Cranston Mayoral Primary Heats Up with Fierce Attacks.
With just 19 days remaining until the mayoral primary in Cranston, the race between the two Republican candidates is intensifying. On Thursday morning, state Representative Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung held a press conference outside Cranston City Hall, responding to a controversial mailer from her opponent, Mayor Ken Hopkins.
The mailer, featuring an image of people wading through water, posed the question in bold red letters: “Should illegal immigrants get free college tuition? Barbara Fenton-Fung says yes.” The reverse side highlighted in-state tuition rates at the University of Rhode Island and claimed that Fenton-Fung supported providing “free college” to undocumented immigrants.
Fenton-Fung criticized the mailer at the press conference, calling it “trash” and accusing Hopkins of trying to distance himself from it. “It’s like a four-ring circus over there in Hopkins land,” she said.
Robert Murray, a spokesperson for the Hopkins campaign, denied that the mayor’s team was disavowing the mailer. “No, absolutely not,” Murray said. “The mailer clearly states, ‘Paid for by friends of Ken Hopkins.’ There should be no confusion about who sent it.”
The mailer referred to Fenton-Fung’s 2021 vote on the Rhode Island Student Success Act, which extended in-state tuition to noncitizens under specific conditions, such as applying for legal citizenship. This policy had been approved by the state’s postsecondary council in 2011. Fenton-Fung also supported a 2021 extension of the Promise scholarship program, which provides free tuition at Community College of Rhode Island, though not at URI.
Fenton-Fung was the only Republican in the House to support the in-state tuition bill, which passed the Senate with a unanimous vote of 37-0. Fenton-Fung pointed out that several Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz and Senators Elaine Morgan and Gordon Rogers, supported the bill. However, Morgan did not vote for the Senate version, only the House version.
Both bills were signed into law by Governor Dan McKee in July 2021.
Fenton-Fung, who is leaving her seat in the Rhode Island House of Representatives to run for mayor, will reduce the number of Republicans in the State House, where the party has only five members in the Senate and nine in the House.
Murray acknowledged a typo on the mailer, which incorrectly listed the date of one of Fenton-Fung’s votes as May 21, 2021, instead of May 6, 2021. A press release issued by Murray’s campaign on Wednesday night corrected this error and included a statement from Hopkins, highlighting Fenton-Fung’s support for the Rhode Island Promise scholarship and overdose prevention centers.
“Now she is running away from her liberal voting record because she knows it is not what Cranston residents want from their mayor,” the statement read.
Fenton-Fung, who had not seen the Wednesday evening statement, questioned Hopkins’s positions. “I don’t know where Ken Hopkins stands on most things,” she said.
Murray stated that the Hopkins campaign has distributed both positive messages and contrast mailers, noting, “If anything, she knows that these mailers are effective. Republican voters do not support these issues. She’s on the wrong side of them.”
Despite the criticism, Fenton-Fung remained confident, asserting, “Clearly, I think I’m winning.” She suggested that the campaign’s mailers indicate desperation from Hopkins’s team. Fenton-Fung requested that Hopkins issue a formal apology via letter and social media and announced that her attorney had sent a cease and desist letter to Hopkins and Murray.
