PROVIDENCE – Progressive Democrat Matt Brown announced his candidacy in the 2022 gubernatorial election in a new campaign video released Wednesday.
In it, Brown says that Rhode Island is “run by the most corrupt political machine in America, they cut deals for their rich friends, left our schools crumbling, our people unable to afford health care or housing, and they’ve done next to nothing to address the climate crisis,”
Brown, a longtime activist for social, educational and environmental causes, previously served as R.I. secretary of state.
He ran against former Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, who now serves as the U.S. secretary of commerce, in the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary and lost.
In 1994 Brown co-founded City Year Rhode Island, a nonprofit that places young adults in high-need public schools for a year.
After serving as secretary of state from 2003 to 2007, he co-founded Global Zero, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit focused on ending worldwide nuclear proliferation. He left the organization this year to focus on his campaign.
A resident of Providence, Brown previously ran for U.S. Senate against Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, in 2006, but dropped out before the election and threw his support behind him.
In his announcement Wednesday, Brown said his focus as governor would be education, establishing a living wage, housing, health care and addressing climate change in the state, with a goal of Rhode Island attaining the country’s first 100% renewable energy-sourced grid.
Brown said he will not be accepting campaign funds from corporate PACS, corporate lobbyists or the fossil fuel industry.
Brown joins an already crowded field of Democrats, including R.I. Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, R.I. General Treasurer Seth Magaziner and Dr. Luis Daniel Muñoz.
Gov. Daniel J. McKee is also expected to run in 2022.
The election is set for Nov. 8, 2022.
