U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.), left, campaigns with Rhode Island Sen. Walter Felag, a Warren Democrat seeking reelection to his District 10 seat, outside the Mary V. Quirk School in Warren on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 5, 2024. (Ken Castro/Rhode Island Current)
U.S. Rep Gabe Amo easily defeated his Republican challenger in Tuesday’s general election to win his first full term representing Rhode Island in the 1st Congressional District seat he won in last year’s special election.
The Associated Press called the race at 9:17 p.m. for the state’s first Black congressman, who had then secured 60.5% of the vote compared to 34% for his lesser funded Republican opponent Allen Waters, with 67% of the votes counted. Independent C.D. Reynolds had just 5.1%.
Polls closed at 8 p.m.
Amo, 36, had a significant campaign war chest — with over $1 million on hand — compared to Waters’ $4,355 for the filing period ending Sept. 30, according to quarterly federal campaign finance reports filed on Oct. 15.
The race featured no debates. The two candidates had previously squared off in 2023’s crowded Democratic primary for the seat Amo eventually won with a 30-percentage-point lead over Republican challenger Gerry Leonard Jr. Amo led the dozen-candidate primary with 32% of the vote. Waters captured just 1.3% — about 500 people in all — and was the third-lowest vote-getter.
Amo’s reelection also means he may potentially choose a new office space later in November. Because he had filled the unexpired term of his predecessor David Cicilline, who served from 2011 to 2023, Amo was assigned to Cicilline’s spot in the Rayburn House Office Building. But lawmakers retire or lose elections and leave offices vacant. More senior members choose first when the selection process for new offices opens up before members of Congress.
Cicilline resigned from the U.S. House to become president of the Rhode Island Foundation in 2023.
Amo started his day at 7:15 a.m. voting in person at Hope High School in Providence before heading to Temple Beth El on Orchard Avenue on the East Side, the first of at least a half dozen morning campaign stops in Providence, Woonsocket, Smithfield and Lincoln. His schedule was to take him to Warren, Barrington, East Providence and Pawtucket before returning to Providence.
“I will be hopping around polling places all over the 1st District today to thank people for participating in this really sacred opportunity for us to shape our nation,” he said.
Amo said he planned to talk to voters “till the last possible minute” before join with other Democrats across the state at the Graduate Hotel for an Election Night celebration in downtown Providence.
“I will certainly be tuned in to make sure that that if there’s any news that I’m that I’m up to date on it, and I’m hoping that we’re able to win the House and have Hakeem Jeffries as our next speaker, and have Kamala Harris be declared as our next president,” Amo added. “At some point, it may not be tonight, but at some point, before it’s all said and done.”
Waters did not release a schedule for the day. “I don’t have one,” he said when reached for comment in the early afternoon. “I will be quiet.”
The 1st Congressional District spans the eastern half of the state. Democrats make up 42% of the district’s registered voters while Republicans account for 12% and 45% are independent, according to the Rhode Island Secretary of State.
All 435 seats in the Republican-controlled House are up for grabs. About 40 tight races will play a pivotal role in determining the majority before the 119th Congress convenes on Jan. 3, 2025. The Cook Political Report’s recent findings suggest that Democrats are expected to snag up to 13 GOP-held seats, while the Republicans are likely to seize eight seats — leaving 22 tossup races and uncertainty over who will control Congress by January.
Waters, a fourth-generation Providence resident, switched parties back to Republican to run against Amo. Waters mounted unsuccessful bids as a Republican for U.S. Senate in 2020, and Congress in 2022. He works as a ride-share driver and substitute teacher. Prior to that, he spent 30-years as an investment consultant with firms like Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab, and TIAA-CREF.
Before running for Congress, Amo worked in the the Biden White House as a special assistant to the president and deputy director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, serving as a liaison for mayors and other local elected officials. He also worked under former Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo as a director of public engagement and community affairs.
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