David Morales wins Providence mayoral primary, ousts incumbent Smiley

Victory adds to year of progressive primary wins in US cities

In a result that extends a year of progressive primary upsets across the country, 27-year-old Rhode Island state representative David Morales unseated one-term incumbent Brett Smiley in Providence’s Democratic mayoral primary on Wednesday night.

In his victory speech, delivered partly in Spanish, Morales framed the win as a repudiation of well-funded opponents. “Few believed that a 27-year-old democratic socialist could ever, few believed that we could ever take on big money, corporate real estate interests and endless attack ads – and we took them on and we won,” Morales said. He pledged to govern “in coalition, side by side with our neighbors.”

Housing was the central issue in the race. Morales campaigned on a 4 percent cap on annual rent increases, an expansion of affordable housing, and new taxes on corporate polluters and landlords. Smiley had drawn fire from housing advocates after vetoing a rent-stabilization ordinance the Providence City Council passed in April. “When working people are getting priced out of the city that they love, then we must cap rent increases at 4 percent every single year,” Morales said. “We put housing justice on the ballot.”

Smiley’s tenure had also drawn scrutiny for implementing the city’s largest property tax increase in a decade and for his continued support for Israel during the war in Gaza. Morales has accused the Israeli government of committing genocide in Gaza and identified himself as a proponent of Palestinian freedom.

On immigration, Morales pledged to make Providence an official sanctuary city. “The city of Providence must use every tool that we have at our disposal to defend our immigrant community and protect us from the fascist ICE agents,” Morales said in his victory speech. Morales is the son of a Mexican immigrant single mother and was born in Soledad, California.

Morales became the youngest graduate in the history of Brown University’s public administration master’s program. He won election to the Rhode Island House of Representatives at 22, becoming the youngest Latino ever elected to a U.S. state legislature. He is also a part-time professional wrestler. Morales was endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and by the Democratic Socialists of America.

The result adds to a national pattern of democratic socialist and progressive primary wins in 2026. Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral election last November; Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and incoming Washington, D.C., Mayor Janeese Lewis George have since taken office; and the movement secured a string of summer primary victories in Michigan, Florida, Colorado, New York and Pennsylvania.

Morales will face Republican David Talan, 77, in the November general election in the heavily Democratic city, where he is the favorite. If he wins, he would become the youngest mayor in Providence history. Attention in the coming months will also turn to Los Angeles, where Democratic Socialists of America member Nithya Raman is challenging Mayor Karen Bass.