Raymond Baccari
Anchor Staff Writer
Megan Cotter is a life-long Rhode Islander running to represent District 39 in the 2022 State House representatives. She will be challenging incumbent State Representative Justin Price (R-Dist. 39, Hopkinton, Exeter, Richmond) whom she narrowly lost to in the 2020 race. During a 22-minute interview earlier this month, Megan spoke about a variety of topics ranging from why she is running to some of the key issues facing the state of Rhode Island.
“Well I wasn’t fully committed after the 2020 campaign. I lost by 321 votes, so when you come that close, I was definitely considering a second run. And then a few things happened that really triggered me to run again.” Cotter said when asked why she had decided to run again in 2022.
“[Representative Price] decided not to vote on the budget. He didn’t want to put a mask on, to go in, to vote, and I thought for our district, any district to not have representation, vote one way or another on the budget, it’s shameful. And our community deserves better than that.” Cotter expressed that after the events of January 6, she believed it was an opportunity to run again.
Cotter had previously taken on Representative Price in 2020, who has been under fire recently for his Twitter rant following the riot that took place at the Pro-Trump rally on January 6, 2021. Price had tweeted that Antifa and Black Lives Matter supporters were responsible for the storming of the U.S. Capitol. Price claimed that left-leaning groups had infiltrated the protest. Afterward, elected officials such as General Treasurer Seth Magaziner called on Price to resign.
When asked for her take on the matter, Cotter said: “I’m not calling for him to resign for a few reasons. One, I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to call for his resignation considering I just lost to him recently. I think that he just went [to the rally]. In 2016, when Trump got elected, plenty of people rallied against Trump, and I don’t have a problem with [Price] going to a rally. I do have a problem with the dangerous misinformation that he is spreading.”
Cotter continued, “When we’re in a time when our community here in District 39 is very divided, we need to start operating on facts instead of ideas that have no truth. There is no evidence of anything that he has said, so to spread that kind of dangerous rhetoric is really concerning.”
One of the many topics discussed in the interview was the legalization of marijuana in Rhode Island. Cotter is in favor of it and highlights the tax revenue Rhode Island can get from it.
She responded to the concerns critics point out about the legalization of marijuana in Rhode Island by saying: “I think those concerns are real, but I think people are going across the border into Massachusetts, legally buying marijuana, taking back to Rhode Island, and using it here. So I think that that’s not gonna change, we can tax and regulate it, and Rhode Island can actually benefit from it because right now, Massachusetts is benefitting from it.”
The interview can be seen in its entirety here.