Raymond Baccari
Editor-in-Chief
Later this year, voters in the First Congressional District will head to the polls to vote for outgoing Rep. David Cicilline’s successor. Over a dozen candidates have announced their candidacy for this soon-to-be-open seat, with one of them being Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, who is an alumna of Rhode Island College.
“I want to be a strong voice for Rhode Island in Congress,” Matos said in a recent episode of Ray-ality TV.. “Losing David Cicilline’s voice is going to be a big void for us and I want to go to Washington to represent Rhode Island – be a strong voice for reproductive freedom, a strong voice for gun safety regulations that make sense, that protect our children. I want to be a strong voice to protect Social Security and Medicaid. I want to go to Washington representing Rhode Island and be that strong voice and continue the fight that Congressman Cicilline has been championing for all of us.”
On the issue of addressing gun violence, an approach Matos favors is implementing an assault weapons ban, saying, “That’s going to be number one on my priority list.”
Currently the House of Representatives is under Republican control, making it difficult for Democrats to pass gun safety legislation.
Matos said, “I think we have enough information to make a good argument, to convince some of the Republicans to join us in this fight,” when asked how she would attempt to convince House Republicans in passing some form of legislation to address gun violence.
A topic Matos has been asked about in several interviews since announcing her candidacy is when she plans to move to the district. At the time of publication, Matos lives in the Second Congressional District. She can still run for this seat since state law does not require candidates to live in Rhode Island congressional seats that they’re running for.
As for the current status on when she’ll move into this district, Matos said, “I’ve been actively looking for housing in CD1, but as of right now, I don’t have a timeline for you.”
Term limits for members of Congress is one of several policy goals candidates seeking the seat will likely be asked about throughout this cycle. Rhode Island’s junior Congressman, Rep. Seth Magaziner, recently introduced a constitutional amendment that would create term limits: 10 years for the House of Representatives and 12 years for the U.S. Senate.
Matos is open to the idea of term limits, but is “not sure” if Magaziner’s proposal “would be the right number.” She said that she would support a proposal of 16 years for congressional term limits when asked what would be the right number.
The full interview can be seen on the Ray-ality TV YouTube channel using this link.