WPRO News

Former Rhode Island Governor and US Senator Lincoln Chafee told WPRO’s Tara Granahan Wednesday morning that he is ‘very interested’ in running for the US Senate as a Democrat against sitting Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.

Chafee told Granahan that he has no interest in running for Mayor of Warwick again. Warwick Mayor Scott Avadesian is expected to step down in order to helm RIPTA later today.

“No, I’m not interested in going back to being Mayor,” said Chafee. “But several months ago, several Bernie Sanders supporters contacted me and were uring me to run for Senator Whitehouse’s seat.” Chafee cites Whitehouse’s support of Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton over Senator Bernie Sanders at the 2016 Democratic nomination as a chief reason for running.
“When Rhode Island’s roll was called, Clinton recieved 20 votes and Sanders got 12, although Sanders won the Rhode Island Primary. It just wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair.”

“Everybody’s asking me if I’m running for Mayor of Warwick. No. I’m interested in national and international issues. I served in the Senate, I voted against the Iraq war.”

When pressed by Granahan about the level of his interest in running, Chafee said “I’m very interested in it, is what you can quote me as. And I would run as a Democrat in the primary.” Chafee went on to say he’s “90% sure” he’ll run.

Listen to the full conversation below: