Socialism or pragmatism? Providence mayoral candidates present different visions in TV debate
PROVIDENCE — The two Democrats running for Providence mayor presented divergent visions for the city in a television debate taped Friday morning, as Mayor Brett Smiley defends his back-to-basics governing style against a left-wing challenger, state Representative David Morales, who wants to bring more-socialist ideas to the city.
The 30-minute debate, taped at WPRI 12’s East Providence studios, is slated to air Friday at 6:30 p.m. on WNAC-TV. It was moderated by reporters Tim White, Ted Nesi, and Alexandra Leslie.
It was the second head-to-head debate for the two primary candidates, who debated in the Globe’s Providence podcast studio in June. It was also the first time the candidates faced each other since Smiley aired an attack ad last week claiming Morales was going to defund the police, a position the 27-year-old state representative has abandoned.
Morales’s campaign also raised eyebrows in recent days after a fundraiser at a Brooklyn bar last week where one of his biggest progressive backers, Dan Denvir, said “David is going to turn Providence, Rhode Island into a laboratory for municipal socialism.” Morales was seen in a video clapping and nodding at the remark as supporters cheered. The fundraiser included politicians tied to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Smiley slammed Morales on social media, claiming he was going to “run experiments” with Providence residents as a “test case for a national movement to prove a point.”
In Friday’s debate, Morales downplayed the “laboratory” part of the remarks, but not the socialism.
“We will not be a laboratory of any sort,” Morales said. “We will not be conducting experiments. We’ll be making sure that we are delivering on the needs of working people all across our city.”
Afterwards, he told the Globe he thinks of socialism as “basic principles of fairness,” including preventing “price gouging” in the housing rental market, making improvements to public schools, and “having a city that all of our neighbors feel welcomed and safe in.”
“Mr. Morales is clearly the kind of politician who says one thing behind closed doors when he’s raising money out of state than he does to the people in the community that he’s hoping to serve,” Smiley said during the debate. “He is part of a national movement and not interested in actually solving problems for Providence residents, which is what I’m focused on.”
Nesi pointed out that a Gallup poll last year found support for socialism on the rise among Democrats, with 66 percent having a positive view of the ideology.
“I try to stay focused on pragmatic, real solutions for people in the city,” Smiley said, including public safety, improving schools, and building more housing.
“Most of those things are not ideological, they’re not part of the spectrum of socialism to capitalism,” he said. “Most of my constituents, what they want is for their trash to get picked up on time, their kid to be able to walk safely to school, things to not be quite so difficult.”
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Denvir, who made the laboratory comment, pointed to “socialist upsets” in New York and elsewhere as evidence that the left-wing movement is growing.
“If Providence elects David Morales mayor and maintains the socialist progressive majority on City Council, they will have the opportunity and the mandate to explore the best, most innovative policies and programs for our municipal government to address urgent crises that working-class people in this city face,” he said in an interview.
Smiley defended his attack ad about Morales, which is airing on local stations and streaming services. In it, a narrator says: “David Morales’s plan to defund the police will turn back the clock to a time when crime kept us up at night.”
“I stand behind everything in that ad,” Smiley said, noting that Morales was “active” at several rallies calling to defund the police.
“He’s been a state representative for six years and has had ample opportunities to correct the record,” Smiley said. “It’s only now that he’s running for mayor that he’s decided that he no longer believes that.” He said Morales should apologize to Providence police officers.
Morales said he made the comments about defunding police in 2021, after Providence police pepper sprayed children while breaking up a fight on Sayles Street. He didn’t specify exactly when his view on the matter changed, but said he has not called for defunding the police since 2021.
“I find it absolutely shameful that the mayor is resorting to desperate attacks that accuse me of wanting to defund the police, despite the fact that our comprehensive public safety plan does not make reference to that,” Morales said. “I’m committed to making sure that we have social services and case management readily available to all of our neighbors, especially those that are dealing with chronic homelessness, in addition to mental health distress.”
Smiley said Morales’s new public safety plan, which calls for restoring the job of public safety commissioner, teaming up with social service agencies, and prioritizing hiring police from Providence, is a “list of partnerships that we already have, programs we already do.”
Providence already gives priority to police officer candidates who live in the city. Smiley opted not to hire a public safety commissioner during his first term after the 2023 retirement of former commissioner Steven Paré (Smiley currently also serves as acting commissioner). Smiley did appoint a fire chief for the first time in eight years, a job that had been vacant during Paré’s tenure.
“What’s not in his public safety plan is any mention of getting illegal guns off the street,” Smiley said. “The only place that there’s a difference in that plan … is calling for the creation of a new six-figure publicly funded bureaucrat.”
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The candidates also debated education, rent control, and other topics.
Early voting starts Aug. 20, and the primary election is on Sept. 9.
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