Happy Saturday! Here's another edition of my weekend column for WPRI.com -- as always, send your takes, tips and trial balloons to [email protected] and follow me on Twitter, Threads and Facebook. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Nesi's Notes SIGN UP NOW 1. The only time Rhode Island voters have ever ousted a Democrat from the U.S. Senate happened 96 years ago, in 1928, when incumbent Peter Gerry lost to Felix Hébert by a razor-thin margin -- and six years later, Gerry took back the seat. That bit of historical context helps explain why Republican Patricia Morgan faces such long odds in her bid to unseat incumbent Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse as he seeks a fourth term. Ironically for someone who rails against money in politics, Whitehouse is being aided by a massive financial advantage over Morgan; he spent more than $1.1 million from mid-August through September, blanketing the airwaves with TV ads, while she spent less than $50,000. That made Friday's U.S. Senate debate on WPRI 12 -- the pair's only scheduled debate -- a key moment for Morgan to level the playing field. She assailed Whitehouse over a host of issues, from immigration to tax policy, arguing his positions are too liberal. "Over the past 18 years, my opponent and his allies have passed a host of radical, destructive policies that are hurting the citizens of America," she said. Whitehouse took the standard incumbent's tack, engaging little with Morgan and touting the parts of his record with the broadest appeal, like taxing the wealthy to shore up Social Security. "Our tax code right now is not fair," he said. "It is not fair when billionaires pay lower tax rates than schoolteachers. It is not fair when companies get rewarded by the tax code for moving offshore and moving jobs offshore." If Whitehouse does secure the seat for another six years, one of the big questions about his next term is whether he will finally obtain the prize he covets most: chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 2. Sheldon Whitehouse's enormous financial advantage is par for the course among local congressional incumbents, based on fresh FEC filings. In the 1st Congressional District, incumbent Democrat Gabe Amo is sitting on $1 million, while GOP challenger Allen Waters has only $4,000. In the 2nd District, incumbent Democrat Seth Magaziner has $1.1 million, against $2,500 for Republican rival Steven Corvi. Over in Massachusetts' 9th District, incumbent Democrat Bill Keating has about $800,000, while GOP opponent Dan Sullivan has reported no fundraising at all. And Jake Auchincloss? He's unopposed. 3. When Seth Magaziner ran to replace Jim Langevin in the 2nd Congressional District in 2022 he promised voters he'd move into the district, and by that fall he was casting a ballot in Cranston. But for the last year, Magaziner has been living back on the East Side of Providence -- making him one of Congressman Amo's 1st District constituents. What happened? Tim White went to Magaziner for an explanation. 4. Political quick hits ... Senate President Dominick Ruggerio wants Ryan Pearson replaced as majority leader by Val Lawson, but Pearson says he won't go quietly ... Jack Reed agreed to tape a reelection TV ad for Congressman Gabe Amo, who is seeking his first full term ... Reed, who isn't up for reelection until 2026, was in Ohio on Friday supporting endangered colleague Sherrod Brown and speaking to the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council ... Gina Raimondo will be back in Providence on Thursday to headline a fundraiser for Kamala Harris ... the "Yes on 3" campaign kicked off a push for the $120 million housing bond ... Elizabeth Warren and John Deaton faced off in two feisty debates for Massachusetts' U.S. Senate seat ... the New Bedford Light is profiling key races in Bristol County ... Congressman Auchincloss received a leadership award from the Massachusetts Society for Medical Research. 5. Experts say it's important that pollsters release their findings even when their data looks like an outlier. So give credit to URI for publishing a survey of Rhode Island voters this week that doesn't align with what other organizations are finding. The URI survey was fielded online by YouGov from mid-August into early September, though it wasn't released until Monday. The poll suggested Donald Trump's support in Rhode Island had slumped to just 27%, which would be the worst showing for a Republican presidential candidate in the state since 1996, when Ross Perot siphoned votes from Bob Dole. Three surveys done more recently -- from Salve's Pell Center, the UNH Survey Center, and the MassINC Polling Group -- all found Trump's support in Rhode Island at or near the 40% mark, putting him over 10 points higher than URI did. The URI poll also put Governor McKee's job approval rating at 55%, far better than the roughly 32% rating he had in the most recent Salve and UNH surveys. URI poli-sci professor Emily Lynch told the Rhode Island Current's Nancy Lavin she partly attributes the result to having used a "forced choice" methodology which required respondents to choose between "approve" and "disapprove" only, with "not sure" not an option. The final result in the presidential race on Nov. 5 should provide a better sense of whether URI was capturing something the other pollsters had missed, or if YouGov just had an unusual sample. 6. Our final WPRI 12 debate of the fall campaign season is coming up next Friday, when Republican incumbent Ken Hopkins and Democratic challenger Robert Ferri will square off for Cranston mayor. But the race isn't falling on strictly party lines. On Thursday, former Democratic House Speaker Nick Mattiello held a fundraiser for Hopkins at Chapel Grill, according to an email sent by city solicitor Chris Millea -- himself a former Democratic state rep. And at a recent debate, Hopkins named Dan McKee as the current elected official he most admires in Rhode Island, while Ferri -- who was a Republican until 2022 -- named Jack Reed. 7. Our newest political reporter, Ray Baccari, has been doing a great series of "Where They Stand" interviews for WPRI.com on election contests that might be flying under the radar regionally. In Cranston's open Senate District 26 race, Ray interviewed Republican Jenn Caputi and Democrat Todd Patalano. In the open House District 42 race in Johnston and Cranston, he interviewed Democrat Kelsey Coletta and Republican Richard Fascia. He also tackled Rhode Island's Question 1, on calling a constitutional convention, with supporter Ken Block and opponent Vimala Phongsavanh. And hopping the border to Massachusetts, Ray tackled Question 2 on eliminating the MCAS graduation requirement with supporter Rep. Jim Hawkins and opponent Ed Lamber of MBAE. 8. The RICAS standardized-test scores are out, and not much has changed. And relatedly on the education front, cash-flow problems in the Providence schools are serious enough that they aren't making pension contributions on time, Eli Sherman and Alexandra Leslie report. 9. Not a week goes by without fresh developments in the Washington Bridge saga, but the past few days have been especially newsy. On Tuesday, Governor McKee and RIDOT Director Peter Alviti laid out their new plan after the failure of the state's first bidding process, announcing a multistep procurement that will see a contractor for the new bridge picked by next June. They also expanded the demolition portion of the project to incorporate taking down the substructure that holds up the old bridge; the price tag for demo has now more than doubled, to nearly $100 million. But it will be many months before motorists get a revised timeline for opening the new bridge, or a revised price tag for the entire cost of the project. The congressional delegation took a victory lap Wednesday after securing the entire $221 million in federal grants for the bridge sought by state leaders -- although now that the price tag is going up, they will probably be asked to find even more money. McKee also expressed exasperation over RIDOT's blink-and-you-missed-it public meeting about the bridge last Friday, ordering a more robust meeting that he himself participated in on Thursday. Amid all these challenges, Alviti's durability continues to surprise many political observers. Among them is former Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who told our Eli Sherman on Thursday, "I’m shocked Alviti is still there. How does that man survive?" 10. And speaking of government contracts, the state is calling an audible on that $15 billion Medicaid managed-care contract, after protests from insurers Blue Cross and Tufts. 11. Rhode Island's biggest businesses are making plenty of headlines these days. The CVS board took a dramatic step Friday, announcing the departure of CEO Karen Lynch and warning investors that the company's earnings are going to fall short yet again. CVS stock is down 25% this year -- a painful contrast with the S&P 500, which is up 24%. Lynch's replacement is David Joyner, who has a long history with CVS and its constituent parts. He worked at both Caremark and Aetna before CVS acquired them, and has spent years at CVS in two tours of duty, based down in Texas. Joyner and CVS Chairman Roger Farah also made news in a Wall Street Journal interview, saying the board has opted against breaking up the company -- a prospect that had appeared to have potential risks for Rhode Island. Meantime, on the Hasbro HQ beat, Boston Globe columnist Shirley Leung reported that the toymaker is zeroing in on Massachusetts office locations that include the Globe's own former facility on Morrissey Boulevard. Governor McKee's aides said Friday they are working to schedule the next meeting between state officials and Hasbro executives. "Our ultimate goal remains to pursue all potential options to keep Hasbro anchored in Rhode Island," said McKee spokesperson Olivia DaRocha. As one business type reminded me this week, the Hasbro decision isn't necessarily going to be all-or-nothing, since the company could conceivably open a flashy new Boston office while still keeping other employees based in Rhode Island. 12. The mayor of Taunton will go on trial over domestic-violence allegations. 13. MassLive's John L. Micek has a great piece looking at the shifting political allegiances of Southeastern Massachusetts. 14. The Warwick Beacon has a fun story on the routine used by my colleague Joe Cortese to handle those 2 a.m. alarm clocks for the morning news. I salute you, Joe! 15. Set your DVRs: This week on Newsmakers — a debate for U.S. Senate between Sheldon Whitehouse and Patricia Morgan. Watch Sunday at 5:30 a.m. on WPRI 12 and 10 a.m. on Fox Providence, or listen on the radio Sunday at 6 p.m. on WPRO. You can also subscribe to Newsmakers as a podcast via Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you back here next Saturday. Ted Nesi ([email protected]) is a Target 12 investigative reporter and 12 News politics/business editor. He co-hosts Newsmakers and writes Nesi's Notes on Saturdays. Connect with him on Twitter, Threads and Facebook.