Former White House aide Gabe Amo won a crowded Democratic primary for an open House seat in Rhode Island Tuesday. He is poised to make history as the first Black member of Congress from Rhode Island.
Amo had 32 percent of the vote to J. Aaron Regunberg’s 25 percent and Sandra Cano’s 14 percent with 99 percent of the estimated vote counted. Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, the only statewide officeholder on the ballot, was widely viewed as the front-runner but was running fourth, with eight other candidates dividing the rest. The Associated Press called the race at 8:36 p.m.
Amo will face Republican nominee Gerry Leonard on Nov. 7 to fill the seat vacated by Democratic Rep. David Cicilline, who resigned earlier this year to lead a Providence-based nonprofit. The GOP hasn’t held the seat in nearly three decades, and in 2020 President Joe Biden won nearly 64 percent of the vote in the 1st District, which includes most of Providence and runs along the state’s eastern coast.
