EXETER, R.I. — In one of Rhode Island’s closest races in 2022, Democrat Megan L. Cotter edged out Republican Justin K. Price by a mere 32 votes to win the state House of Representatives District 39 seat.
On Nov. 5, Cotter and Price are headed for another rematch in a rural district that includes all of Richmond, most of Exeter, and a slice of Hopkinton, in the state’s southwest corner.
Republicans are hoping to reclaim the district, which Price represented for eight years, noting that Donald Trump won two of the three towns in 2020 — beating Joe Biden in Exeter and Hopkinton while coming within three votes of Biden in Richmond.
“This is a district that is more inclined to lean toward the Republican,” House Minority Leader Michael W. Chippendale, a Foster Republican, said. “Former Representative Price has established himself as a conservative legislator, and he focuses on what his district wants.”
But Democrats are rallying behind Cotter.
“No one in the House running this year is working harder than Megan Cotter,” House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, a Warwick Democrat, said. “She is one of the rock stars of the freshman class, and she works across the aisle.”
The race also is attracting attention because Price acknowledged he marched to the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and espoused the debunked conspiracy theory that Antifa was to blame for the ensuing riot. In a series of tweets, Price said he “marched to the Capitol” with “peaceful patriots” but said he didn’t enter the Capitol and claimed Antifa “false flagged” the “Trump rally.”
While going door-to-door on a recent evening, Cotter said people sometimes bring up Price’s actions on Jan. 6 ― but not often.
“You know what people really care about? Effective leadership,” she said. “I talk more about what I was able to accomplish. I don’t really talk about him.”
Cotter then knocked on a door and told the woman who answered about three accomplishments. First, she said, “I helped increase aid for our schools. Regional schools are usually left in the dust. But we got an increase, which helps all of us on our property tax dollars.”
Second, she said, “I worked with RIPTA (Rhode Island Public Transit Authority) to secure a van for Wood River Health. If you don’t have a car in our community, you don’t have access to health care, so that removes that barrier.”
Third, she said, “After the Exeter forest fire, I put in a bill to form the forest management fire prevention commission. We passed it. I chaired it, and I worked really closely with Leader Chippendale. So despite the mess of our federal politics — I’m a Democrat, he’s a Republican ― we worked closely together to make a clear path forward for our state.”
Cotter also told voters she pushed to add millions of dollars to the $53 million in “green economy bonds” that will be on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Shekarchi called Cotter the driving force behind “making the green bond greener.” Governor Daniel J. McKee included no money for land preservation in his bond proposal. But Cotter advocated for the House budget to provide $3 million for open space, $5 million for farmland protection, and $5 million for state forest management, and that passed.
Cotter, 40, lives in Exeter, and works as a district sales manager for the Foley Fish Company.
She said she decided to run in part because of the support she received after her house burned down in 2017. “My three kids and my husband and I lost everything we owned, but we learned that in this community, people really care,” she wrote in a letter to constituents.
Price, 59, lives in Richmond, and works as a carpenter. He was first elected to the House in 2014, defeating Democrat Larry Valencia, and was re-elected three times ― beating Cotter by 321 votes in 2020 before losing to her in 2022 by 32 votes.
In the 2022 race, Cotter received 3,031 votes, while Price received 2,999 votes, and independent candidate Sean Patrick Comella, a Providence police officer, received 670 votes. But this year, Cotter and Price will go head-to-head. That is seen as an advantage for Price, but Cotter now has the advantage of being the incumbent.
Price said when he goes door-to-door he often hears about the cost of living, the cost of doing business in Rhode Island, and the Washington Bridge.
He said he backs the call — which Rhode Island Republicans have been making for years ― for the creation of an inspector general’s office to investigate waste, fraud, and abuse. This year, the legislature’s small GOP contingent was hoping outrage over closure of westbound lanes of Interstate 195 on the Washington Bridge will help propel that proposal forward, but it went nowhere.
Price said one of his biggest accomplishments as a legislator was helping constituents cut through red tape, whether dealing with the state Department of Business Regulation or facing a backlog of unemployment claims during the pandemic.
As for what distinguishes him from Cotter, Price said, “I am pretty conservative, and she is pretty much openly progressive liberal.” He said he has a “good track record of protecting personal rights, simplified government, and generally being pretty conservative.”
Chippendale said Price was a member of the House Republican caucus that “we could always count on — he was very loyal.”
In 2021, Price refused to wear a face mask when the House convened at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium for the opening day of that year’s legislative session. He ended up being sworn in and voting in a separate room.
The next day, Price traveled to Washington, D.C., and tweeted, “Yes I marched to the capitol with 1 million peaceful patriots. Unfortunately ANTIFA/BLM infiltrated our peaceful movement and they got caught in the act. Capitol Police let ANTIFA in. I did not enter.” The tweet was later deleted. Then-General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, who is now in Congress, and other Democrats called for Price to resign, but he did not.
When asked Thursday about marching to the Capitol, Price said people rarely ever bring up the subject to him, but “when people do bring it up they say he had the right to go there and peacefully march.”
Price had $1,744 in his campaign account as of June 30, and he spent $540 during the second quarter, according to the state Board of Elections. His contributions included $500 from Chippendale, and $250 from the House Republican Leadership PAC.
Cotter had $26,630 in her campaign account as of June 30, and she spent $3,662 during the second quarter. Her contributions included $1,000 from Shekarchi, and $250 from Rhode Island Democratic Party Chairwoman Liz Beretta-Perik.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.