2018 United States Senate election in Rhode Island explained

The 2018 United States Senate election in Rhode Island took place on November 6, 2018, in order to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Rhode Island. Incumbent Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse was reelected to a third term, defeating Republican Robert Flanders by a margin of twenty-three percent.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominated

• Sheldon Whitehouse, incumbent senator^[1]

Eliminated in primary

• Patty Joy Fontes, progressive activist

Declined

• Lincoln Chafee, former governor of Rhode Island and former U.S. Senator^{[2] [3]}

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominated

• Robert Flanders, former Associate Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court^[5]

Eliminated in primary

• Rocky De La Fuente, businessman and perennial candidate^[6]

Withdrew

• Robert Nardolillo, state representative^{[7] [8]}

Results

General election

Debates

• Complete video of debate, October 9, 2018

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[9]		October 26, 2018
Inside Elections[10]		November 1, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball[11]		November 5, 2018
Fox News[12]		July 9, 2018
CNN[13]		July 12, 2018
RealClearPolitics[14]		June 2018

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Sheldon	Robert Flanders (R)	Other	Undecided
Fleming & Associates[15]	October 20–24, 2018	416	± 4.8%	align=center	55%	36%	–	7%
SocialSphere[16]	October 5–9, 2018	502	–	align=center	56%	32%	–	12%
University of New Hampshire[17]	September 27 – October 6, 2018	503	± 4.4%	align=center	57%	33%	3%	6%
Fleming & Associates[18]	September 14–17, 2018	420	± 4.8%	align=center	54%	35%	–	10%
SocialSphere[19]	May 30 – June 4, 2018	501	–	align=center	54%	32%	–	14%

with Robert Nardolillo

By congressional district

Whitehouse won both congressional districts.^[21]

District	Whitehouse	Flanders	Representative
		66%	34%		David Cicilline
		57%	42%		James Langevin

External links

• Candidates at Vote Smart
• Candidates at Ballotpedia
• Campaign finance at FEC
• Campaign finance at OpenSecrets

Official campaign websites

• Robert Flanders (R) for Senate
• Sheldon Whitehouse (D) for Senate

Notes and References

1. News: Sen. Whitehouse: 'Plenty of opportunity for us to have fights with the president'. Gregg, Katherine. The Providence Journal. December 22, 2016. December 23, 2016.
2. Web site: Chafee will 'very likely' challenge Whitehouse for US Senate. Kalunian. Kim. Towne. Shaun. Nesi. Ted. WPRI-TV. April 25, 2018. April 25, 2018.
3. Web site: Chafee Decides Against U.S. Senate Run In 2018. Donnis. Ian. Rhode Island Public Radio. May 29, 2018. May 29, 2018.
4. https://www.scribd.com/document/379511900/RI-Sen-Anzalone-Liszt-Grove-D-for-Sheldon-Whitehouse-May-2018 ALG Research (D-Whitehouse)
5. Web site: Former Supreme Court Justice Flanders announces run for U.S. Senate. The Providence Journal. Gregg. Katherine. November 16, 2017.
6. Web site: Winners and losers as RI Board of Elections decides on nomination paper objections – Uprise RI . 2018-07-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180727024236/https://upriseri.com/news/elections/elections-2018/2018-07-24-ri-boe/ . 2018-07-27 . dead .
7. Web site: GOP's Nardolillo declares for U.S. Senate. The Providence Journal. Gregg. Katherine. May 15, 2017. May 15, 2017.
8. Web site: R.I. Rep. Nardolillo drops out of U.S. Senate race. The Providence Journal. Amaral. Brian. June 28, 2018. June 29, 2018.
9. Web site: 2018 Senate Race Ratings for October 26, 2018. The Cook Political Report. March 13, 2021.
10. Web site: 2018 Senate Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. March 13, 2021.
11. Web site: 2018 Crystal Ball Senate race ratings. Sabato's Crystal Ball. October 11, 2017.
12. Web site: 2018 Senate Power Rankings. . July 10, 2018.
13. Web site: Key Races: Senate. July 15, 2018.
14. Web site: Battle for the Senate 2018. July 15, 2018.
15. https://media.wpri.com/nxs-wpritv-media-us-east-1/document_dev/2018/10/30/WPRI%20RWU%20Survey%20Poll%20Oct%202018%20for%20web_1540903923989_60683066_ver1.0.pdf Fleming & Associates
16. http://www.golocalprov.com/politics/golocalprov-harvards-della-volpe-poll-raimondos-opioid-money-whitehouse-lea SocialSphere
17. https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4999232/Projo-RIPR-ABC6-RI-Election-Poll-First-of-Three.pdf University of New Hampshire
18. https://www.wpri.com/politics/wpri-12rwu-poll-raimondo-re-election-lead-grows-whitehouse-far-ahead/1462303524 Fleming & Associates
19. http://www.golocalprov.com/politics/golocal-statewide-poll-u.s.-senator-whitehouse-versus-flanders-and-nardolil SocialSphere
20. http://www.golocalprov.com/politics/golocal-statewide-poll-u.s.-senator-whitehouse-versus-flanders-and-nardolil SocialSphere
21. Web site: DRA 2020 . 2024-08-19 . Daves Redistricting.