bartholomew. This is the Bartholomew Town WPRO Democratic Primary Lieutenant Governors Forum. Thanks for listening.