(Updated 3:40 p.m.)
Unofficial election results show that House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello lost his District 15 seat in Cranston by 147 votes to Republican challenger Steven Frias, but media outlets are reporting that he is saying he won.
The results show Mattiello lost, 47.5 percent to Frias’ 49.8 percent, or 3,150 to 3,297. Independent Patrick Vallier received 2.6 percent, or 172 votes.
Mattiello maintains he won the seat, and declared his victory early Tuesday night, according to WJAR-TV NBC 10.
The television station reported that Mattiello says his victory will be backed up by absentee ballots which have not yet been certified.
His spokeswoman, Patti Doyle, said Wednesday, “We are confident the absentee ballots give the speaker the majority.”
Mattiello was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2006, and served as the House Majority Leader from 2010 until his election as speaker in 2014.
In other news, Democrat David N. Cicilline hung on to his District 1 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives with 64.2 percent of the vote, fending off a challenge from Republican Harold Russell Taub, who received 35.4 percent.
U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin, a Democrat, was re-elected to District 2 with 57.7 percent of the vote, compared with Republican challenger Rhue R. Reis’s 31 percent.
Cranston Mayor Allan W. Fung, a Republican, cruised to re-election with 68.3 percent of the vote, or 22,513 votes, compared with Democratic challenger Michael J. Sepe’s 31.4 percent, or 10,347 votes.
Warwick’s Republican Mayor Scott Avedisian also was re-elected, garnering 24,300 votes, or 64.4 percent, to Democratic challenger Richard C. Corrente’s 13,278, or 35.2 percent.
Donald R. Grebien coasted to another victory in the Pawtucket mayoral race with 13,444 votes, or 74.5 percent, to John T. Arcaro’s 4,492, or 24.9 percent.
Lisa Baldelli-Hunt beat out Roger G. Jalette Sr. to be re-elected as Woonsocket’s mayor 7,454 to 3,673, or 66.5 percent to 32.8 percent.
In Central Falls, Mayor James A. Diossa was re-elected, defeating Tia Ristaino-Siegel, 3,135 to 420, or 88 percent to 11.8 percent.
Democrat Hillary Clinton took Rhode Island in the presidential election with 53.8 percent of the vote, versus President-elect Donald Trump’s 39.5 percent on Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the R.I. Board of Elections.
Trump, a Republican, won the majority of electoral votes at 289 compared with 218 for Clinton to be declared president, according to CNN.
In the Ocean State, third-party candidates, Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein won 3.2 percent and 1.4 percent of the vote, respectively.
Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, who campaigned for Clinton in New Hampshire, released a statement about the presidential election results:
“The long campaign is over and now it is time to begin the necessary work to unite our nation. My top priority is positioning Rhode Island for success. The people of Rhode Island expect and deserve that we continue working together to create jobs, grow our economy and move our state and our nation forward,” Raimondo said.
Mattiello is one arrogant dirty player and represents what the people of district 15 voted against when they chose Steve Frias to be the winner of their district by 147 votes. And yet scum-speaker mattiello claimed victory when he is behind. What does that tell you? Why did he have to usurp the title of being victorious? Why didn’t he just wait for the outcome of the mail-in ballots? Instead he celebrates at the Oaklawn Grange one of his legislative grants by the way.
It is an insult to Frias who currently leads by 147 votes. If anyone could have claimed victory and say he was the winner and should have, it was Steve Frias. But he didn’t. He stayed the class act that he is.
But Mattiello showed his crassness, reminding district 15 voters that he represents what they don’t want & rejected. District 15 voters spoke. It was Frias they wanted.
Mattiello needs continuation of GA malfeasance so he took control saying he won. Backroom dealings will continue. He will have “business as usual” at the state house. There will be no interruption of the murphy-mattiello regime which stands to lose millions of dollars of secret house dealings if Mattiello’s gone and so rigged dirty politics come into play.