Old frustrations bring a new challenger in Pawtucket’s Senate District 8

Editor’s note: This is the third in a six-part series on state legislative races, chosen based on expected competitiveness between candidates and relevant issues to the district. Of the 113 seats in the Rhode Island General Assembly, all of which are elected every two years, 22 have primaries in September.

Two familiar faces in the Rhode Island General Assembly are on the ballot for Pawtucket’s Senate District 8 Democratic primary.

Sen. Lori Urso, a first-term incumbent, has recognition beyond Smith Hill thanks to her appearance in an episode of the “Real Housewives of Rhode Island,” where she and Rep. Karen Alzate discussed their first-in-the-nation legislation offering workplace protections for menopause. 

Gena Felix, her challenger, has never run for or held elected office. But Felix’s identical twin sister, Leonela Felix, has served in the House representing Pawtucket’s District 61 since 2020.

Gena Felix, 38 and the older twin by two minutes, never aspired to political office. But she was frustrated with the 2024 election process for the seat. Urso was appointed by the Rhode Island Democratic Party as the party nominee in a post-primary scramble to fill the general election ballot opening after Sen. Sandra Cano abruptly withdrew from the race.

“There wasn’t a choice at all,” Felix said of the 2024 nomination process. “Pawtucket voters deserve a choice on who gets to represent them in the seat.”

Urso, 61, defended her nomination, which was affirmed by the state elections board, and still required her to defeat independent candidate Cathyann Palocsik to win the seat. Urso was also endorsed by the Senate District 8 Democratic Committee this year.

“I believe the work that I have done in the Senate has proven I was a very good choice for the seat,” Urso said.

Beyond her reality TV-worthy work on workplace protections for menopause, Urso also touts her work on newly signed laws authorizing certified foot care nurses to provide home treatment and establishing patient privacy protections for use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. Drawing inspiration from her day job as CEO and president of the Old Slater Mill Association, Urso also led the creation of the Main Street Rhode Island pilot program to boost development in 10 municipalities, including Pawtucket.

Felix, one of four first-time state legislative candidates backed by the Rhode Island Working Families Party, did not have any criticisms for Urso’s policy priorities.

But she believes she could bring a different, and valuable perspective to the seat, where more than 25% of the population identifies as Hispanic or Latinx, more than one-third speak a language other than English, and one-fifth of households receive federal food assistance. 

“All that I’ve been through, that gives me a perspective where I can represent a lot of people,” said Felix, the daughter of Dominican immigrants and a first-generation college student. 

For Felix, who is currently studying for a degree to become a family nurse practitioner, fairness lies at the heart of her platform: access to affordable healthcare, childcare and quality education should not be determined by wealth, she said. 

She named higher reimbursement rates for healthcare providers and eliminating late payment charges and other “junk fees” charged by Rhode Island Energy as policies she hoped to work on if elected.

Urso also has a long to-do list if re-elected that includes building on her menopause workplace protection law to require insurers to cover a variety of hormone replacement therapies for people experiencing menopause. The Senate approved the bill in June, but it failed to advance in the House. Another measure Urso wants to bring back for a second try would make it easier for people previously approved for opioid use withdrawal medication like methadone and suboxone to resume treatment. 

Urso declined to speak on the distinctions between her and Felix, who she said she has not “had a deep conversation with.”

“We’re both Democrats who care about the community,” Urso said.

Felix voiced support for the assault-style weapons sale ban signed into law in 2025, which Urso also voted for. Likewise, they each support the millionaire’s tax included in the fiscal 2027 budget and a three-year moratorium on new charter schools. Rep. Leonela Felix voted against the charter school ban in the House.

The winner of the District 8 Democratic primary will be unopposed in the Nov. 3 general election.