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SOCIALIST DAVID MORALES WANTS TO BE PROVIDENCE’S NEXT MAYOR  
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David Morales/Roman Broszkowski
August 13, 2026
Jacobin
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_ We spoke to David Morales, socialist candidate for mayor of
Providence, Rhode Island, about fighting for rent stabilization, why
the Left should run in Democratic primaries, and the plan for winning
an affordable city in Providence and beyond. _

A campaign photo of David Morales holding a sign advocating rent
stabilization. We spoke to David Morales about his campaigning for
rent stabilization in a city with skyrocketing housing costs and the
importance of socialists contesting Democratic primar, David Morales
for Providence Mayor

 

Providence, Rhode Island, ranks nationally
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as one of the least affordable cities for renters; a 2025 Redfin
report [[link removed]] placed
the city of just under two hundred thousand residents on par with New
York City in terms of rent cost relative to the median renter’s
income. Unlike New York, however, Providence does not have rent
stabilization laws that limit the amount landlords can raise rents on
a portion of the rental housing stock. A rent stabilization proposal
passed the city council in 2026, yet Democratic Mayor Brett Smiley
vetoed it and an attempted override by the city council failed.

Months later, the push for rent stabilization — and Smiley’s
opposition to it — remains a focal point of the upcoming Democratic
primary. Running against Smiley as a democratic socialist, David
Morales is a three-term member of the Rhode Island House of
Representatives. His platform has foregrounded delivering rent
stabilization alongside calls for public school reinvestment and
protecting immigrant communities from Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE).

Morales’s underdog status, platform, and democratic socialist
politics have earned him comparisons to Zohran Mamdani and the
electoral success of the organization’s New York City branch.
However, unlike Mamdani, Morales is not endorsed by his local
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) branch, as Rhode Island DSA no
longer participates in Democratic primaries. Morales himself publicly
lost the chapter’s endorsement in 2023 following his vote to reelect
the incumbent Rhode Island House speaker. At the same time, Morales
has received financial and political support from members and elected
officials affiliated with NYC-DSA as well as key endorsements from
local unions, city council members, Providence’s former mayor, the
progressive local group Reclaim Rhode Island, and Senator Bernie
Sanders.

With a close race and a looming September 9 primary, Roman Broszkowski
spoke with Morales for Jacobin about what his race means for the
future of rent stabilization in Providence, democratic socialism in
New England, and why he thinks it’s important to contest Democratic
primaries.

Roman Broszkowski

Why did you decide to go from the state legislature to the executive
branch in Providence?

David Morales

Because we have a housing crisis in our city, and it’s not being
treated with urgency.

We need a mayor that’s serious about working with the city council
to pass rent stabilization and a city budget that is going to properly
equip a rent stabilization board.

We need a city budget that actually meets the needs of our neighbors.
Right now we have large industrial facilities near the Port of
Providence that are polluting the Lower South Side, which is
predominantly black and brown community members. The Shell Terminal
Station down in South Providence should be paying significantly more
in property taxes to contribute to our city services and our schools.
The mayor has taken thousands of dollars from the industrial
facilities that operate near the Port of Providence. I’m proud to
say that I never have and I never will.

I have also made a pledge to cancel our existing contract with [the
surveillance camera company] Flock and make sure that Flock cameras
are immediately turned off, whereas the mayor has received thousands
of dollars from Flock’s registered lobbyists and instead is doubling
down and extending our agreements and contracts with them.

Roman Broszkowski

Your opponent has alleged that your public safety platform will make
Providence less safe. Why do you think that turning off Flock cameras
and canceling that contract won’t do that?

David Morales

It’s a question of making sure our neighbors feel safe when it comes
to their privacy rights not being violated — the same way that
immigrant neighbors do not feel comfortable calling Providence home,
because we have seen a spike in ICE activity over the last several
months.

There has been a lack of urgency coming from the administration to
take real action. I’ve been very consistent in saying that real
safety is ensuring that all of our neighbors feel comfortable calling
Providence home. And for that reason we’re going to equip our city
solicitor’s office with the resources to work with our local
deportation defense network so we can gather evidence of when our
sanctuary city laws are being violated, when the rights of our
immigrant neighbors are being violated, so we can pursue a case with
the attorney general and start prosecuting fascist agents that are
terrorizing our neighbors.

Roman Broszkowski

Walk me through the fight around rent stabilization in Providence and
how that’s become a wedge issue between yourself and your opponent.

David Morales

Providence has gotten more and more expensive. Many of our neighbors
have found themselves price-gouged, and a lease renewal essentially
serves as an eviction notice. Earlier this year, the Providence City
Council passed an ordinance, a reasonable ordinance, that would cap
rent hikes at 4 percent.

Unfortunately, we have a mayor who has taken hundreds of thousands of
dollars from corporate real estate interests and developers, and he
vetoed it. And the city council attempted to override the veto but
came one vote short.

Roman Broszkowski

One of the arguments that your opponent has made about rent
stabilization is that it will warp the market, it won’t lead to more
affordability, and that you need to build more housing. What is your
response to that argument, and why do you feel like rent stabilization
is so necessary in this moment?

David Morales

Rent stabilization has been successfully adopted across over 180
cities and towns all across the country. My opponent’s opposition to
rent stabilization parrots talking points from corporate real estate
interests that want to maximize profit.

We know that with reasonable exemptions in place, like we have within
Providence’s proposal, you still see new development coming online.
Look at Portland, Maine, or Newark, New Jersey — different parts of
the Northeast that have successfully had stabilization in place for
years. My perspective has always been that it’s the government’s
responsibility to intervene and protect our neighbors when they are
victims of price gouging, when there are unreasonable hikes that are
being expected of them, whether it’s regarding rent or utilities. I
think we have to make sure there’s a reasonable stabilization of the
rent while also ensuring that landlords are obeying the law and
maintaining safe and habitable homes.

Our campaign has been actively supporting other city council
candidates, including those running for reelection and for open seats.
We’ve been actively involved in about five different races. We’re
building a coalition, not just to win on election day but to govern.

We’ve built a movement with organizations like Reclaim Rhode Island
and the Working Families Party. We’ve been hosting joint canvases as
a part of this effort, so if a neighbor is knocking out in the
Elmhurst neighborhood for David Morales, they’re also knocking for
[city council candidate] Jackie Goldman and vice versa.

Roman Broszkowski

You are not endorsed by the Rhode Island DSA or Providence DSA. What
is your relationship with them now, three years after their decision
to no longer endorse candidates involved in Democratic politics?

David Morales

I always enjoy seeing Rhode Island DSA members at the picket line.
They’ve had a consistent presence, whether it has been with our
Service Employees International Union at Butler Hospital or some of
our physician assistants working toward being unionized — they show
up for labor. That’s a very important element of the movement that
they’re working on building, which is an independent movement. Their
independent approach is a unique model; I am not opposed to it,
because I believe it’s important for working people to hear
different alternatives as to how we can build a government that
actually represents working people.

They do not engage in Democratic primaries, and for that reason, I am
not an endorsed candidate.

Roman Broszkowski

How do you view their decision to no longer be involved in Democratic
primaries?

David Morales

I certainly believe that it would be important for our DSA chapter to
be engaged in local Democratic primaries, because it helps us to
better shape overall what it actually means to be a democratic
socialist within every level of government, between the city council,
the state legislature, and the executive offices.

And I believe that there are missed opportunities that exist when we
don’t engage within the party primary. We have a lot of neighbors
who agree with the core principles of democratic socialism but feel
tied to their identification as a Democrat. To ignore that is to
overlook what a working person cares about. Some people feel very
strongly about being a Democrat, and they also feel strongly that
health care is a human right. So for that reason, I think it’s
important that there is engagement within Democratic primaries.

Roman Broszkowski

How have people’s attitudes in Rhode Island changed toward
democratic socialists and DSA over the last ten years?

David Morales

I think neighbors have recognized that candidates that identify as
democratic socialists have their interests in mind, and that they’re
not going to sell out to corporations or some of the dominant special
interests that have dominated the state house.

When I got elected in 2020, I got elected alongside State Senator Sam
Bell, who also identifies as a democratic socialist and was a part of
Providence DSA at the time. We both had taken a pledge to never take
any corporate PAC money or money from a registered lobbyist that did
the bidding of corporations, and neighbors saw very quickly that that
influenced the way we approached policy, which is always centered
around merit and always centered around putting working people first.

Especially in this moment, there is an appetite from working people in
Providence to have a mayor who is going to put them first and will
never sell them out to any corporate interest or large campaign donor.

And that’s what I’m committed to doing, which is why I
continuously emphasize the importance of capping rent hikes, because
it is the most pressing issue right now in our community, and people
want to see action.

Roman Broszkowski

One of your key platform planks involves public transit, especially
offering free public transit for students in Providence. In other
parts of your platform, you’ve talked about mobilizing
Providence’s local house delegation to help get things passed. How
do you plan on mobilizing allies in the state house to help you
achieve goals that require state help?

David Morales

As a state representative for six years, I’ve been really proud of
the relationships I’ve built with my colleagues in the House,
Senate, and governor’s office. My approach toward receiving the
necessary state aid to deliver for our neighbors in Providence will be
centered around making improvements around our education funding
formula and mobilizing our delegation to all have the same priority
when it comes to our state budget.

We have fifteen members in the Providence delegation in the House and
an additional eight in the Senate. There’s a lot of power that we
can leverage in state budget negotiations.

Roman Broszkowski

Last year, when you had first declared your candidacy, you took some
volunteers to New York City to help canvas for Zohran Mamdani’s
mayoral campaign. What have you learned from that experience, and what
lessons have you drawn from New York City DSA’s victory there?

David Morales

Organizing our field team to make a visit to New York City and support
Mayor Mamdani and the get-out-the-vote effort was a very special
moment for our volunteers who have been with us since the start of
this campaign, to see that we can build a similar grassroots movement
that inspires working people in our own backyard. We learned about how
you sustain a field lead program where neighbors are taking charge of
their respective communities.

Seeing all of that firsthand went a long way for making sure that our
volunteers, who have been with us since we started, felt that sense of
motivation as to what we can build. Nearly a year later, we have built
exactly that, knocking over fifty thousand doors, making over a
hundred thousand phone calls, and gathering support all across the
city.

Roman Broszkowski

What do you think your victory in Providence would mean for democratic
socialism as a movement in New England?

David Morales

I think a victory for us would demonstrate that our ideas are popular.
Our neighbors want to see systemic change; they want candidates and
public officials who are going to speak truth to power and never
buckle to corporate interests but [who] will always remain
consistently on message about the importance of making sure we have
cities that we can afford to live in and feel safe calling home.

I hope [the campaign] creates a ripple effect all across our state. I
don’t want a democratic socialist mayor to be limited to just
Providence. I want to ensure that we have a movement that can go
beyond just a capital city.

David Morales represents the 7th district in the Rhode Island House of
Representatives, is a member of Democratic Socialists of America, and
is currently running to be mayor of Providence, Rhode Island.

Roman Broszkowski is a freelance writer covering American and Eastern
European politics.

Jacobin is a leading voice of the American left, offering socialist
perspectives on politics, economics, and culture. The print magazine
is released quarterly and reaches 75,000 subscribers, in addition to a
web audience of over 3,000,000 a month.

* DSA
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* Rhode Island
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* DSA candidates
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