The Women Challenging State House Leadership and the Progressives Supporting Them: An interview with Senator-elect Jeanine Calkin

When I asked Senator-elect Jeanine Calkin (District 30, Warwick), a Bernie-crat who just won a second (non-consecutive) term, why she chose to challenge Michael McCaffrey for the role of Senate Majority Leader this year, her answer was simple: “I … wanted to help move legislation
that is widely supported by the people of RI, and not hold it back like Senator McCaffrey has done.”

While ultimately unsuccessful in her bid, Calkin noted optimistically that “challenges brought on by progressives have moved [leadership] left.” I interviewed her about her work as an activist and organizer, her challenge to leadership, and what she sees in store for the General Assembly
in 2021 and beyond.

Alex Kithes (Motif): When did you first run for office, and what inspired you to run?

Jeanine Calkin: I first ran in 2016 to the RI Senate. I was inspired by Bernie Sanders to run as I wanted to fight for the same issues here in Rhode Island, such as a $15 minimum wage, single payer healthcare and protecting our environment.

AK: What were your most personally gratifying accomplishments in your first term as state senator?

JC: I was happy that my bill to provide housing, healthcare, and mental and behavioral healthcare services for the homeless passed [in] the Senate. Unfortunately, the House didn’t take it up. I am happy my bill, titled the All Students Count Act, was passed and signed by the governor to provide for better reporting for Southeast Asian students, who sometimes get left behind. And that my bill to require local planning boards to receive training on the effects of sea level rise was also signed into law.

Sometimes as a new senator it’s important to block bad legislation, and one bill I’m glad to have helped organize to block was the bill to allow trophy hunting in RI.

AK: I know you’ve been active with Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns. How were you involved, and how do you see the relationship between the #NotMeUs movement and Rhode Island politics?

JC: I have been a long-time follower of Senator Sanders’ career. Back in 2015 when I heard he was going to run for President, I went up to Burlington in May and watched his official announcement. When I got back, I started Rhode Island for Bernie Sanders with a friend of mine. We organized a membership of over 4,000 people to share news and events. We held visibility events, such as light brigades and honk-and-waves, and ran canvassing events long before the official campaign came to RI. When the campaign did come, my home was used as the first official [Bernie] campaign office in the state.

I continued working on RI for Bernie, as well as with Our Revolution RI through the 2016 and 2020 Bernie campaigns. Once the 2016 campaign was over, Bernie asked his supporters to get involved and run for office. I think it inspired a lot of people across the country to make the leap. I would say even more in 2020 where a lot of people ran for office for the first time.

AK: What are the top couple of issues that have come up recently in the State Senate, and how do you feel senate leadership handled them?

JC: I was glad to see the Reproductive Privacy Act get passed. It took a lot of effort from activists and local organizations to make that happen. Especially in the Senate when the original bill was voted down in the Judiciary committee. It took an unusual path to make it happen, but I’m glad it
went through.

AK: Coming now to this year, what prompted your decision to run for Senate Majority Leader? Where has Senator McCaffrey fallen short, and how would you have improved the position if you’d won?

JC: Back in 2017 when I was first elected and after then Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed stepped down, I did not vote for Senator Ruggerio for President nor Senator McCaffrey for Majority Leader. At the time, being newly elected, I thought my only option was to abstain from the votes.
This time around, I wanted people to have a choice, not just to abstain. I was hoping someone else would come forward, but when it looked like that wasn’t going to happen, I put my name in. Senator McCaffrey and I differ greatly on the issues. He has an A+ rating from the NRA, does
not support reproductive freedom and doesn’t support gay marriage. I ran because I wanted to work on changing the rules of the Senate, to allow for the ability for good legislation to come up for a vote and distribute more of the power from the leadership to the Senators. I also wanted to help move legislation that is widely supported by the people of RI, and not hold it back like Senator McCaffrey has done in the past.

AK: Do you see a significant change coming, in the way that McCaffrey and the rest of Senate Leadership behave in their positions? Have we already seen changes since the caucus?

JC: I am hopeful that change is coming. If you listen to the speeches and read what the leadership says they want to work on this year, like implementing a $15 minimum wage, increasing taxes on the rich, etc., these are all issues progressives ran on this year. It is a clear indication that the
challenges brought on by progressives have moved them left.

AK: You’re one of the founders and leaders of the Rhode Island Political Cooperative. The organization achieved quite a few big wins this year both in the primary and general elections. What was it like, running your own campaign and helping so many others at the same time? Do you see the organization growing and continuing to flip seats in 2022 and beyond? How does this factor into the leadership discussion?

JC: Yes, and yes we did. It was certainly challenging running my own campaign as well as working on the other 23 campaigns. However, we had done much of the ground work prior to the busiest months of the campaigns. With that, there were many long and sleepless nights.

It will definitely be growing for 2022 as we expect to be running a lot more races. Beyond that, the sky’s the limit. In addition to having a shared platform, the main goal of the co-op was to create a governing majority and elect new leadership. This will be our goal for 2022 as well as we continue to elect more progressives to both chambers of the General Assembly.

AK: As a follow up, Majority Leader McCaffrey was given a significant challenge in this year’s democratic primary by Jennifer Rourke, one of the founders and leaders of the RI Political Cooperative. Do you think this could be his last term in the Senate, and what would that mean for senate leadership in 2022?

JC: Jennifer ran an excellent campaign and I expect if she were to run again, she would win the seat. I would expect that if he were to still be in office in 2022, there would be a challenge to leadership given the goals of the co-op.

AK: What are some of the major issues you see coming up in the General Assembly, and how would you want to see an improved senate leadership handle them?

JC: I think rules changes are an important issue that I hope will be addressed. I am also hoping that the Senate will finally pass some good environmental legislation, pass the $15 minimum wage and increase taxes on the rich legislation as well.

AK: What are you planning on working on this term in the Senate?

JC: There will be some environmental legislation, a bill on single-payer and many other issues I deeply care about.

Note: Alex Kithes is a member of the RI Political Co-operative with Jeanine Calkin.