A former Providence mayor endorses Morales to take down the incumbent

When David Morales was elected to the State House in 2020, then-Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza called to congratulate him and invited the freshman lawmaker to meet the next day, offering advice about governing and public service. 

Six years later, Elorza formally endorsed Morales’ bid to unseat Providence Mayor Brett Smiley.

“If you’re a voter who knows we can and must have something better, if you want our city to head in a new direction, then David Morales is your candidate,” Elorza told reporters and Morales’ supporters gathered inside a restaurant in the city’s Silver Lake neighborhood Monday.

Elorza, who led Rhode Island’s capital city from 2015 to 2023, said he believes Morales is willing to challenge the status quo at a time when Democratic politics is in desperate need of change. The former mayor said party leadership has been stagnant and that he values new ideas, perspectives, people, and “frankly, a new generation.”

“And that’s exactly what David represents,” he said.

Since 2021, Morales has represented Providence’s House District 7 — which covers Providence’s Mount Pleasant, Valley, and Elmhurst neighborhoods. At the time he was elected, Morales was the youngest Latino state legislator in the nation.

Even after completing his third term on Smith Hill, the 27-year-old Morales is still the state’s youngest legislator.

Morales described Elorza as a mentor who has helped shape his approach to public service. He said their relationship grew through their work together, including securing state funding for Providence’s community libraries and passing legislation banning source-of-income discrimination against low-income housing voucher recipients.

“Between each of these initiatives and efforts that we fought for and delivered on, it was rooted in the belief that government should uplift and support the working people and families who call our city home,” Morales said.

The two also share a focus on making Providence more affordable.

Elorza, who has lived in the Silver Lake neighborhood for 20 years, said families like his could not possibly live in the city today.

“Cities such as Providence are more and more becoming homes only for the wealthy and well-connected elites,” he said.

Morales said creating a more affordable Providence starts with enacting a rent stabilization ordinance, which the City Council passed earlier this year before Smiley vetoed it. The proposal, which Elorza said he would have backed, sought to cap annual rent increases for certain properties at 4%.

Despite their shared focus on housing, Elorza and Morales do differ on education policy — particularly on charter school expansion.

Elorza, who now runs Democrats for Education Reform, has been a staunch supporter of expanding high-performing charter schools. Morales, who once worked for Achievement First, this year voted in support of a three-year moratorium on new charter school approvals across the state.

Morales defended his vote when asked by a reporter, arguing it provides stability as Providence regains control of its schools after seven years of direct state oversight.

“In this moment it’s critical to ensure that we’re supporting our existing charter schools while making sure that our traditional public schools are receiving the support that they’re going to need to head into the next academic year,” he said.

But it’s because of education policy that an organization headed by the co-chairman of Elorza’s transition team issued its own endorsement for Smiley Monday afternoon.

“Families and children in Providence need a leader who believes that access to a good education should not be a privilege and that families are a key partner in their children’s schooling,” Victor Capellan, founder and CEO of Collective Action for Education, said in a statement.

Smiley’s campaign pushed back against Elorza’s endorsement, arguing Morales represents a return to the challenges the city faced under the former mayor’s administration.

“We need to move forward, not backward, and Mayor Smiley is running to continue building on the substantial progress Providence has made over the past four years,” Josh Block, a spokesperson for Smiley’s campaign, said in an emailed statement.

Elorza doesn’t see his tenure that way.

“I left the city, in my humble opinion, in perhaps the best shape that a mayor had inherited in over 50 years,” he said.

Matthew Ulricksen, an associate professor of political science at the Community College of Rhode Island, found Elorza’s endorsement of the insurgent Morales somewhat puzzling. Morales in May was endorsed by progressive U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“If you’re trying to paint yourself as this outsider trying to come in and shake the system up, it’s not very revolutionary then to be endorsed by the establishment,” he said.

Ulricksen said it’s possible Elorza’s endorsement could sway some undecided voters to give Morales a second look, but the former mayor’s backing will only go so far if the campaign continues to avoid advertising.

“Money is the mother’s milk of politics,” he said. “If you don’t have money, it’s harder to communicate your message.”

Morales ended the second-quarter with a little over $125,000 in his campaign account. Smiley had over $1.2 million on hand at the end of June, which has allowed his campaign to dominate Rhode Island’s airwaves.

Filings made with the Federal Communications Commission shows Smiley has purchased over $411,000 worth of ad time since his first ad debuted July 9.

Morales said in an interview after the press conference he has no plans to air ads on television, instead sticking to investments in digital communications, mailers, and door knocking.

“While the mayor and his consultants can continue to waste their money, we will not,” he said.

Early voting begins Aug. 20 ahead of the Sept. 9 primary.