- Democrat Seth Magaziner is running against Republican Allan Fung in Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District.
- Rhode Island's 2nd District is located in the western region of the state.
Democrat Seth Magaziner faces off against Republican Allan Fung in Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District.
Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District candidates
Magaziner, who has been serving as the state's general treasurer since 2015, originally announced his candidacy for governor of Rhode Island before withdrawing from the gubernatorial election to run for Congress.
Six candidates ran in the Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Jim Langevin, who is retiring after 11 terms. Magaziner, who was endorsed by Langevin and the state party, handily defeated his opponents in the primary election, bringing in over half of the vote.
Prior to running for Congress, Magaziner chaired Rhode Island's school building task force, leading a statewide school construction initiative that created jobs and repaired over 200 schools. His campaign website notes he helped pass the Reproductive Privacy Act in 2019 that codified the abortion protections of Roe v. Wade into state law.
Fung, Magaziner's challenger, is the former mayor of Cranston and a self-identified "moderate Republican."
Before running for Congress, Fung served as a criminal prosecutor in the Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit of the state attorney general's office before moving to the private sector where he became the governmental affairs counsel for a life insurance company. In 2008, he was elected as mayor of Cranston, becoming Rhode Island's first Asian-American mayor.
Fung ran unopposed in the Republican primary. According to a recent WPRI-TV and Roger Williams University poll, Fung leads Magaziner, 46% to 40%.
Voting history for Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District
Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District is located in the western region of the state and includes Providence, the capital and most populous city in the state, and New Shoreham, located in Block Island, south of mainland Rhode Island.
President Joe Biden had a 13.5 percentage point margin of victory over former President Donald Trump under the district's previous boundaries in 2020 — before it underwent a redrawing process that kept district lines nearly the same in redistricting following the 2020 Census. The partisan lean — Democratic — remained unchanged.
The money race
According to OpenSecrets, Magaziner has raised $3.4 million, spent $2.9 million, and has $523,608 on hand, as of October 19. His opponent, Fung, has raised $1.9 million, spent $1.6 million, and has $394,094 cash on hand, as of October 19.
As of early November, super PACs, national party committee, and other non-candidate groups have together spent about $8.7 million advocating for or against the candidates. Pro-Fung Republican super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund accounts for about half of that spending.
What experts say
The race between Magaziner and Fung is rated as a "toss-up" by Inside Elections, a "toss-up" by The Cook Political Report, and a "toss-up" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.