Levesque abandons his South County LORIB candidates

Except for one

By Will Collette

Charlestown's state Senator Victoria Gu faces one of
Levesque's last candidates who received ZERO funding

The final campaign finance reports before the November 3 election were filed on October 26. They offer a strong clue about whether MAGA coffee czar Dave Levesque’s galaxy of 40 political action committees – the League of Rhode Island Businesses (LORIB) - will be a political player in the future.

Levesque sunk tens of thousands of dollars into the September 9 Democratic primaries, backing a slate of 9 phony Democrats to defeat many South County Democratic women legislators. The marquee race was an attempt by Charlestown sex crimes defense lawyer Leah Boisclair to oust our incumbent state Representative Tina Spears.

Tina defeated DINO Boisclair by a huge margin. All of Levesque’s nine candidates lost, most by similarly big margins, though Tina’s was the most lopsided.

That left Levesque with his remaining slate of candidates – Republicans – running in the General Election. I wrote about the two Charlestown Senate races HERE and the four South County House races HERE.

I said that if Levesque simply took his money and walked away, you could pretty much stick a fork in him for 2028. Except in one remaining South County race, that’s pretty much what Levesque has done.

Charlestown/south’s state Senator Victoria Gu’s Republican challenger received zero LORIB money according to the Oct. 26 finance report.

I sure hope Sam wins. LORIB endorsed Morgan but
provided no funding

Charlestown/north’s state Senator Elaine Morgan (MAGA/R), one of several LORIB endorsed conservative incumbents, received no more LORIB funding to fend off the strong challenger from Richmond Town Council president Samatha “Sam” Wilcox (D).

MAGA nut Jasmin Roy received no further LORIB support in her bid to unseat popular state Rep. Megan Cotter (D). Roy did get $7000 from the state Republican Party.

Reps. Carol McEntee (l) and Kathy Fogarty (r) flank owner
Perry Raso at the Matunuck Oyster Bar's re-opening.
Both face weak opponents endorsed but underfunded by LORIB.  
(Photo by Laura Paton/Rhode Island Current)

Jessica Drew-Day is making her third and probably last attempt to unseat South Kingstown Democrat Carol Hagan McEntee. Drew-Day did score $500 from Levesque’s LORIB-state PAC, as well as $2500 from three conservative high-rollers but I predict a huge win for McEntee.

Incumbent South Kingstown Democrat Rep. Kathy Fogarty is sort of being opposed by another LORIB endorsee, former Trump Convention delegate Jennifer Poirier. Not only did LORIB give her ZERO dollars, LORIB also spelled her name wrong on their website (though they made a last-minute spelling correction). This is a race where you have to wonder what LORIB was thinking.

Levesque's pick

And that question takes us to the last local LORIB race in the General Election, the peculiar battle between LORIB-backed Westerly developer Chris Stanton (R) versus venerable Westerly DINO Sam Azzinaro in House District 37. LORIB/South Kingstown contributed $700 to Stanton’s campaign in the final reporting period, the highest amount LORIB contributed to any South County candidate in that period.

For me, the question remains: why does Levesque want to oust Sam Azzinaro? Of all the Democratic legislators in South County, Sam’s voting record is probably the closest to LORIB’s agenda. In a few other races, Levesque supported Democratic incumbents who are less conservative than Sam.

In their interviews with the Westerly Sun, there was virtually no difference in the answers the two candidates gave. Stanton is putting a lot of his own personal cash into his campaign, so we’ll see if Westerly voters decide Sam has been in office long enough.

Bottom Line

I think LORIB is a one-shot wonder. Levesque made a splash by constructing a new type of political machine, using all those 39 local PACs overseen by the central state PAC to create a loophole in Rhode Island election law that sets a $2500 annual contribution limit. Levesque also actively courted donations from rightwing donors using his elaborate PAC structure to disguise the donor’s identities.

He banked on the inattention of voters in the Democratic Primary on September 9, hoping to sneak his 9 phony Democrats past voters. He especially targeted South County, where most of the state legislators are progressive Democratic women.

Instead of maintaining operational secrecy, Levesque spoke openly about his strategy with the media and blew his cover. All nine of his Demo-bots had their asses kicked.

After admitting that ass-kicking, Levesque largely kept his mouth shut since he still had LORIB candidates running in the November 3 General Election. But, campaign finance records show he also kept his purse shut, leaving his surviving slate with the stigma of LORIB’s endorsement but with virtually none of the LORIB cash that flooded the Primary.

If he goes looking for more candidates in 2028, this decision to abandon his endorsees will probably bite him in the ass. In politics, having a reputation as a chickenshit is hard to shake.