Rhode Island GOP state Sen. Jessica de la Cruz dropped out of the 2nd Congressional District race late Thursday and endorsed her primary opponent.
De la Cruz, 40, who started her campaign last month, conceded Allan Fung was the party’s best chance for victory and said the ideal place for her to serve at the moment is the state Senate. Her endorsement could propel Fung’s bid to become the first GOP congressman from Rhode Island in decades.
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“After deep thought, prayer, and conversations with my family, I have decided to suspend my Congressional campaign,” she said in a statement Thursday night. “In my absence there remain two Republican candidates in the Congressional race. I believe that Mayor Fung now represents the best chance for Rhode Island to send a Republican to Congress. He has my full endorsement.”
De la Cruz started considering her campaign for the seat after Democratic incumbent Rep. Jim Langevin announced his retirement in January. Langevin has held the seat for more than 20 years. While both of the Ocean State’s two congressional districts have consistently been held by Democrats since 1995, the 2nd Congressional District is considerably less blue than the 1st, held by Rep. David Cicilline.
Although a Republican victory in Langevin’s district remains an uphill battle, the party has been mobilizing to seize on the opportunity his retirement offers. Fung, the former mayor of Cranston and two-time gubernatorial candidate, has been widely considered the favorite in the Republican primary since he entered the race in February. Fung praised de la Cruz following her exit.
“I’m grateful for Senator de la Cruz’s friendship, hard work in the Senate, and now endorsement of my Congressional campaign. The two of us will work very hard together to elect more Republicans not only in the General Assembly but in local races across the board,” he said in a statement per the Providence Journal. “I’m very much looking forward to working together with Rhode Islanders of every party to bring common-sense solutions to DC and tackle some of our biggest challenges when I’m in Congress.”
During the first seven weeks of his campaign, Fung raised over $500,000, trouncing the $65,000 de la Cruz raised during the same time frame, WPRI reported. Despite the smaller fundraising haul, de la Cruz said she took pride that “96% of my donations were from right here in Rhode Island” in Thursday’s statement. She was elected to the state Senate in 2018.
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With de la Cruz’s exit, Fung and former state Rep. Robert Lancia are the only high-profile Republicans left competing for the GOP nomination. Lancia previously received the Republican nod to challenge Langevin in the 2020 election cycle.
On the Democratic side, the race is crowded with candidates, including Omar Bah, Seth Magaziner, Joy Fox, Cameron Moquin, Sarah Morgenthau, and David Segal. Magaziner is currently serving as the state’s general treasurer and is considered a front-runner. He has raised over $1.4 million during the first quarter, per WPRI.
