Providence Could Be the Next City to Fall to Democratic Socialism

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley is fighting to keep his job against a Democratic Socialist challenger in Wednesday’s primary, a race that has drawn national attention for its echoes of Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City last year.

State Rep. David Morales, 27, has built his campaign around rent stabilization, increased public transit funding, and a broader progressive overhaul of city government. Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed Morales earlier this year, and Morales has drawn financial and political support from members of New York’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter.

No independent public polling has been released on the race. Two polls conducted over the summer by Concord Public Opinion Partners, commissioned by a group led by former Mayor Jorge Elorza, who is backing Morales, showed Smiley up 4 points in July and Morales up 10 in August.

The candidates have repeatedly clashed over how far Morales would push the city to the left. At a New York fundraiser in July, one of Morales’s supporters told the crowd that Providence would become “a laboratory for municipal socialism” under his administration, and video captured Morales applauding the remark. Days later, when a debate moderator pressed him directly on whether he wanted Providence to be “a laboratory for municipal socialism,” Morales said, “We will not be a laboratory of any sort.”

Smiley, mayor since 2023, is running on his record on housing construction and government efficiency, and has run ads warning that Morales would defund the police, a position Morales has said he no longer holds. GoLocal Prov endorsed Smiley for a second term on Tuesday.

If Smiley loses, he would be the first sitting Providence mayor to fail to win renomination. Polls are open Wednesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.