The Sept. 5 special primary for Rhode Island's 1st District has condensed the political drama of what would already be an eventful primary campaign into a few weeks of utter chaos. And what happens next in the race to replace Democratic Rep. David Cicilline, who resigned at the end of May, is anyone's guess.
In the last month, the field of 22 Democratic candidates narrowed to 13. In the last week, the number of candidates dropped even further, to 12, when the only candidate who had actually aired a TV ad by that point suspended his campaign, citing a lack of "financial resources." And in the last few days, the top news story has been about how the frontrunner's campaign may have submitted fraudulent signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Most Ocean State insiders agree the top tier consists of four candidates: Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, well-known progressive former state Rep. Aaron Regunberg, former White House staffer Gabe Amo and Yale Law School professor and venture capitalist Don Carlson. But as Ted Nesi, the politics editor of WPRI (the
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