Mission impossible? Young progressive takes on Jack Reed in Democratic primary

The woman still in her pajamas sized up the man in a black jacket and blue jeans holding a clipboard at her door in Providence’s Smith Hill one rainy Saturday in May. He had just told her he’s running for U.S. Senate.

As Connor Burbridge outlined a platform of taxing billionaires and support for universal healthcare, she cut him off with one question.

“Who are you kicking out?”

“It would be Sen. Reed in the primary,” the 31-year-old first time office seeker replied.

The woman stepped back and placed her hand over her heart. Then she mouthed the four words that continue to pierce Burbridge’s insurgent campaign in the Sept. 9 Democratic primary.

“I love Jack Reed.”

Recent polls show the majority of Rhode Island voters feel the same way about the state’s senior U.S. senator, who was first elected to his seat in 1996. 

A survey published Aug. 17 by the Pell Center at Salve Regina University showed Reed with 61% of likely primary voters backing the incumbent’s bid for a sixth term. A poll by the University of New Hampshire in July found Reed  “comfortably leads” his competitor with 63% support among likely voters.

Burbridge had support from only 12% of likely voters while a third Democratic contender, Dr. Luis Daniel Muñoz, saw 4% in the Pell Center poll.

“I don’t think this race is likely to turn out in any way other than what we expect,” Adam Myers, an associate professor of political science at Providence College, said in an interview. “Reed would have to have some really bad headlines or make some major snafu for this to change.”

Reed can barely make it through a public event without someone stopping him to take a photo with him, or chat about how his work in Washington D.C. has benefited the community. At 76 years old, he is running for his sixth term and shows no signs of slowing down while racking up endorsements from his party, influential unions, environmental groups and the defense industry. A national poll found Reed’s approval rating put him in the top 10 among the country’s 100 U.S. senators. The son of a Cranston school janitor who went on to graduate from West Point and serve as a U.S. Army paratrooper, Reed has been a leading voice against the war in Iran while continuing to bring in federal dollars for Rhode Island.

Take the recent Wednesday when Reed attended a boat christening in South Kingstown for a new harbor patrol vessel funded almost entirely with $500,000 in federal money.

“They may have the Independent Man on top of the State House, but we have the indispensable man here,” Michael Marran, vice president of the South Kingstown Town Council, told a small crowd gathered at the Ram Point Marina.

Burbridge knows it’s an uphill battle to take down someone with Reed’s political stature. In an election year where progressive insurgencies have led to establishment defeats, however, he sees a chance to bring his perspective to Congress.

It’s the very message Burbridge pitched on the steps of the woman who answered her door.

“I have a lot of respect for Sen. Reed,” he told the woman. “But it’s time for a new generation of leaders to step up.”

Progressive plan

Burbridge was born in 1995, the year before Reed first won his U.S. Senate seat with 63% of the vote in the November election. 

A New Jersey native, Burbridge moved to Rhode Island in 2020 after receiving his master’s degree in environmental policy at Lehigh University in eastern Pennsylvania. He paid his way through school by joining the U.S. Army’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program. 

Burbridge served five years as a battalion human resources officer in the Army Reserve, helping to plan war game scenarios. These days, he works as a grant writer for a nonprofit nursing home in East Providence, along with co-running a small tree nursery in Smithfield.

He said he was drawn to elder care in part because of a close relationship with his grandparents, particularly his grandfather who served in the Navy during World War II.

“He lived through the Great Depression, and then the New Deal — we talked about that a lot,” Burbridge said.

That connection with his grandfather helped shape Burbridge’s political identity. He describes himself as a New Deal Democrat, viewing the economic programs, public works projects and financial reforms of the 1930s as the blueprint for shaping America’s future.

Burbridge’s own platform calls for sweeping programs such as universal long-term care, a national wealth fund funded by taxes on billionaires, public ownership of electric utilities, corporate limits on housing and a constitutional right to equal education.

“We have an opportunity right now to realign the political landscape in that way that will win the trust of working class voters for a generation, and ultimately build a durable national majority that is long-lasting,” he said.

Burbridge is active on social media, his primary medium of getting his message across when he and his team of volunteers are not out canvassing the state. He points to online political streamers, podcasters and YouTubers — from Hasan Piker to the progressive channel the Majority Report — as the kind of platforms Democrats must use if they want to reach more voters.

“We need strong communicators who are willing to go wherever people are getting their news from,” he said. “It’s not just MSNBC anymore or CNN.”

Muñoz, 41, is a Central Falls native and medical school graduate who has worked as a technology consultant and ran for governor in 2018 and 2022. He said in an emailed statement to Rhode Island Current that he’s running for the U.S. Senate because too many of the issues facing Rhode Islanders — from health care and housing to climate change and corporate power — are shaped at the federal level. 

“The affordability crisis, signs of fascism, genocide in Gaza, war in Iran, and a weakening economy compelled me to stand up, and run for better tomorrows,” Muñoz said. “All children deserve a future, and I am committed to fighting for one that does not include complicity in genocide, endless wars, or fascism.”

Elder statesman

Reed turns 77 nine days after the Nov. 3 general election. He’d be 83 by the time a sixth term ends in 2033. But the longtime senator argues age is less important than his work ethic.

“I try very hard to pay attention to what’s happening in the world and to the new and threatening issues we’re facing,” Reed said during an interview when he stopped at Shanya’s Place in Wickford Village. The interview was interrupted twice, each time one of the cafe’s co-owners greeted him.

Among the threats Reed is most concerned about: artificial intelligence (AI), which he said is “going to reshape the country and the world.” 

In June, Reed and Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware introduced legislation that would establish guidelines on how the Department of Defense acquires, tests and uses AI-enabled autonomous weapon systems. Reed said the U.S. also needs to engage China, Russia, and others to set shared rules on AI, comparing it to Cold War-era negotiations over nuclear weapons.

Reed also pointed to his constant engagement with Rhode Islanders as another reason voters should give him another term in Congress. 

With the Senate on recess until mid-September, his schedule on Aug. 19 started with an 8:30 a.m. breakfast in Jamestown with a candidate for local office. Then he headed to Woonsocket to join Head Start advocates to raise the alarm on proposed Trump administration rules that would transfer many of the federal standards and decision-making governing the early education programs over to the states.

Next Reed was off to South Kingstown for the boat christening, followed by the stop at Shayna’s Place at 2:30 p.m. before returning to his Cranston office. His day ended with a 9:25 p.m. CNN appearance in Providence and finally returning to his home in Jamestown a little after 10 p.m.

And that workload “was probably a lighter day than most,” campaign and Senate office spokesperson Benjamin Craig wrote in an email to Rhode Island Current.  

“Some days it’s 7 a.m. to late at night,” Craig wrote. “Some days it’s a slew of public events into the evening.”

The ‘quiet dealmaker,’ outspoken on military affairs

The ever soft-spoken Reed has never been one to seek the spotlight. The New York Times in 2008 called him a “quiet dealmaker” respected by both Democrats and Republicans.

But that same piece notes where he had emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s loudest voices on military affairs, a subject on which Reed has only grown more outspoken during President Donald Trump’s second term. 

As the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Armed Services, Reed has frequently clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over boat strikes in Venezuela, attempts to politicize the military, and the ongoing war against Iran.

“The base wants Democrats to fight right now,” Myers said. “Reed’s just reading the room.”

But Burbridge believes establishment Democrats like Reed have still not met the political moment in standing up to Trump and opposing the Iran War. He pointed to Reed’s support for massive increases in military spending that he argues made it possible for the president to wage the conflict.

“Jack Reed has been hesitant to do what he can to try and gum up the works of this administration,” Burbridge said.

Reed doesn’t see it that way. Trump demanded Reed’s impeachment in a Truth Social post in June following Reed’s criticism of his deal to end the U.S. war with Iran. Reed had called the deal less than what President Barack Obama obtained in his peacetime deal in an interview with Fox News.

“He didn’t pick my name out of the hat,” Reed said.

Burbridge is also critical of Reed’s support for increased military spending and defense contractors that make up some of Rhode Island’s largest employers.

“People have argued that the defense industry is really good for the American worker, because it creates stable, high quality jobs,” Burbridge said. “But do we want all the high quality jobs in our state to be tied to producing weapons of death?”

Reed defends his support for defense contractors as a matter of national security and jobs. He notes he’s backed submarine production in Rhode Island since the 1990s.

“This is about what’s best for the country,” Reed said. “We’ve got much better stuff than the other guys.”

Reed’s support for a robust defense industry is part of a broader foreign policy divide between him and his challengers, particularly over U.S. support for Israel. Both Burbridge and Muñoz describe Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide and are calling for the federal government to cut military aid and halt weapons transfers to the country. 

Reed remains supportive of continued U.S. military aid to Israel, saying “We can’t forget Oct. 7,” referring to the date when Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on the country in 2023. But he has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for causing “great harm” to Israel’s standing and said the U.S. must press Israel’s government to protect Palestinian civilians and recommit to a two-state solution.

Where’s the insurgent support?

Burbridge’s attempt to unseat Reed comes as the national Democratic party is fighting over what kind of candidates can lead them back to power on Capitol Hill.

Insurgent candidates toppled longtime House incumbents in New York City in June. A week later in Colorado, 29-year-old Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros defeated a nearly 30-year House incumbent.

Myers said those successful campaigns each have a common thread: massive grassroots support from progressive organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), along with endorsements from prominent national figures.

“It would appear to be the case that the conditions necessary for that kind of an upset victory by a far-left insurgent are not present with regard to the U.S. Senate race,” Myers said.

The state’s chapter of DSA told Rhode Island Current via email the organization “does not participate in any Democratic races,” focusing its support squarely on Brittany Kubicek’s campaign for Providence’s House District 5 seat.

Reclaim Rhode Island, a Providence-based tenant organizing group, has volunteers supporting candidates for local and state office, with much of its focus on David Morales’ bid for mayor of the state’s capital city. That’s not to say the group is supportive of the state’s delegation in Washington D.C. 

“Every single member of our congressional delegation deserves a credible challenge and to be replaced,” Dan Denvir, the group’s co-chair, said in an interview. “But at least so far this cycle, there doesn’t seem to be a credible campaign to take any of them out.”

Even Morales has abstained from endorsing in the U.S. Senate primary. He told Rhode Island Current at one of his campaign events that he was prioritizing state and local races where he would “have the most direct impact” on his own priorities.

Asked whether Reed has earned another six years in Congress, Morales said he looked forward to working with the senator if both are elected in November.

“I believe Jack Reed has delivered for Rhode Island,” he said. 

Reed has racked up the support of the state’s Democratic party, the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, Providence Streets Coalition, and progressive U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Burbridge does boast a handful of endorsements from state elected officials and organizations. V.A. Lopes, co-director of Indivisible Southcoast New England, said she supports Burbridge’s call for a new generation of leaders in Congress.

“People get stagnant,” she said. “Connor is living the pain of the younger American people.”

Chris Woods, treasurer for Burbridge’s campaign, said the campaign plans to “aggressively” pursue national endorsements after raising more than $25,000 since launching last year. 

As of Aug. 20, filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show Burbridge’s campaign had $4,130 on hand. Reed’s pre-primary report was unavailable on the FEC’s website. He ended the most recent quarter with over $3.7 million in his campaign account.

Voting is already underway in the state primary election that ends on Sept. 9. The winner of the three-way race will face Republican Ray McKay and independent Michael Bahry in the November general election.