Brown University political science professor Wendy Schiller can’t ever remember candidates for Rhode Island governor and lieutenant governor teaming up as though they were official running mates.
That’s in part because Rhode Island is one of 17 states where the governor and lieutenant governor cannot run on the same ticket.
But this election cycle is different.
Not just one but two pairs of Democratic candidates have established informal joint campaigns: Gov. Daniel J. McKee and Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, and former R.I. Secretary of State Matthew A. Brown and state Sen. Cynthia Mendes.
“This is the most aggressive teaming I’ve seen in 25 years in the governor’s race in Rhode Island,” Schiller said.
Matos regularly appears at McKee’s shoulder during news conferences and is frequently quoted in press releases issued from the governor’s office. Mendes joined Brown and other protesters in camping out for 16 days outside the Statehouse last December to call attention to homelessness as part of their progressive platform. And they’ve shared campaign money, too.
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As to why they’re choosing to run together, Brown, Mendes and Matos did not respond to requests for comment. McKee said he wants to continue working with Matos because “she is an experienced leader, and she has done a great job stepping up for our communities, especially veterans and minority communities.”
The strategy has key attractions, observers say, such as the potential benefit of drawing from a running mate’s popularity in certain communities – for McKee, Matos is a strong presence among the state’s growing Latino community, Schiller says, and among small-business owners.
“Sabina Matos can consolidate her power and popularity, and I think she would encourage people to vote for McKee, as well,” Schiller said.
Another attraction: establishing the basis for a productive working relationship.
“When the governor and lieutenant governor run as a team and are elected as a team, you avoid the possibility of a divided elective government,” Schiller said.
Rhode Islanders witnessed this issue in recent years, Schiller says.
When McKee served as lieutenant governor, he felt ignored and left out of policy decisions by then-Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, a fellow Democrat. The rift came to a head during the COVID-19 pandemic when McKee played no part in daily televised briefings or behind-the-scenes strategy sessions, and then he openly criticized the Raimondo administration on what he perceived as a lack of support for small businesses.
After McKee stepped into the governor role midterm in 2021 following Raimondo’s departure to become U.S. commerce secretary, he had the rare opportunity to appoint his own lieutenant governor and picked Matos.
John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, says he was surprised when McKee informally dubbed Matos his running mate at the start of this campaign, but Marion chalks it up to their unique relationship.
“Perhaps because he was able to choose her when he was elevated to governor, he feels compelled to run with her,” Marion said.
Like Schiller, Marion, who has led Common Cause since 2008, has also never witnessed candidates for governor and lieutenant governor teaming up as running mates.
Brown and Mendes have even received verbal approval from the R.I. Board of Elections to share financial resources. Their campaign finance reports are filled with records of reimbursements for various expenditures. McKee and Matos, meanwhile, have so far kept their finances separate.
But an official policy allowing candidates to run together on the ballot would benefit both candidates and voters, observers say.
Former Lt. Gov. Elizabeth H. Roberts, a Democrat who served in the role from 2007 to 2015, says voters feel the impact of a poor relationship between a governor and lieutenant governor. Roberts’ tenure as lieutenant governor overlapped part of the tenures of both Donald L. Carcieri, a Republican, and Lincoln D. Chafee, then an independent. She worked around those governors, in her first year as lieutenant governor releasing a report on the future of stem cell research in the state. Later, she assembled an advisory group on providing affordable health care to all Rhode Islanders.
Still, she would prefer teamwork in the executive branch.
“I think in the long run, it’s important that Rhode Island comes to have the governor and lieutenant governor serve together, having been elected on a ticket,” Roberts said. “It’s just as important that the governor and lieutenant governor have a way of working together effectively on behalf of the governed.”
Marion also notes that the strategy of running as unofficial running mates could backfire, with an unfavorable relationship between the governor and lieutenant governor if only one of the running mates wins their election.
“It could create an awkward situation if only one of the members of the ticket advances to the general election,” Marion said, “because likely, they’ll be paired with someone who was attacking their running mate.
“There’s also the possibility that the ticket decides to break up before the election,” he added, which could create further complications if the candidates were sharing finances.
Selecting a running mate also means taking on the risk that if one becomes involved in a scandal, the reputation of both can suffer, Schiller says.
But Schiller believes that making the governor and lieutenant governor part of the same ticket as running mates would improve the state’s governance.
“I think voters benefit when there’s a team,” she said.
