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, Bluesky and Facebook. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Nesi's Notes SIGN UP NOW 1. Rhode Island politics has been abuzz about whether one of the state's most prominent Democrats will be back on the ballot in 2026. Well, the answer is yes -- Jack Reed is running. "I'm planning to run and working hard at it," Reed said on this week's Newsmakers. Rhode Island's senior senator, who turned 75 on Tuesday, has never given any indication he is ready to close out his three-decade career on Capitol Hill. Still, that hasn't prevented quiet speculation about the ways a surprise Reed retirement might change the political landscape. And it's hard to blame anyone for being on guard after the unexpected back-to-back exits of Jim Langevin and David Cicilline. But there are myriad reasons for Reed to seek a sixth term, which would tie him with Claiborne Pell as Rhode Island's longest-serving senator. He certainly has little to worry about politically; polls continue to find Reed is the state's most popular elected official, and he ran 7 points ahead of Joe Biden in 2020. He's now sixth in seniority in the Senate, where longevity is the coin of the realm, and he'll rank fifth once Mitch McConnell retires in 2027. "I'm running because I believe I can contribute to the state," Reed said. "I want to continue to follow up on initiatives that have been very promising." Another motivation for Reed: his profound concern about how a second Donald Trump administration could affect U.S. institutions, especially the armed forces. "I think ... particularly with the politicization of the military, that my role on the Armed Services Committee could be absolutely critical at a time when a fundamental principle of the United States could be questioned seriously," Reed said. He added, "I joined the Army at 17. I feel kind of an obligation to keep serving." 2. Don't expect a lot of "yes" votes from Senator Reed when it comes to President-elect Trump's cabinet nominations. The most important pick for Reed is defense secretary, and he is "very skeptical" about Trump's choice of Pete Hegseth, the Army combat veteran and Fox News host. "He's the least prepared individual ever to be suggested to be secretary of defense," Reed said, noting that the job is a managerial one as much as a military one due to the sprawling size of the Pentagon bureaucracy. As for Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman tapped by Trump to serve as director of national intelligence? "She lacks ... the perspective of someone who should be our intelligence [director], which is to be very, very suspicious of our adversaries, rather than conciliatory towards our adversaries," Reed said. (Congressman Magaziner was even harsher in a statement Wednesday, warning that Gabbard has "deep ties to some of our nation's most dangerous adversaries.") Reed did express some relief at Trump's choice of his Republican colleague Marco Rubio as secretary of state, suggesting Rubio is more in line with a traditional appointment for that post. But Reed argued the focus on individual nominees also misses the bigger context. "President Trump is not trying to build a cabinet - he's trying to build a court that is subservient to him, and will ignore the Constitution," he said. "And that is a very dangerous trend." 3. Democrats just lost the presidential popular vote for the first time in 20 years -- and to a man most of them view as unfit for office. That has kicked off a great deal of soul-searching and debate over where the party goes next, including among local members of Congress. Jake Auchincloss has been the most outspoken, posting a 12-point manifesto on social media that argued Democrats need to start "offering an agenda of our own, not a diluted version of MAGA." Auchincloss's district includes Fall River, ground zero for Donald Trump's inroads into blue territory; the city just saw a 20% decline in the number of votes cast for the Democratic nominee versus 2020. (Separately, Auchincloss upbraided Colorado Gov. Jared Polis for publicly supporting the RFK Jr. nomination.) Auchincloss predecessor Joe Kennedy III weighed in via Politico, arguing his party erred by viewing Latinos as a singular bloc: "It’s akin to thinking of a white vote. We’d never think of [the] white vote as a monolith." But during an appearance on MSNBC, Gabe Amo also cautioned against overbroad analyses. "I think it's very easy to ascribe the result of last week to one particular community, to one set of messaging," he said. "I actually think we have to take a pause before Democrats fight inwardly or engage in jumping to conclusions. We have to look at the range of experiences -- for example, Black voters continued their normal pattern of support for Democrats." Also weighing in was former Providence Mayor Joe Paolino, now Rhode Island's Democratic national committeeman. "The progressive wing of the party has to recognize — we all have to recognize — the country’s not progressive, and not to the far left or the far right," Paolino told Politico. "They’re in the middle." Paolino's comment drew this rebuke on social media from AOC: "A lot of people responsible for poor decisions are on a press tour right now because if they didn’t, people would rightfully be questioning THEIR leadership and they know it. It’s weak even by normal left-punching standards." 4. Five years ago, who'd have guessed that the descendant of Robert F. Kennedy with the brightest political future wasn't Joe Kennedy III but RFK Jr.? 5. The Atlantic's Jerusalem Demsas points out another reason Democrats may want to make it more affordable to live in blue states: the Electoral College. "If the 2032 Democratic nominee carries the same states that Kamala Harris won this year, the party would receive 12 fewer electoral votes," she writes. One of those lost electoral votes would be in Rhode Island, which is expected to lose one of its four electoral votes after 2030. Demsas argues, "Policy failures are dragging down the Democrats’ prospects in two ways: by showing the results of Democratic governance in sharp, unflattering relief, and by directly reducing the party’s prospects in presidential elections and the House of Representatives." 6. A new Congress could also mean new committee assignments for local lawmakers. Senator Whitehouse is already signaling he plans to make a change, telling Capitol Hill reporters he is "highly likely" to take over as the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee now that its current chairman, Delaware's Tom Carper, is retiring. Whitehouse currently chairs the Budget Committee. As for the Judiciary Committee, Whitehouse isn't exactly being shy about his desire for 79-year-old Dick Durbin to step aside and let him become its Democratic leader. Whitehouse vented to Axios that "the valuable positions are concentrated among a very small number of people ... other talented people don't get a shot." 7. Ian Donnis caused quite a stir with his report Thursday night that sources had told him Gina Raimondo is considering a comeback bid for Rhode Island governor. Common Cause's John Marion says Raimondo is indeed eligible: "Unlike the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which contains an absolute bar to being elected president more than twice, Article VI, Section 1 of the Rhode Island Constitution is a bar on serving more than two consecutive terms, not a bar on being elected more than twice." The person who could best shed light on all the situation -- Raimondo herself -- isn't talking. But after canvassing people close to her, it appears highly unlikely that she would actually run, even if she's mused about it as she considers what to do next post-election. Certainly, it's hard to picture Raimondo going from meeting with world leaders about global trade to campaigning at Cranston feasts and answering tough questions about the Washington Bridge. A more likely scenario might see her working in the private sector and trying to keep her profile high by speaking out about the new administration's business and economic policies. 8. The context for the Gina Raimondo chatter is ongoing speculation about whether Dan McKee will actually run for another term as governor in 2026. McKee's team remains adamant that he will, with a spokesperson telling Public's Radio that he expects to kick off his reelection bid in the first quarter of next year. But plenty of insiders are wondering whether the Raimondo trial balloon was being floated by key McKee backers who are pondering their options. And it's not just Raimondo; House Speaker Joe Shekarchi is also regularly mentioned as an alternative Democratic candidate in two years. Raimondo herself is co-chairing a campaign fundraiser for Shekarchi next Sunday at the Coast Guard House, according to an invitation I obtained. The other co-chair is Joe Formicola, co-owner of the Coast Guard House and a URI board member. Just as interesting are two of the other names on the invitation's host committee: Jerry Sahagian, who is on the McKee campaign's executive committee, and Brendan Doherty, who is close to McKee. Other notables on the host committee include Jim Bennett, Frank Caprio, Bob Goldberg, Tom Ryan and Armand Sabitoni. 9. AG Neronha isn't backing down after getting blasted by Governor McKee for releasing his report on the ILO contract investigation. "I think it's healthy that the governor doesn't trust the attorney general," Neronha told Kim Kalunian during a live interview on 12 News at 4. "In my view, I'm here to keep him and others accountable. Whether they trust me or not doesn't matter. What they should be concerned about is when they step out of line, we're going to call them out on it." McKee -- who cancelled his own 12 News at 4 interview the day the report came out -- has argued that Neronha should have mirrored U.S. Department of Justice policy and withheld what he learned during the investigation. "Well, if we had taken the same approach, what the public wouldn't know today was what I just said," Neronha told Kim, proceeding to reiterate his takeaways from the investigation regarding the governor. "He steered a contract to an associate's friends," Neronha said. "He pressured state employees. He ignored state procurement rules. And he accepted all those free services. I think the public should know those things, and then they can judge whether the governor engaged in wrongdoing or not." (The governor's office has insisted that McKee didn't violate state procurement rules by intervening in the bidding process that led to ILO's contract.) 10. Our Alexandra Leslie has the latest on the court fight between the R.I. Department of Education and Providence City Hall over school funding, pegging the hit to the city at anywhere from $11 million to $54 million. 11. As mentioned in this space last week, Bristol County's delegation to Beacon Hill will look different next year, with multiple new faces. But some faces will be very familiar. The retirement of Taunton Sen. Marc Pacheco means there are only two county lawmakers left who've been in office since the 1990s, both from New Bedford: state Rep. Tony Cabral, first elected in 1990, and state Sen. Mark Montigny, first elected in 1992. Both were unopposed for reelection last Tuesday. 12. The newly announced closure of The Providence Journal's printing plant on Kinsley Avenue is another milestone for the paper of record. Opened with much fanfare in 1987, the facility has generally been viewed as an important contributor to the paper's financial health, thanks to an assortment of contracts to print other publications. The Journal will now be printed in New Jersey and driven up to Rhode Island, though Gannett executives say delivery times shouldn't be affected (and print quality should actually improve). Like most papers, The Journal has an ever-shrinking readership in print. As of March 31, the paper's average print circulation totaled about 22,000 copies on Sundays; that was down from about 93,000 a decade ago. Yet it's not obvious that print should be abandoned, either -- The New York Times, which has navigated the digital transition better than any other newspaper in the country, is still investing in its print product. But other papers are abandoning ink and paper, with New Jersey's Star-Ledger set to go online-only next year. 13. Leaders in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts have bet big on the growth of the offshore wind industry -- so what does the victory of wind skeptic Donald Trump mean for the sector? The New York Times' Stanley Reed has a good overview here. 14. Some wisdom from Politico's Jonathan Martin on modern elections in many states: "I had a wise politician who was frustrated about his challenges of not being able to run statewide as a Democrat in the South tell me: 'We don’t have elections anymore, we have a census.' It doesn’t matter who the party nominates. The candidates are irrelevant. All that matters is the [party] letter after their name. And you just tell me the census data and I’ll tell you the results." 15. Social media is always evolving, and the latest development is the rapid rise of the microblogging site Bluesky, which this week zoomed to the top of the charts on the App Store. So I've decided to join the fun -- you can follow me on Bluesky here. It's easy to set up an account, and the interface is a pleasure to use so far. 16. Buck Ryan on the pros and cons of the AP Stylebook's latest edition. 17. A programming note: Nesi's Notes will be taking the next two weekends off due to the Thanksgiving holiday. See you back here Dec. 7! 18. Set your DVRs: This week on Newsmakers — Senator Reed. 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, Bluesky and Facebook. Prefer your Newsmakers on the go?Subscribe to our podcast!Apple | GoogleSpotify | Stitcher