They say familiarity breeds contempt. To wit: Cranston Mayor Ken Hopkins and Rep. Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung – once political allies and friends, but now rivals in a fiery race that is arguably Rhode Island’s hottest primary day contest this year.
The two have spared little ammo in their verbal barrages on each other ahead of the city’s GOP primary on Tuesday. Things have obviously changed since 2020, when Hopkins’ mayoral campaign had the endorsement of Allan Fung – the office’s predecessor and Fenton-Fung’s husband.
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Most recently, a lawsuit that alleged Hopkins essentially drove away with a 1975 Morris Garage MGB Anniversary Edition and has yet to pay for or return the sports car to its owner. The lawsuit was first reported by the Boston Globe and Hummel Report. Hopkins has mantained he had a verbal agreement involving the ownership of the car and told the Globe the car story was a “prop” orchestrated for Fenton-Fung’s campaign, adding that the lawsuit is “meritless.” The story has even received national coverage on Jalopnik, a popular car news site.
Fenton-Fung has called for the R.I. State Police and the state’s Attorney General to investigate.
Whoever drives across the finish line Tuesday, the victor in the GOP primary will go on to face Democratic challenger and current City Councilor Robert Ferri [who was also a Republican as recently as 2020].
Fenton-Fung has chosen not to seek reelection to her District 15 seat representing western Cranston in the Rhode Island General Assembly in hopes of unseating Hopkins.
Hopkins has trained his rhetorical crosshairs on Fenton-Fung’s voting record at the Statehouse, where she has clung to the national party line about half the time. According to the Conservative Political Action Conference, which rates legislators on how closely their votes adhere to conservative priorities, Fenton-Fung scored about 47 out of 100 over the past three years. Her conservative cred dropped 23% from 2022 to 2023, in CPAC’s evaluation.
“Her record at the General Assembly is not one that Cranston should be happy with,” Robert Murray, a spokesperson for Hopkins’ campaign, said in a recent interview, citing a mailer that alerted voters to Fenton-Fung’s support of two bills that made it easier for undocumented students to pay in-state tuition or attend Community College of Rhode Island. [Neither bill explicitly gave undocumented students free rides, however.]
Hopkins also received the endorsement of Cranston’s Republican Party, which reaffirmed its “unwavering support” for Hopkins in a press release Sept. 5.
Fenton-Fung, meanwhile, has consistently painted the Hopkins administration as an exercise in failed policies and deceit.
“I also think it’s insulting to people in Cranston that he thinks they’re stupid enough to buy his lies,” Fenton-Fung told Rhode Island Current after an Aug. 26 debate at Cranston Public Library. “People in Cranston are very invested in their city. They work really hard.”
Hopkins’ war chest has the edge over Fenton-Fung’s. Total cash on hand for Hopkins’ campaign was $166,733 as of Monday, Sept. 2. Fenton-Fung’s campaign had $107,382.
A lighter wallet has not proven a problem for Fenton-Fung in the past, however. In 2020, she ousted former House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, spending only $70,000, compared to the Democratic incumbent’s $340,000 in expenditures.
Fenton-Fung and her husband plan to vote at around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday at Hope Highlands Middle School on Hope Road. Her watch party for the election results that night will be at Asia Grille in Garden City.
Hopkins’ appearances for primary day weren’t set as of Friday, but he and his supporters will gather Tuesday night at St. Mary’s Feast Society’s hall to watch the results.
Polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Alexander Castro is a staff writer for the Rhode Island Current.
