Blue America has only endorsed 3 gubernatorial candidates for 2022 so far, two you know-- Beto in Texas and Stacey Abrams in Georgia-- and one you probably don't, Matt Brown in Rhode Island. Matt's campaign is integrally tied to Rhode Island's Co-Op movement, which seeks to elect a whole slate of progressives and change the way the state is governed, basically by corrupt conservative Democrats. Until Wednesday, 4 establishment Democrats were running against Brown-- current unelected Gov. Dan McKee, the former vice president of an oil company and three former investment bankers (State Treasurer Seth Magaziner, Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, and Helena Foulkes, a Mitch McConnell campaign donor. Each has accepted tens of thousands of dollars of corporate PAC money. Unlike the other 3, Magaziner was pretending to be vaguely progressive. On Wednesday he dropped out to run for the now open congressional seat that Jim Langevin is retiring from.
Because of he was able to raise massive amounts of shady cash, Magaziner was Brown's strongest opponent. (In theory, that cash can't be used for the federal race but corrupt politicians always find ways around that.)
Magaziner's run as a progressive-adjacent cadidate, taking vaguely progressive positions while remaining cozy with the conservative establishment, may have taken some liberal votes away from Brown, votes he is likely to get now since none of the remaining candidates can even pretend to be progressive. None of them support taxing the rich and none have any sympathy for ambitious climate actions or justice reform plans like the ones Brown has put forward. The other 3 are all cozy with corporate lobbyists who are helping fund their campaigns. Unlike those 3, Magaziner was muddying the water among low info voters with his progressive pretense despite his strong ties to the corporate establishment.
He claimed he was running for Governor "to build a stronger economy that will benefit all Rhode Islanders by moving past the old-style politics that have held our state back." The reality was substantially at odds with that. He once worked at the multi-billion dollar corrupt private equity firm founded by Gina Raimondo, Point Judith Capital, while he was getting his MBA from Yale. As Treasurer, he withheld information related to a secret agreement between the State of Rhode Island and Point Judith related to the investment of the pension fund.
He also worked at Trillium Assets, which he has tried painting as "a socially responsible investment firm with more than $1 billion of assets under management." True about the more than $1 billion in assets. Not trie about "socially responsible," Magaziner himself overseeing investments in the energy and financial sector (for a firm heavily invested in Chevron. In fact, as General Treasurer Magaziner also invested Rhode Island funds in the 3 biggest oil companies in the U.S.
With Magaziner gone from the race, Brown and his running mate, state Senator Cynthia Mendes, will continue pounding away at the issues that have motivated the whole Co-Op movement:
Affordable housing
• Ensure that all working families in Rhode Island can afford housing
• Extend the eviction moratorium throughout the pandemic
• Implement a utility shutoff moratorium throughout the pandemic
• Build 10,000 green affordable homes for working families
• Implement statewide rent control to ensure that rent increases do not exceed 4% annually
Healthcare for all
Quality education for all
Equal Justice for all
Democracy for all
A fair economy
• Help businesses recover from the pandemic
• Pass a $19 per hour minimum wage ($39,520 annually)
A Green New Deal
Pandemic protection
