A DSA-backed candidate, State Rep. David Morales, is making a real run at unseating Providence's incumbent mayor, framed as good news for renters and immigrants and bad for the corporate-backed establishment.

• Morales wants to cap yearly rent hikes at 4% after the current mayor vetoed a rent-cap bill the city council passed.
• He's picked up major union backing, including the state SEIU council and the teachers union, both breaking from the incumbent.
• His pitch centers on rising rents pricing out working families and pushing back against local police cooperation with ICE.
• He wants to tax industrial polluters on the waterfront at higher rates, drawing fights from developers now backing challengers to progressive council members.
• The movement grew out of a 2020 wave of progressive wins in Rhode Island, powered by door-knocking volunteers and groups like Reclaim Rhode Island.

Outlook: The primary is September 9th, and a win would put another DSA figure in charge of a state's biggest city after New York and Seattle.