Election 2018: Elorza Re-Elected Providence Mayor

PROVIDENCE, RI — Mayor Jorge Elorza has won the mayor's race. According to unofficial results posted by the state Board of Elections, with 98 percent of the precincts reporting, he captured 26,657 votes (for 63.7 percent).

On Tuesday, voters went to the polls to decide whether to re-elect Elorza, the Democrat, or one of two independent challengers, Dianne "Dee Dee" Witman or Jeffrey Lemire. Witman came in second with 13,846 votes, and Jeffrey E. Lemire has 1,165 votes.

History shows that a candidate can run as an independent and be elected mayor of Providence. The late Buddy Cianci, who died in 2016, did it in 1991. (He was first elected as a Republican in 1974.) But the road is considered rougher for an independent than for the Democratic Party's standard-bearer.

Elorza, 41, grew up on Providence's West Side, the son of Guatemalan immigrants. He graduated from Classical High. In his campaign biography, he recalls struggling at Classical, where he almost didn't graduate, and that he was rejected by all the colleges he applied to. After high school went to Community College of Rhode Island. From there, he managed to continue his education at a four-year college, transferring to the University of Rhode Island.

He landed a Wall Street job but returned to Providence after a childhood friend was murdered. He became committed to social justice, he said. Elorza went on to Harvard Law and a professorship at Roger University. He is married and a father. He is completing his first term in his first elected office.

Witman's campaign has run an ad introducing her to people who may not know her personally or by reputation. A widow, she raised a family while raising money for charities, non-profit organizations and ultimately for political candidates on both sides of the aisle. She had taken care of her husband for eight years after a freak accident left him a quadriplegic.

Witman, 68, was appointed in 1990 to the Providence Public Building Authority and served there for about 20 years. The authority, which is under the mayor's office, issues revenue bonds, which are used to pay for municipal and school buildings. Her work brought her into contact with city officials, business leaders, and unions, for example. She loaned her campaign $500,000 of her own money and outspent Elorza in October, although he had more money in the bank than she did.

Lemire, 51, is a semi-retired construction worker. He did not spend any money on the race and says money is the problem with Rhode Island politics.

Lemire grew up in Woonsocket. He was raised by his divorced mother and grandparents. His grandmother was a schoolteacher. He went into construction and was working with a company in Coventry. He and a friend brought a house in Providence to "flip" it as an investment. They succeeded, but he stayed on living in Providence.

He's not married and doesn't have any children yet but has not given up on the idea, he said.
"I do ok," he said, but it's not all about him. "I genuinely care about the neighborhood and what I see," he said. He's running because "nobody gets involved," he said.

Related Stories: Interview with Mayor Jorge Elorza; Interview with Dianne "Dee Dee" Witman; Interview with Jeffrey Lemire.

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