Providence councilor Sue AnderBois launches bid for R.I. lieutenant governor

Providence City Councilor Sue AnderBois formally kicked off her campaign for lieutenant governor Wednesday evening.

She joins a field that already includes Cindy Coyne, a former Democratic state senator who announced in June she would challenge current Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos’ candidacy.

AnderBois’ event at Providence’s Wild Colonial Tavern began about 20 minutes after its scheduled start time, because she was talking to people as they began pouring into the tavern around 6 p.m. AnderBois continued that thread of goodwill in her remarks, referring to those gathered as her “friends.”

“Friends, I don’t want to be cheesy,” AnderBois said, “We need leadership that not only has a bold vision, but also a real love for the nitty gritty details of getting things done and for the people who do it. We know that some of the best work comes from love and collaboration, not from fear and intimidation.”

Several dozen supporters gathered in the dark, stone-walled pub at the outer edge of Providence’s East Side to back AnderBois, who represents Ward 3 on the capital city’s council. Ward 3 includes the neighborhoods of Mount Hope, Collyer Park, Blackstone, and Hope, which is also known locally as Summit or Hope Village. 

Joining her at the podium were fellow City Councilor Justin Roias and state Rep. Megan Cotter of Exeter, who are both Democrats. 

“When I was first elected to the Providence City Council, I didn’t know Sue,” Roias said. “But I quickly got to know her well, mostly because she sat right next to me in the council chambers.”

“When one of our colleagues would say something — let’s just call it ‘unexpected’ — Sue and I mastered the art of nonverbal communication,” Roias continued, his comments drawing laughter from the crowd. “We would just exchange that look, the one that says, ‘What on earth did that person just say?’”

Roias said he has got to know AnderBois “beyond those shared side-eye moments,” and that his fellow councilor has taught him “something profound about…government.”

“She has a way of moving through this world, both practical and principled,” Roias said. “And to be honest, I’ve always wrestled with that tension.”

AnderBois was first elected to her City Council seat in November 2022, trouncing rival Michael Fink, an Independent, with nearly 87% of the vote. 

So far in her tenure representing Ward 3, AnderBois has led ordinances to ban gas-powered leaf blowers in the city and steered $5 million in federal and state funds toward safety improvements and repairs along North Main Street. She also led eco-friendly initiatives such as an ordinance that mandates select large buildings to report their energy usage, and a municipal law that strives for carbon-neutrality in all city-owned buildings by 2040. 

AnderBois currently serves as the Council’s deputy majority whip, and she chairs the North Main Street Task Force and Special Committee on Environment & Resiliency. Her day job is director of climate and energy in the northeast division of The Nature Conservancy, a global nonprofit.

“My mom likes to joke that I was born with a to-do list in my hand,” AnderBois told her supporters.

The Rhode Island Constitution prescribes that the Lieutenant Governor replace the governor if they should “die, remove from the state, refuse to serve; become insane, or be otherwise incapacitated.” This has happened only seven times since the Constitution’s ratification in 1842, according to 2021 analysis in the Boston Globe. 

The most recent lieutenant governor to seize the highest office is current Gov. Dan McKee, who took over for Gina Raimondo when she left to work under former president Joe Biden as commerce secretary. Before McKee, the last time a lieutenant governor assumed a vacant governor’s office was in 1951, when John S. McKiernan served for two weeks, after Gov. John Pastore left office early when he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

State general laws afford Rhode Island’s lieutenant governor some additional duties, such as chairing the Long-Term Care Coordinating Council, the Emergency Management Advisory Committee, and the Small Business Advocacy Council.

Roias acknowledged that the lieutenant governorship is not the flashiest state office, and he said it’s “notoriously seen as a lame duck position.” 

“But it doesn’t have to be in the right hands,” Roias said. “It can be a platform, a space, to push forward bold ideas, to challenge complacency and to make government actually work for people, and I believe Sue can do exactly that.”

The base salary for the job was $137,510 in the budgets for both fiscal year 2025 and 2026.

The lieutenant governor often gets involved in legislative advocacy as well. Current Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, for instance, has made fairer grocery prices a cornerstone of her legislative agenda since she was nominated by McKee and appointed by the Rhode Island Senate in 2021. Matos resigned from her role as president of the Providence City Council when she assumed the post of lieutenant governor. She held onto the position in the 2022 election.

No independent or Republican candidates have announced their candidacy as of Wednesday.

As of the latest filing on Sept. 30, Coyne’s campaign account trumped that of both her peers, with $69,457. Matos had $45,191 and AnderBois had $24,868.   

The primary will take place on Sept. 8, 2026, followed by the general election on Nov. 3, 2026.