Sure he was there to cheer on Vice President Kamala Harris, but he still found time to host his own political fundraiser, undoubtedly adding to the $2.8 million war chest he’s built steadily over the last 12 years. And he got plenty of media attention back home, too, booking himself for daily appearances on Dan Yorke’s radio show on WPRO-AM, and conducting two interviews with Channel 12.
The guy sure knows how to command publicity.
Which all begs the question: What does Shekarchi want to be when he grows up?
That’s not to say the 62-year-old hasn’t already had an impressive career, both as a well-respected zoning and land use attorney, and as he’s risen politically to the speakership, often considered the most powerful office in the state.
It’s just that he always seems to allow his name to be floated for even higher office. In fact, I think he enjoys it.
In 2022, he played footsie with running for Congress when Jim Langevin announced he wouldn’t seek another term, and he did the same a year later when David Cicilline stunned the political world and stepped down mid-term to take over the Rhode Island Foundation.
The consensus among many of Shekarchi’s friends is that he would love to one day become a US senator, and it’s worth noting that US Senator Jack Reed turns 75 in November, but has signaled that he plans to seek another six-year term in 2026.
So how about governor?
Shekarchi declined to comment when I called him Tuesday morning, but he has said publicly that he wouldn’t run against Governor Dan McKee. That’s not necessarily because he thinks McKee is a stud of a governor. The two get along just fine, but Shekarchi understands that it would be an uphill battle to wrestle union endorsements away from an incumbent governor in his own party.
And still his name continues to float around as a potential contender along with Helena Foulkes, who was the Democratic primary runner-up to McKee in 2022 and is openly gearing up for a rematch in 2026.
“Joe is a smart, astute politician who just watched the world change in a 48-hour period with Kamala Harris replacing Joe Biden,” said Jeff Britt, a veteran political operative who is also among Shekarchi’s closest friends. “If I’m Joe, I’m not going to rule anything out — especially not something that is two years away.”
For my money, I think Shekarchi would love to find himself in a similar position to Harris, where the Democratic nomination is handed to him rather than having to fight for it in a bruising primary.
No one is questioning McKee’s ability to do the job as did the vast majority of Americans who had concerns about President Biden’s age, but a poll released last month by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center showed 65 percent of Rhode Island voters disapproved of the job McKee is doing as governor, while only 29 percent approved of the job he is doing.
At every turn, McKee has signaled that he wants another four years to finish the job. Most of the long-term goals he has set would come to fruition in 2030, which would be the final year of his second term.
But if those poll numbers don’t pick up, McKee is going to have a difficult time winning reelection. At this point, I think he’d rather hand off the governor’s office to anyone but Foulkes, and plenty of his supporters would be perfectly comfortable backing Shekarchi.
“If it was an open seat, I think Joe Shekarchi would consider it,” said Joe Fleming, a longtime pollster in Rhode Island and political analyst for Channel 12. He agreed that two years is a lifetime away in politics, but he pointed out that Shekarchi enjoys broad support among his colleagues in the House, and even regularly convinces Republicans to vote for his budget.
Maybe he’s playing the long game. Maybe he’s just playing footsie again. Either way, Shekarchi is well-positioned to remain the center of attention in Rhode Island politics for years to come.
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Dan McGowan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @danmcgowan.
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Publish date : 2024-08-27 23:01:00
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