Projo Politics Blog

PROVIDENCE -- Rhode Island Republicans are looking for a new party leader.

There's no salary, not many candidates to oversee and lots of money that needs to be raised. Political observers say the job can be a tough sell in one of the most heavily Democratic states in the nation.

The job's open because Patricia Morgan, the state's Republican chairwoman, is stepping down after a rough year. The GOP lost a seat in the General Assembly, saw an incumbent U.S. senator defeated and nearly saw its Republican governor toppled.

Republican candidates say they're looking for a chairperson who can groom potential candidates and unify a party still divided by a bitter U.S. Senate primary.

Several Republicans who ran for office this year say they don't want the job - mostly so they could run again. Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian, just re-elected to a second term, isn't interested. Neither is Sue Stenhouse, who lost her race for secretary of state, or Allan Fung, who lost a close race to replace Laffey as Cranston mayor.

All three said they wanted a chairman who could instill organization, raise money and groom the next generation.

One early candidate, Barrington attorney Giovanni Cicione, has Morgan's support. He has young children, says he isn't interested in running for office and oversaw the party's legal team during the last election.

"Rhode Island's Republican party is too small to be divided," he said. "If we're going to make serious gains, it's something we're going to do together."

-- The Associated Press

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