Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis cruised to victory Tuesday night in the Democratic primary race against a longtime state legislator and pizza restaurant owner from Coventry.
With 99% of all polling places reporting, Mollis won 63% of the votes and Leonidas P. Raptakis had less than 37 %, according to unofficial returns from the state Board of Elections.
“If the numbers stay the same, it’s going to be a very favorable night,” Mollis said moments after declaring victory before about 100 supporters at his campaign headquarters in Cranston. Raptakis conceded to 40 supporters at his pizzeria just before 10:30.
Mollis will face Republican Catherine Taylor in November’s general election. Taylor is a small business owner and former speechwriter for the late Sen. John Chafee and former Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee.
Raptakis who gave up a chance to run again for Senate, said he wanted it but it was too soon to say whether he’d run again for elected office. “I’m exhausted,” he said shortly before 11:30 p.m. “Right now, I want to sit back, spend more time with my family, spend more time at my business, and just take it one step at a time.”
Raptakis had cast himself as “the reformer,” eschewing TV and radio ads in favor of 5- by 11-inch direct mail fliers and a blizzard of sharply worded news releases.
Mollis, 49, is a former mayor of North Providence who is completing his first term in statewide office. He began the day with breakfast with a cousin, a family friend, and members of his staff at Mazey’s restaurant in North Providence. He then rode in a cherry red Ford Edge owned by his driver Eleuterio Patriarco to Providence to greet voters at the polls, stated his campaign spokeswoman Erin Donovan.
Mollis paused from campaigning to attend the funeral of a North Providence resident, retired La Salle Academy teacher and coach Lou Cimini. He later joined supporters at his campaign headquarters in Cranston to watch the election returns.
Mollis’ primary win followed weeks of defending himself against attacks from Raptakis who during his 17 years as a part-time legislator, became known as a thorn in the side of the General Assembly leadership. Raptakis lambasted the incumbent on radio talk shows and in media blasts for accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists, as well as from three former North Providence councilmen who were recently indicted on federal corruption charges.
The Mollis campaign fought back with its own data showing the names of lobbyists who contributed to Raptakis’ Senate campaign. And as primary day approached, Mollis attempted to lay the issue to rest by pledging to donate the $875 in donations from the three former North Providence councilmen to charity.
Raptakis filed a complaint filed with the state Ethics Commission accusing the secretary of state of allowing his spokesman to do campaign work for him on the state’s time.
(source: Providence Journal)
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