David Cicilline, my current Congressman and former Mayor of Providence, has been a frequent topic here for the past two years, ever since he stole the 2010 congressional race by covering up and being “untruthful” (the Providence Journal’s word) about the dismal state of Providence’s finances.
Last week I posted an internal poll on behalf of Republican challenger Brendan Doherty, showing Doherty had collapsed Cicilline’s lead and was 6 points ahead.
Yesterday a public poll was released by a local television station showing Cicilline up by 1 point:
Democratic Congressman David Cicilline is clinging to a wafer-thin lead over Republican challenger Brendan Doherty with just a week to go before voters head to the polls, according to an exclusive WPRI 12 poll released Tuesday night.The new survey of 300 likely voters in Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District shows Cicilline at 43%, Doherty at 42% and independent David Vogel at 6%, with 8% of voters undecided. Doherty has slashed Cicilline’s lead from six points to just one since the previous WPRI 12 poll a month ago.”That lead has evaporated,” WPRI 12 political analyst Joe Fleming said. “Right now the race for Congress is a dead heat. … It looks like it’s coming down to the 8% undecided voters who will make a decision in this race come Nov. 6th.””Traditionally undecided voters tend to go toward the challenger, so that would be a plus for Brendan Doherty at this point,” Fleming said. “But again it’s a very Democratic district, and because it’s a Democratic district you really are not that sure.” In 2010, Cicilline defeated Republican John Loughlin 51% to 45%.
Doherty has fought himself back into contention with a wave of negative ads (i.e., ads telling the truth about Cicilline), but for his closing statement is going warm and fuzzy, while reminding voters that character matters:
All of the Operation Counterweight races are important, including the Good Guy versus Fake Indian race, but this one has special importance to me.
For the first time in my adult life, I want to have a Congressman I can be proud of.
You can donate to Doherty here.
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