RI Primary Closing Messages: Mike Raia Joins The Show For Inside Communications presented by Half Street Group

Inside Communications: Rhode Island Primary Closing Messages and Election Predictions

Bill Bartholomew and Half Street Group’s Mike Raia break down how campaigns shift from persuasion to turnout in the final stretch before Rhode Island’s primary elections. They also look at which candidates are handling their closing messages well, how early voting changes campaign strategy, and where the major races appear to be headed.

Key topics

• In this episode, Bill Bartholomew and Mike Raia discuss why the Rhode Island election season finally feels fully underway, with more yard signs, more voter curiosity, and more attention to early voting.
• Mike explains what a closing message is in campaign communications, describing it as the final turn from persuasion to mobilization in the last two to three weeks before voting ends.
• They discuss how campaigns should peak at the right moment, since cresting too early can leave a candidate vulnerable to losing attention before Election Day.
• Mike says the most successful closing messages usually shift away from attacking opponents and toward biography, vision, authenticity, and turnout.
• They examine Governor Dan McKee’s messaging and argue that his campaign has spent too much time defining Helena Foulkes instead of telling his own story.
• The conversation highlights early voting as a major strategic factor, especially in light of the 2022 governor’s race and how late-breaking debate timing affected Helena Foulkes’ momentum.
• Mike says Mayor Brett Smiley has one of the strongest closing strategies in Rhode Island right now, crediting him for clearly defining his base and contrasting his leadership style with David Morales.
• They also discuss the lieutenant governor’s race, where Mike sees Saya as having an effective closing message built around showing Rhode Islanders themselves in the campaign’s imagery and tone.
• In the attorney general’s race, Mike says the key battle appears to be between Kim Ahern and Keith Hoffman, with Ahern possibly benefiting from Helena Foulkes’s broader support network.
• The episode closes with a broader reflection on generational turnover in Rhode Island politics, with Bill and Mike arguing that millennial and Gen X leaders are increasingly ready to take the reins.

Timestamps

00:00 - Election season finally feels real in Rhode Island

01:08 - Early voting, yard signs, and the race for voter attention

04:02 - What a closing message actually is

05:18 - Why campaigns stop persuading and start mobilizing

06:29 - Why attacking the opponent can weaken a final push

08:28 - Final two weeks are about turnout, not conversion

09:05 - How media, field, and mail work together late in the race

10:35 - Why timing the closing message matters more than ever

12:36 - Building a campaign cadence backward from the decision date

13:54 - Brett Smiley’s closing message in the Providence mayor’s race

15:25 - Saya’s visual and generational strategy in the lieutenant governor race

17:17 - Mike’s governor’s race prediction: Helena Foulkes by a wide margin

19:37 - Mike’s Providence mayor prediction: Smiley over Morales

22:19 - Why the lieutenant governor race is so hard to call

23:37 - The attorney general race and the Kim Ahern versus Keith Hoffman split

27:06 - Rhode Island’s leadership transition to younger generations

29:36 - Why millennials see themselves as ready for leadership now

31:35 - Final thoughts heading into election day

Transcript

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Bill Bartholomew 0:00

It's inside communications here on Bartholomew Town with Half Street Groups, Mike Rea. This time a special edition as we head into Rhode Island's primary elections. Mike, first of all, uh hope you had a great summer because all of a sudden it's cold outside today and it's like it's like the earth reacted to the fact that all of a sudden it's election season.

Mike Raia 0:17

Yeah. I mean, come on, this is beautiful weather. This is why we all live here. Uh we we we spend the uh February and March dreariness so that we can get September and October in Rhode Island. I mean, there's nothing better than shorts and a hoodie, and that's what we've got right now.

Bill Bartholomew 0:32

Here we are. Well, it definitely feels a lot more like election time out there. As I've been out and about, a lot more people are curious. And even just seeing um political people at, I don't know, seven stars or something like that downtown just feels a little bit different, feels a little bit more buzzy. It did feel, and we kind of talked about this in a previous uh edition of Inside Communications, to me, it felt like it was a little bit of a slower start to the election season. Do you think that it's kind of caught up with itself right now? This is obviously anecdotal. Will we see kind of reasonably similar turnout than what we've to what we've seen in previous years?

Mike Raia 1:07

Yeah, I mean, I think you're right. I think it did finally feel like the season caught up to where those of us inside the Gang of A Thousand uh live. And it has become something that I'm hearing more questions from friends and neighbors and folks at the pool, folks on the little league field, um, trying to get smart really quickly on it. I think you've seen and and you're seeing anecdotally more of the more yard signs. You're seeing more engagement around early voting. Um, so it feels like election time. And I I think also the fact that you've got the Massachusetts race that just wrapped up yesterday, you've got the the other primaries across the country that are uh uh getting to a a boil point now shifting into to the general. I think the conversation has caught up with everyday Rhode Islanders and everyday voters. Um they're obvious. I mean, we're we're what right now two weeks out, like two weeks from today, we're recording this on Wednesday. Um so people are paying attention. Um and I think that we we now have the rubber hit the road. And I think you've seen that too in the way that some of the polls for some of the races that that we're all tracking here in Rhode Island have come where you're seeing a little bit more decisiveness in terms of where undecided voters were going. You're not you're seeing candidates now beating undecided even in down ballot races. So um, yep, it took a little while. It was a bit of a simmer for the the the better part of the spring, the early part of the summer, but I I think it's now kind of in the regular nomenclature uh the among Rhode Islanders that the that we're in an election year. Um even if it does feel and I I I will say that I think this this particular cycle feels a little bit less buzzy than some others that we've had in in past years. And I think that there's any number of reasons for that, some of which I'm sure we'll talk about. Um, but uh everything from the general anti-incumbency that you feel across the country to kind of a general sense of of uh huge, huge gaps in polling um in some of the top-of-the-ballot races. So I think that's been one of the things that just make it feel a little bit less fuzzy or a little bit less of of a sense of who's going to come out on top um in those premier races. It it does seem as though uh inevitability is starting to come to fruition. Although, as in Helena Folkes would say, or or any other challenger or whatever say, it's very, very difficult to beat an incumbent.

Bill Bartholomew 3:41

Absolutely. Okay, so with that in mind here, let's talk about the closing message concept. That's what is a closing message, first of all, properly. If a lot of people would hear that and probably assume they know what it is, but it's actually something very specific and detailed. So and you've you've obviously had experience in crafting these um in the past. So what is it?

Mike Raia 4:01

Yeah, I I it's a good question. I I when you're thinking about a campaign, like it it's one of these things where it it's there's a hard and fast end of when you need to be able to make sure that you are peeking toward. As a campaign, as a candidate, as a someone that's running a referendum effort, you need to make sure that you are sustaining a message and cresting right at the time when people start going to the polls. If you crest too early, you run the risk of somebody else being able to come in and steal your spotlight or take your message off or take you off of your message. So the idea of a closing argument is the kind of wrapping everything up into everything that you did prior to that. The three months, the four months, the five months before a campaign is when you really focus on your persuasion. That's when you're trying to grow your base. Any candidate will typically start a race with kind of a core set of these are my people or these are the groups that I know are going to come out for me. And you spend that persuasion period trying to grow that group, trying to bring more people into the fold. But when you get to this last two weeks, three weeks of a campaign cycle, and it's whether you're running for local state rep, whether you're running for governor, whether you're running for president, when you get into that final push when you're counting down the days and your 15 days are under, um, you really shift your messaging into something that is focused on turning out your core voters. And you move away from persuasion, you're moving away from trying to convince people from one side to the other. And it's why you often see uh successful races close with a positive message. The hardest fought, the most vitriolic, the most personal hostile campaigns will almost always pivot in the final two weeks to something that is focused on the candidate's core message or biography or vision rather than how they're trying to shape the opponent, because their job is to be able to turn everybody out that they can to be able to vote for that. And I think in some ways that's been a little bit of a head scratcher here in Rhode Island because you still see an incumbent governor who is focusing so much of his energy and so much of his time in the last two weeks, still trying to to find or still trying to bloody up his opponent rather than leaning into where his base is. Um and I give a little bit of a caveat to that. And I I do think that he Governor McKee has in the last three to four weeks, with the debates around us and and with some of the um retail and and radio appearances that he's doing, he's trying to fit in a little bit of his story of what he's done. But so much of what his campaign has been all along has been about his opponent. And it's very, very difficult for him to create that closing message, which should be defined for who his voters are, who his base is and who he's been able to add to it. Um he should be b uh pivoting that in a place where it's less about Helena Folks.

Bill Bartholomew 7:24

Yes, and and certainly one would argue that that has been one of the the problems with his campaign all in many ways is that he hasn't been able to tell his story, or it doesn't seem he's been able to tell his story because he he's been so busy telling people their impression, interpretation of, or perhaps factual version of events when it comes to his opponent. So that's that's a lot different than in reintroducing or continuing to inform voters about who it is you are and what you stand for.

Mike Raia 7:54

Right. And it's also at that point, like you're not going and and look at the look at the polls that we have here. I think the unless you're a super down ballot race, by and large, the people who are most likely to turn out, they at least have a general impression of who the candidates are. They may not necessarily know or they may not be willing to tell anybody yet who they want to vote for. Um, but their minds are made up as to who the people are. They're not going to necessarily be persuaded if they haven't already by another gauntlet of opioid attacks, or they're not going to be persuaded by another gauntlet of Washington Bridge attacks. Um the job now at this point in time from the messaging component of the campaign is to shift the conversation and give your voters the rationale and the people that have that you've pulled in and persuaded, uh, give them the rationale to go vote early, to go show up on election day, to go drag a friend with them to the polls and make sure that you get your vote out. Because what's happening on the other side, so when you think of the campaign, you've got what you're doing on the public side with communications, the stories that you're telling, the ads that you're putting up, the retail politics that you're doing, the events that you choose to go to. On the other side, you've got your field. That's your kind of folks who are identifying who are the likely voters, who's going to turn out, and on a scale of one to five or one to six, depending on the campaign, how likely they are. And you want to get as many of those voters as you can into the one and two category. And those become the the that becomes the constituency that you direct almost all of your media, almost all of your communications, all of your events, all of your door knocking, all of your mail in the final two weeks to, and that's and you hit them with your closing argument, which is your value proposition for why you should get their vote when they walk through that door.

Bill Bartholomew 9:53

We can think too, even with Helena Folkes in 2022, so much of the the retrospective on her campaign was that the timing of her cresting was off. Similarly, I think to John Robotay back in, what was that, 2010, the Republican. Or Charlie Fogarty in 16 in what was that, 06? That was 06. 4951 came very close, but the timing just not there, even with that blue wave that saw Sheldon White House defeat Lincoln Chafee that year. So no doubt this is a major, major moment, even if a campaign was run effectively. This is this is how much how much does this weigh in the overall operation when you're thinking about this moment in time? Right.

Mike Raia 10:35

It don't, I mean, a good campaign, and this isn't just for electoral politics. This should be if you're thinking about your organizational PR, your organizational rollouts, your kind of lead uh leadership communications. You want to understand what is D-Day, what is the call to action day, and work backwards from there. And in an electoral campaign, it's really easy because you know what day voting closes and you work backwards from that. What Helena's campaign failed to do in 2022 was have a full appreciation for the opening of early voting. So they peaked after people started going to the polls and they started their closing message after people started going to the polls, because that closing message is what got people out to the onto election day and resulted in her winning election day the election day vote. Um some of that was in her control four years ago. That the team they they could have had a much more forceful and direct strategy of how to be able to start that closing message and and that direct engagement three uh a week and a half earlier than they did. Some of it was out of their control. And you remember WPRI decided to do their only debate three or four days after early voting had already started. And most conventional wisdom, and you take conventional wisdom with a grain of salt, but most conventional wisdom was that was the turning point in where that race was going. It was a three-way race. That was when it became pretty crystal clear that it was between Helena Folkes and Dan McKee. Um so knowing when is your closing period is incredibly important. And you work your strategy backwards from there. And we do this with our clients, whether it's um around their legislative priority, whether it's around a new initiative rollout, whether it's around their fundraising, um, sorry, whether it's around their fundraising calendars, is we look for those key dates of when they're going to need a constituency to respond. And we build a cadence and we build a a peak toward that so that we're able to be at our height when that audience is paying the most attention. And that's when we hit them with the ask, or that's when we hit them with the the piece of information that we need to be able to support the kind of policy change or the kind of donor action or the the the kind of thought leadership that our clients count on us to be able to do. So these type of skills or these type of things that we see on the campaign trail become things that corporate leaders or nonprofit leaders or or uh civic leaders can bring into their repertoire when they're thinking about the different initiatives that they're running.

Bill Bartholomew 13:33

Absolutely. Who when you look at the major candidates right now across all of the races, governor, mayor of Providence, even the down ballot stuff, if you will. Um who do you see as having an effective closing strategy right now? Of course, we won't know until the the the results are in, but right now, who do you see as hey, that's you're doing it the right way as currently constituted?

Mike Raia 13:55

Yeah. I mean, I think the c I think two stand out. Um one, I would I I would give Mayor Smiley good credit for the way that they've rolled out their closing. I mean, the mayor understands who his base is. He knows the the fact he knows he's got a real race, um, and he's taking his his opponent very seriously in that. And what he's chosen to do and and and what I think has come across really well is he has made the argument through the campaign of why he or how he is different than David Morales. Um and he's not apologized for those things where that difference comes in. Um and now that we're in that final three-week period, he did a very good shift. And I I think his closing ad is one of the strongest that we've seen in in Rhode Island right now, um, because it's about the the style of government and the the the authentic the authenticity that Mayor Smiley brings. And when I say authenticity, like everybody's authenticity is different. Like he is very clear in that like he is a pragmatist and a technocrat, and that is the style of leadership that he's bringing there, and he shows what it's been able to do for the city. So I think he's done a very good job on that front. Um the other one that I think is doing a good job, and I think this is a slightly different race because it's so, so wide open. Um, I think Saya has done a good job in in the lieutenant governor's race. Um no one has actually really stood out in that one to me going through. It's not the type of race that people are bloodying each other up or are trying to say, I'm better than this candidate because of these different reasons. So much of it is a here's my vision for this office that you don't necessarily understand. Um, but what he's been able to do in that closing argument that he's making is he shows Rhode Islanders themselves in much of what he has put out in either his television, in the radio that he he has, in the appearances that he's doing, um, and he's making his closing argument, kind of this mirror that he's holding up for the rest of the state to be able to see themselves in. And I think that he's done a really good job of making sure that he's got millennials and Gen Z right alongside seniors in all of his spots. He's got rural Rhode Island and and urban core. Um he's able to show the the kind of diverse kind of ideological support that he's been able to bring in as someone who can be someone that could masquerade or or or or be seen and have a credible conversation with progressives while also being part of the the this new establishment that is is coming about Rhode Island. So he's leaning into that part of the closing message, and I think he is bringing people along for it. I think he's got a i i it's uphill for him still. Um I I think that race is probably between him and the and and Lieutenant Governor Matos. Um but I I think in terms of what's being put out there, his his closing message has been um I'm I've been impressed by the way that they've had that kind of message consistency.

Bill Bartholomew 17:09

Okay. Well, um let's put you on the spot a little bit here. Let's do some Mike Rayer predictions. Here we go.

Mike Raia 17:15

Uh let's start with the governor's Let's So you're gonna hold me to this, I imagine, too, right?

Bill Bartholomew 17:21

We're gonna hold the Yeah, we'll get the sound effect that plays like the make-a-wish sound or the dream sound effect, and we'll go back to it. Here we go, the memory.

Mike Raia 17:28

Yeah, love it.

Bill Bartholomew 17:29

Love it, love it.

Mike Raia 17:30

So all right, starting with the governor's race. Um I I think this one is more on the I I think it's a foregone conclusion that that Dan McKee, and you look at the polls, you look at you know the sentiment, you look at the approval rating, um and everything else that comes with it. Um polls have been really, really tricky this cycle to get right. Um, but even if they're not necessarily right, you you can't be that far outside the margin of error. I I I see this race as just a total, total landslide. Um I think it's gonna be one of the biggest margins we've seen in a gubernatorial primary in Rhode Island in a while. Um I've got Helena 60, McKee 38. Wow.

Bill Bartholomew 18:14

Wow. He'll join the 38 club, the infamous Rhode Island Club.

Mike Raia 18:18

I think in some ways it's it's just so Rhode Island. Like it it it's it's the that there's that what are there's a reason why things just keep coming back to 38 in the state. And I do. I I think the I I I give validity to that UNH poll that that recently came out. Um and I I think that her ground game is gonna be stronger. And I think at the end of the day, people want to be with a winner. When the number is that or when all of the public accounting or all of the public data shows the number being that wide, it's very, very difficult for someone that is that far behind to get anybody on the fence to be able to come over to their side. So I think that what we're gonna see there, and and this may end up being lower turnout um in nonprovidence parts of the state, um, in part because the folks who who may have been on the fence for him might just say, you know what, screw it. I'm not even like it, it's my vote's not worth it. Um because we've seen now four or five consecutive polls where he's more than 15 points behind, um, which is is just insurmountable um in in in a timed sport.

Bill Bartholomew 19:32

All right. Mayor of Providence.

Mike Raia 19:36

Like I said before, I think Mayor Smiley is doing a good job at the closing. I think he has a tough race. I think he recognizes he has a tough race. Um I think it's gonna be Smiley 53, Morales 47. Um I think Mayor Smiley is gonna get himself a second term. Um and I'll give it with the caveat is I think that David Morales is the front runner for mayor in 2028. Or 20, I'm sorry, 2030.

Bill Bartholomew 20:01

2030. Very interesting. That one, of course, I mean, McDam McGowan and I were talking about this. All of these races are gonna be turnout driven, obviously, every race is, but it really feels like activation of new voters and activation of constituents uh that are already in lockstep with um, you know, that are already part of the base of the smiley base of the morale space. That's what it's all gonna come down to. There's no magic wand that's gonna be waved. No one's converting. It's just a matter of who votes.

Mike Raia 23:37

Exactly. And and in in this is the type of case where like we talk about money in politics and and is it good, is it bad? The reality around it is money in politics is not just ads on TV, it's organization, it's having people that are able to kind of work in a professional manner to be able to get them out to the polls, to be able to do those things that you do when you're in your closing argument period. Mayor Smiley is much, much better resourced. He he has a uh a proven ability to be able to mobilize that you know core group of support. Um, and I do think that he he's gonna come across the finish line. And and and I do think like credit to to Morales, I I think he has surprised many of us, myself included, um, and has proven to be much, much more formidable and and um substantive than he he initially let out. Um and I do think that if he does not prevail, um, and and and again, I think that Mayor Smiley will come out on top in this race, um, I think that he's someone that folks are gonna need to keep an eye on and and and pay attention to um and see how he uses the next four years um should he use it to plan a run for 2030.

Bill Bartholomew 24:57

Yeah, definitely somebody at 27. There's plenty of opportunity for him to continue to ascend if that's exactly where he wants to go. All right, let's take a look at I honestly the lieutenant. Governor's race, as you'd alluded to, it's so difficult to make sense of it because there's so many undecided, and you have a kind of a like use a two-way race at one level, but you could really make an argument it's a three-way race race. And I don't think Cindy Coyne is ready to give up at this point either, uh, nor Ross McCurdy. So what do you make of that one?

Mike Raia 25:26

I I think this is probably the hardest one to to predict. I do think that it's a two-way race in terms of who folks have the most awareness of between Cy and Matos. Um I certainly think Sue Anderbaugh is smart, is someone who brings ideas to the table, but I I think she struggled to get any much name recognition beyond beyond the the east side of Providence and some pockets of of progressive communities. Um I see that one. I I I mean, I could, I could, you could ask me in an hour and a half and I might change my mind on it. I think right now Saya is gonna win it with the I would probably say high 20s, low 30s. Um, and I think that Matos is gonna be about three points behind him. Um but again, I think if you call me tomorrow, I might flip that and and say that she comes out on top in with that same kind of sense.

Bill Bartholomew 26:23

All right. Lastly, attorney general, similar race, a little bit different though now, because there do seem to be two clear frontrunners, but those uh the other two, state representative Jason Knight and date and uh Joseph Solomon each have constituencies that are solidly their own. So again, it's kind of a it's kind of a weird one. What do you make of it?

Mike Raia 26:44

Right. That one, I think this one's kind of interesting because if it when it first shook out and when it was coming together, I honestly would have thought that Joe Solomon would have been able to do a better job of leaning into a centrist or center right lane as the law and order candidate and allow Kimmer Hearn and Keith Hoffman and Jason Knight to kind of battle amongst themselves for the the center left to progressive vote. Um, but what's happened is you've seen Kim and Keith kind of emerge as the the top part of that that ballot. Um and in many ways they're very similar in terms of policies. I think their experience is is incredibly different. And one is a uh someone who spent most of their career in the courtroom. They've worked for three different attorneys general, they've done the uh they they prosecuted cases, the other has been a top uh policy uh person for the attorney general who understands kind of the policy topics that the HE works on. Um I think this is a coin toss between Kim and Keith. I think Kim has, I I I ultimately think Kim is gonna be able to ride the coattails of Helena folks. And I think that there's a lot of crossover and support between those two candidates. Um I think when you look at some of the institutional backing that they that they share, I think when you look at some of their professional networks that they share, um, I think that Helena is gonna end up and I don't believe she's endorsed in that race in in any meaningful way. Um, but I think that the just general on the the the the makeup of where that base is is gonna bring Kim along. Um and and and frankly, I I I think that's gonna be the the the the right call for for Rhode Island in in you know my like to editorialize um on that. I I I think in that type of position, that prosecutorial that prosecutor's background is gonna be to benefit for Rhode Island and not for anything. How great would it be to potentially have three of our general officer roles filled by women in the the way that things are shaking out right now? There's few, if any, states that I can think of that would have that much uh women-run uh leadership in the um uh on the second floor of the Statehouse and in executive roles.

Bill Bartholomew 29:16

Yep, no question about it. Massachusetts in a way, but this would be a different also be a new slate and it would be something for the most part, obviously two of the three if it were women. So that alone could be just different energy. And I think some you you mentioned something earlier in the in the episode about Saiyan being a part of kind of a new wave of next generation leadership. I think there's something to watch for here is in terms of no matter what the case is, you have Sai, you have Sue Andrebois, you have Keith, uh Keith Hoffman, you have um obviously Kim Hearn. These are all people who are seasoned on the one hand and have that experience, and whether it be similar to you, Mike, where it's like you've got the you've got the experience that's real multi-administrations or multi-scenarios, very real world, in some cases crisis management, yet at the same time, you know, we're c we're all under what, 45 or something like that. So there's this there's this very interesting thing happening right now.

Mike Raia 30:13

Totally. And don't forget, you've got Chris Bosjewski in in the speaker's office, you've got the there's a in in some ways, I think that we're living through this shift in Rhode Island. And it's not just in politics. I think it's in civic organizations, I think it's in um the in the nonprofit sector, I think it's in the business sector, where we're moving away. And and I don't I don't say this in a kind of like um dismissive way. I think it's a natural evolution or a natural um kind of of pathway that a state would take. We're moving away from the sunlin era of leadership where these tentpole organizations were run by people or or leaders or individuals who either worked for or worked near the Sunlin or the Almond or the Chafee administr the Chafee One administrations. And there's this passing of the torch that is happening. And within that, there's still insider versus outsider. There's kind of old school democratic club versus kind of new kind of liberal slash progressive, but there is that kind of shift that is coming in, and there's an opportunity where these organizations are are handing off leadership to uh exennials and and to millennials that can cut their teeth in other parts uh or underneath other um political leadership. Um and I think that's gonna be a good thing for the state. And obviously, like when you look at the coaching tree of that sunlin time period, it filters through Charlie Fogarty, it filters through Lincoln Shapey, it filters through Gina Raimundo, it now filters through Dan McKee. But Sheldon Whitehouse, Sheldon, yep, exactly. But there is that real opportunity that we've got right now with people that were not born in the 40s and 50s ascending to certain positions. Um and and God knows, I'm I'm I'm hoping to God that that uh that that we continue to have Jack Reed's leadership in in Washington. I don't think that he's in trouble in in any way in his race. Um but it is gonna be nice to see some elected officials in from the 60s and the 70s and the 80s that are hitting the mark and that are ready to hit the ground running in the type of work that they're gonna go to.

Bill Bartholomew 32:43

I completely agree. And look, speaking as a millennial, I'll I'll add uh let's do a little bit of self-advocacy here as well. You know, 9-11 banking crisis, subprime crisis, the whole thing, completely shifting workforce, the you know, expectation shift, student loans, COVID, uh et cetera, et cetera. Teen Party, Trump. We know we have been through and have come of age through crisis. And that through that has come experience. And some of that has been applied in service or in private sector work. And it's time to tap into that. It's not just that it's our turn thing. It's a, hey, we kind of figured out the business. Thanks for the leadership. We're not saying replace here, but there is a moment where we need, and we're seeing it be effective in other places like New York, regardless of the politics. You can also see it in rural communities in in this country where younger generations taking over has proven as a track record of proven success in terms of economic development and strategy. Any final thoughts here as we head into what is going to be a very interesting day on Wednesday?

Mike Raia 33:50

I think it's gonna be fun. It's interesting to watch, and I think that there's gonna be a lot for us to talk about in terms of what the change landscape looks like after Wednesday.

Bill Bartholomew 33:58

All right, make sure that you head to halfstreetgroup.com for your own resources. Mike is right there to take your project to the next level, whether that be a nonprofit or a business of any kind. Uh, this is Inside Communications. By the way, I'll announce it here. Tune in on election night on Wednesday to WPRO. I'll be there hosting all evening. I'll have a variety of guests joining us and we'll bring you the results, of course. And then to Ocean State Media on the day after the election, 7 a.m., Jim Hummel and I will be there breaking down the results. So a lot coming up here on Bartholomewtown and beyond.