Turn RI Red Day and More

Ted Cruz Wins Portsmouth GOP Straw Poll

Turn Rhode Island Red Day, celebrated last Saturday at Glen Park, featured the first Rhode Island straw poll for the 15 GOP presidential Candidates.

“Ted Cruze was the big winner with 31% of the votes cast”, said a happy John Donovan from East Providence, who just happens to be the chairman of Elect Ted Cruze in Rhode Island.

Second place went to Jeb Bush with 18%, followed by Ben Carson at 12% and then Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio tied at 10% each.

“As is typical with straw polls at fund raising events, folks pay a token amount per vote, and can vote multiple times”, explained Web Wilson, 1st Vice Chair of the Portsmouth Republican Town Committee and manager of Turn RI Red Day.

“During the week leading up to the Saturday’s event,” Wilson added, “we ran a straw poll on our website PortsmouthRepublicans.com, where participants could only vote once. And the winner there was Donald Trump.”

“Both straw polls had participants from all around the state,” Wilson concluded with a smile, “and so the un-scientific conclusion is that Rhode Island Republicans are far from agreeing on any one of the presidential candidates still in the race.”

Turn Rhode Island Red Day brought out 100 people who enjoyed chicken BBQ and a beautiful sunny fall day while meeting elected officials, both Republican and Democrat, from all around the state. Several other organizations set up tents and displays including Tiverton Republican Town Committee, Rhode Island Tax Payers Association, and Mark Smiley’s “Common Sense” TV show that airs on public access television.

Feature speakers included Keith Hamilton, Chairman of the Portsmouth Town Committee, State Representative Dan Reilly, and State GOP Chairman Branden Bell.

Special thanks go to Newport Tent Company for providing tables and chairs, Liz Pedro for supplying sound and music, and especially Chase Farm who provided the straw that made The Poll the big hit that it was.

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