Gabe Amo, A Former Biden Aide, Wins The Rhode Island House Special Election

Gabe Amo Ex-Biden Aide and Triumphs House Poll. According to NBC News, the Democrat will be the state’s first person of color to serve in Congress, which follows former Rep. David Cicilline.

Democrat Gabe Amo defeated Republican Gerry Leonard in a special congressional election in Rhode Island on Tuesday, becoming the state’s first person of color elected to Congress.

The special election was conducted to replace former Rep. David Cicilline, a Democrat who resigned earlier this year to take over the leadership of Rhode Island’s biggest nonprofit organization.

After winning a competitive Democratic primary in September, Amo, a former White House staffer in both the Biden and Obama administrations, was widely favored in the very blue Providence-area seat.

In the race against a Bernie Sanders-backed leftist, Amo cast himself as the centrist. He focused heavily on his connections to current and previous presidents, releasing commercials with photos of him meeting with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office and suggesting that if Biden and former President Barack Obama trusted him, Rhode Islanders should as well.

Amo, a first-time candidate, grew up in Pawtucket, a working-class community, as the son of Ghanaian and Liberian immigrants who own a liquor shop. He touted his Washington job and congressional run in his hometown as the epitome of the American Dream.

Amo is representative of a more recent generation of immigrants who have taken their rightful positions in the hierarchy of a largely Democratic state that has for a long time been characterized by the Irish and Italian Catholic immigrant groups it has long welcomed. When the top contenders in the Democratic primary in Rhode Island featured Amo, the state’s Afro-Latina lieutenant governor, a Latina state senator, and a Jewish former state representative, observers noticed that the state was making a departure from its historical norms.

Leonard, a political neophyte and retired Marine colonel who served in numerous battle zones before retiring in 2019 failed to get momentum in a district that has not elected a Republican since 1992.

According to the most recent records about campaign financing, he was only able to raise around $165,000 throughout his campaign and contributed an additional $100,000 himself, whereas Amo brought in nearly $1 million. Given the overwhelming chances in Amo’s favor, national party organizations chose not to get it.

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