Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung won their respective Democratic and Republican gubernatorial primaries on Wednesday night, setting up a general-election rematch of 2014.
Raimondo, the state's first female governor and seeking a second term, trounced former Secretary of State Matthew Brown, who had the backing of liberal groups and opponents of the pension-system overhaul that Raimondo had backed since her previous tenure as general treasurer.
Raimondo said the state pension system would otherwise have gone broke.
She had 57.1% of the vote, compared with 33.5% for Brown and 9.3% for former state Rep. Spencer Dickinson with 99% of precincts reporting, according to the Rhode Island Board of Elections.
The governor campaigned on Rhode Island's improving economy and her efforts to improve the tattered infrastructure of schools, roads and bridges. Brown called Raimondo beholden to corporate interests.
"Tonight the people of Rhode Island said do more, go faster and keep going," Raimondo told cheering supporters at the Union Station Brewery in Providence.
She praised Brown and Dickinson. "To Matt and Spencer, good for you in getting out there."
Fung defeated House Minority Leader Patricia Morgan of Warwick, 56.5% to 40.1%. Giovanni Feroce, former chief executive of Cranston jewelry retailer Alex and Ani, had 3.4%.
"Tonight, you have spoken loudly and clearly that you are ready to take back our state from the insiders, the big shots, the connected and the wasteful spenders," Fung said at the Rhode Island Shriners Imperial Room in Cranston.
Moderate Party candidate William Gilbert and independents Joe Trillo, Luis Daniel Muñoz and Anne Armstrong will also be on the ballot in November.
Democratic incumbent Seth Magaziner and Republican Michael Riley were unopposed in Tuesday's primary for general treasurer, and will face each other in November. Riley, a former congressional candidate, has called for an overhaul of the state pension system, which he said is broken.
Four years ago, Raimondo defeated Fung, 41% to 36%, while Moderate Party candidate Bob Healey totaled 21%.
Polling company Morning Consult had Raimondo's approval and disapproval ratings nearly identical, 44% and 46%, respectively.
Raimondo's 10-year, $5 billion RhodeWorks program to fund bridge maintenance and repair through truck tolls on north-south Interstate 95 also generated controversy. The American Trucking Associations and three motor carriers representing the industry sued the state in federal court, calling the truck-only toll plan unconstitutional.
