Eyeing an upset victory in a deep-blue Ocean State district, GOP hopeful Allan Fung is striving to woo voters with a pitch of ushering in an era of fiscal sanity in Washington, D.C.
Throughout his campaign, Fung has been laser-focused on bread-and-butter issues, brandishing himself as a centrist keen on curtailing what he describes as reckless government spending while alleviating stubborn inflation and burgeoning prices at the gas pump.
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“A lot of Rhode Islanders are truly hurt, and they’re scared about what’s coming,” Fung told the Washington Examiner. “We need to rein in spending as well as become energy independent because they’re downright scared about what’s going on in our country right now. And it’s hitting them every single day.”
Fung’s economic-centric messaging to voters echoes similar sentiments Republicans have conveyed in hot races across the country as fiscal woes dominate the minds of voters in myriad polling.
The former mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island’s second-largest city, Fung often likes to tout his record of leading the city. He began his political career as a Democrat, hoping to snag a seat on the Cranston City Council in 2002 at the age of 32, but the party snubbed him, catalyzing his transition to Republican.
At the time, Fung was distressed with Cranston’s financial outlook, which he described as bleak. After swapping parties, Fung rose up the ranks and served as mayor from 2009 to 2021. He also vied unsuccessfully for governor in 2014 and 2018, losing to former Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo, who now serves as the secretary of the Commerce Department.
“I’m reminding [voters] not only about the great work that we did in Cranston, turning a city that was in fiscal crisis into one [of the] best cities to live in America — but doing it across the aisle with bipartisan, commonsense measures. And that’s the same approach I’ll take to Washington, D.C.,” he added.
Coupled with other factors such as his ample name recognition, Fung’s message appears to be resonating with voters despite Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District historically being a Democratic stronghold. It has been over three decades since a Republican has won that congressional seat, and in the time since, the GOP has hardly run any competitive races there.
A number of recent polls with large margins of error and small sample sizes pegged Fung as the leader for the 2nd Congressional District, which President Joe Biden won by nearly 14 points in 2020. The seat has been vacated by Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI), who held the district for about two decades.
Fung’s strong showing has caught the eye of top Republicans, with the Congressional Leadership Fund, a political action committee aligned with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), pouring millions of dollars into the race to buoy Fung. Earlier this week, Fung attended a fundraiser with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA). Top Democrats have also taken notice of Fung as a considerable threat.
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“I don’t fit the mold of what the Democratic playbook is trying to hit me with,” Fung added. “I’m a middle-of-the-road-type person that’s centrist, [keen] on bringing back common sense, working across the aisle — that’s what I’ve been about.”
Seeking to supplant the uprising, Fung’s rival, Democrat Seth Magaziner, has similarly tried to appeal to voters on inflation and energy costs, chalking up some of the blame for skyrocketing prices to corporate greed.
“Record profits for the oil companies while RIers are crushed by energy costs. How do they get away with it? They have too many politicians like Allan Fung in their pocket,” he wrote in a recent tweet.
Magaziner and his allies have also pummeled Fung for his ties to the GOP, blanketing the airwaves with scathing ads that suggest that Fung would essentially be a puppet for McCarthy, former President Donald Trump, and policies aimed at cutting Social Security and imposing stringent restrictions on abortion.
At the heart of Magaziner’s counter-message to voters on Fung is a stark warning that Fung is no centrist but a Trojan horse of sorts for “extreme” MAGA policies dressed in a centrist’s clothing.
Fung has repudiated these attacks, arguing that he is opposed to cutting Social Security or imposing a national ban on abortion. He said he would bolster Social Security by supporting the “scrap the cap” initiative, which would eliminate the income cap on payroll taxes, effectively increasing taxes on wealthier citizens to raise more revenue for the program.
“I want people to know that I’ve got a mom that after 35 years in the restaurant business is retired and reliant on her Social Security check. And I will go down to Washington, D.C., to protect her and millions of other mothers, fathers, grandparents like her that are relying upon this,” he said.
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Should Fung clinch victory in the contest, he will be the first Asian American in Rhode Island’s congressional delegation.
“I was proud to be the first Asian American mayor in our state’s history, kicking down some of those bamboo ceilings … so I hope that I can show the next generation that, look, there shouldn’t be any barriers to achieve your dreams,” he said. “Don’t let anyone hold you back.”
