U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, left, is seen during the taping of a debate with his Republican challenger, Patricia Morgan, at WPRI-12’s studios in East Providence. (James Bartone/WPRI-TV)
Republican Patricia Morgan was chatty before taping a debate with her incumbent Democratic rival, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, at the WPRI-12 studio in East Providence.
Morgan arrived at the studio before Whitehouse and left after him. She small-talked with the debate’s moderators and reminisced about campaign seasons past with one of the two reporters seated in foldout chairs at the perimeter of the filming area.
But when the cameras came on, Morgan was done playing nice.
“You can’t keep spending money on stupid things,” Morgan said when discussing Whitehouse’s support of electric vehicle subsidies.
That was one of a few barbs in a pre-taped debate that ran a little under a half hour between the state representative from West Warwick and the three-term incumbent she is trying to unseat.Target 12 reporters Tim White and Ted Nesi were on moderator duty for the debate set to air at 7 p.m. Friday on Fox Providence. It will also air again at 5:30 a.m. Sunday on WPRI and 10 a.m. on Fox Providence. You can also watch the debate online.
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Whitehouse has far more resources at his disposal than his Republican challenger does.
The junior senator sat atop a $2.8 million cash pile as of Sept. 30, the most recent federal campaign finance reporting deadline. That’s after nearly $3 million in donations received from Aug. 22 to Sept. 30, alongside $1.2 million in campaign expenses. Whitehouse does not have any personal loans to his campaign.
By contrast, Morgan reported more than $21,400 donations in the same time frame, spending $46,800 on her campaign. She ended the reporting period with just over $119,000 cash on hand, including a $28,500 personal loan.
Morgan previously faced a series of warnings, and threat of a federal audit, for running afoul of federal campaign finance laws in previous filings. However, she has since resubmitted the delinquent filings with corrected information, and no new warnings appear in her federal campaign finance page as of Friday, Oct. 18.
Paying for the Washington Bridge
The television debate alternated between local and national, but started with everyone’s favorite lament: the Washington Bridge. Whitehouse helped secure all of the roughly $220 million in federal grant funding Rhode Island wanted to rebuild the westbound bridge. Morgan has previously criticized Whitehouse for not immediately getting the full funding, which came in two buckets, the second one announced Wednesday.
“I think an election really sharpens politicians’ attention to their constituents,” Morgan said, arguing there should be more oversight for the bridge project.
“$220 million in federal grants — that’s not a bad number, when you consider that we don’t even have contracts yet,” Whitehouse said.
That gave an in for moderator White who acknowledged the lack of contracts and wondered what blame should be directed at the Rhode Island Department of Transportation and its much-criticized handling of the debacle. Asked White: Should Peter Alviti Jr., the transportation department’s director, be fired?
“I’m not gonna be a critiquer of the state,” Whitehouse said. “My job and my role is to make sure that the state has the funding that it needs.”
“With all that federal funding, you want to be hands off?” White asked.
Whitehouse said there’s “plenty of oversight” from the federal transportation officials who will manage the funding, and that the Rhode Island General Assembly and Gov. Dan McKee will “sort out the rest of it.”
“I have plenty of other things to do,” Whitehouse added. He then pivoted to gratitude, and thanked the moderators and his opponent for the opportunity to debate.
White passed the question to Morgan: Should Alviti stay or go?
“He should be fired. He should’ve been fired in 2015 as far as I’m concerned,” Morgan said.
The debate area at WPRI, seen from the sidelines. (Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
Morgan on 2020 Election: ‘No, he lost’
The two candidates were worlds apart on national issues, like Supreme Court reform or the existence of the Senate filibuster. Morgan accused Whitehouse of wanting to pack the Supreme Court with “toadies” who would obediently “enact all of [Democrats’] prized legislation.”
Whitehouse called the Senate’s quorum call rule that allows one member of the minority party to stop action on the Senate floor until the majority party can bring in 50 members “arcane.”
“I think we can have the old filibuster rule back in which the minority party gets to talk itself out for as long as the rules permit, but this business of shutting down the Senate to give the minority party a veto, and stop things that are going forward, I don’t think makes any sense,” Whitehouse said.
“He wants to shut down real conversation,” Morgan said. Later, she criticized Whitehouse’s support of offshore wind because “it really helps his wife.” Sandra Whitehouse is a scientist and ocean policy adviser.
Whitehouse reached for his coffee cup beneath the podium — a contrast to his composure throughout the debate as he stared into the massive Hitachi camera across from him. He was especially fluent earlier when discussing people who are “justifiably angry” over taxes, weaving his argument into a defense of Social Security.
Social Security’s impending loss of full benefits — from 100% to 75% by 2035 — prompted Nesi to ask Whitehouse about a bill he proposed that would raise taxes on people making over $400,000 annually to fund the program.
“Do you have any concern about how, say, a 42% top rate on capital gains might harm the economy?” Nesi asked.
“Our tax code right now is not fair,” Whitehouse said. “It is not fair when billionaires pay lower tax rates than school teachers. It is not fair when companies get rewarded by the tax code for moving offshore and moving jobs offshore. So there is plenty of room to maneuver within the tax code in order to perform an essential service like that.”
Two slivers of agreement emerged between the candidates: Neither supports legalization of cannabis at the federal level. And yes, both candidates believe that former President Donald Trump lost his bid for reelection in 2020.
“Yes, he did,” Morgan said. “Obviously, the Biden-Harris administration has been in charge for the last four years, destroying our economy.”
“So you do not agree then with some of the farther out claims that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance at the top of your ticket are making about that election?” Nesi asked.
“No, he lost,” Morgan reaffirmed.
Whitehouse was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, and previously served as Rhode Island Attorney General. Morgan chose not to seek reelection to her House District 26 seat representing parts of West Warwick, Coventry and Warwick, in which she has served since 2020 and previously 2011 to 2018.
The general election is Nov. 5. Early voting continues through 4 p.m. on Nov. 4..
Senior Reporter Nancy Lavin contributed to this story.
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