Senator Elaine J. Morgan

10/15/2026

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10/09/2026

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10/09/2026

State Sen. Elaine Morgan (R) is seeking a seventh term in Rhode Island Senate District 34, where she faces challenger Samantha Wilcox (D). The district includes Hopkinton, Charlestown, Exeter, Richmond and West Greenwich.

Elaine Morgan

Morgan, an Ashaway resident who was first elected in 2014, is seeking another term representing District 34. She said her campaign is focused on state spending, affordability, local control and other issues affecting residents of the district.

In an email interview with The Westerly Sun, Morgan said her top priority is getting state spending under control. She called for greater scrutiny of how state funds are allocated and whether spending is effective.

Morgan said the state budget was $8.7 billion when she took office and that the fiscal year 2027 budget that passed is more than $15.2 billion, an increase she calculated at nearly 75%.

“Family paychecks have not grown anywhere near that fast,” she said. “To keep feeding that growth, the State House keeps reaching for new taxes, fees and budget gimmicks. Rhode Island does not have a revenue problem — it has a spending problem. I have opposed these bloated budgets every year I have served, and I will keep demanding that every dollar be justified before it is spent.”

Morgan said she would continue pushing to eliminate the state income tax on Social Security benefits, an effort she said she has pursued for five years. She also said AARP has identified the issue as a priority.

She said she would continue working to reduce unfunded state mandates on cities, towns and schools and seek a fair share of state education aid for the communities she represents.

For District 34 specifically, Morgan identified the cost of living as the biggest challenge facing residents. She said families and retirees have told her that taxes, energy bills and other everyday expenses are rising faster than their incomes, with seniors on fixed incomes particularly feeling the strain.

Her efforts, she said, are aimed at putting money back into the pockets of District 34 residents and helping older residents remain close to their families rather than moving to other states.

“The best way to make Rhode Island affordable is to stop making it more expensive,” she said. “Every new tax and fee the state adds to pay for a bloated budget is one more cost families have to absorb. For seniors, eliminating the income tax on Social Security is one of the most direct affordability measures we can pass.”

Morgan also identified housing and local control as issues she wants to continue addressing. She said towns should be able to make decisions that best fit their communities while the state works to reduce permitting delays that can increase building costs.

She pointed to the district's reliance on wells, septic systems, farmland and forests and said housing rules designed for urban communities do not always apply to rural areas.

“More and more, decisions about how our towns grow are being made in Providence by people who have never driven our back roads or attended our town meetings,” she said. “The state's job is to be a partner, not a boss. I will continue to oppose state mandates that take land-use decisions away from our towns.”

When asked why voters should support her for another term, Morgan pointed to her legislative record. She cited legislation she sponsored in 2025 that made it a crime to distribute sexually explicit images without consent, including AI-generated deepfakes. She also cited legislation requiring rest stops and other establishments to post information to help identify and report human trafficking.

Morgan also said she has spent the past 12 years sponsoring and co-sponsoring legislation affecting veterans. Most recently, she sponsored a law requiring employers to post information about veterans' benefits and services.

“I have a record of getting results and I answer to the people of District 34, not party leadership in Providence,” she said. “Hopkinton, Richmond, Exeter, West Greenwich and Charlestown deserve a senator who knows these communities, protects local control and treats taxpayers' money with respect. I would be honored to earn their vote.”
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State Sen. Elaine Morgan (R) is seeking a seventh term in Rhode Island Senate District 34, where she faces challenger Samantha Wilcox (D). The district includes Hopkinton, Charlestown, Exeter, Richmond

10/09/2026

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10/08/2026

Morgan and Wilcox Offer Different Views of Government’s Role in District 34

RHODE ISLAND — Republican Sen. Elaine Morgan and Democratic challenger Samantha Wilcox both talk about affordability, accountability and responsible government, but their records show different approaches to taxes, spending, regulation and the proper role of government.

Morgan has represented Senate District 34 since 2015, giving voters more than a decade of legislation and recorded votes to examine. Wilcox, the Richmond Town Council president, was first elected to the council in 2022. Her record is shorter and largely municipal, but it provides more evidence of how she governs than her Senate campaign platform alone.

Morgan’s strongest record is fiscal. In 2026, she introduced or supported legislation to repeal Rhode Island’s corporation minimum tax, phase out the meals and beverage tax, return surplus state tax revenue proportionally to taxpayers and require the governor to move toward zero based budgeting. She has also previously sought to eliminate state taxation of Social Security income.

Wilcox says the state should invest tax dollars wisely, concentrating on public safety, education and infrastructure. Her Richmond record shows greater willingness to use public money for programs she considers beneficial. She supported Learn365 spending, a YMCA partnership, park improvements and grants to local businesses. Her council also cut proposed spending in 2025, including police overtime and other expenses, while lowering the tax rate and reserving money for infrastructure.

The meals tax creates one of the clearest philosophical differences. Morgan backed legislation to phase it out. Wilcox supported keeping the one percent local meals and beverage tax because municipalities rely on the revenue. Morgan’s approach would eliminate both the tax and its revenue, while Wilcox has favored preserving the revenue source to protect municipal finances.

Wilcox submitted testimony to the General Assembly supporting legislation that would create a Compost Fund through a surcharge on waste sent to the landfill. She argued that reduced tipping fees and waste disposal costs would help offset the surcharge, while half of the money collected would return to municipalities. It is an example of using a new government imposed charge in an attempt to produce environmental benefits. Morgan’s environmental record generally favors fewer state mandates, including her opposition to the 2021 Act on Climate. Morgan has supported regulations and restrictions when she believed government intervention was warranted.

Individual rights produce another significant difference, although part of that difference is simply a lack of information. Morgan has a lengthy gun rights record. She opposed Rhode Island’s 2025 assault weapons legislation and has previously supported Second Amendment sanctuary efforts. In 2026, she backed legislation exempting fi***rm safety equipment, including safes and locks, from sales tax. That proposal encouraged fi***rm safety by removing a tax rather than imposing another purchasing mandate.

No similarly detailed public fi***rms position from Wilcox has been located. The same problem remains on abortion, cannabis, civil asset forfeiture, police authority and several other statewide civil liberty questions. That does not mean Wilcox has no position. It means voters have substantially less public evidence showing how she would approach those issues.

Wilcox’s record is stronger on transparency than those missing positions might suggest. During her first council term, she pushed to unseal executive session minutes. She also challenged the previous council’s handling of the Chariho School Committee vacancy, a dispute that ultimately reached the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

Both candidates support the concept of an independent state Inspector General to investigate waste, fraud and abuse. Morgan backed legislation creating such an office, while Wilcox includes one in her Senate platform. On government oversight, there is more agreement than disagreement.

Wilcox has also demonstrated a willingness to expand local government authority. She supported establishing a Richmond Municipal Court, an idea previous councils had considered but rejected. Supporters argued the court could handle local ordinance and traffic matters and could be revenue neutral on traffic cases, while opponents questioned whether Richmond needed its own court when neighboring towns already operated them. The court was approved in 2024, and Richmond began hiring a judge in 2025.

On the economic record, Wilcox opposed favorable tax treatment for the Preserve without sufficient public oversight, but also supported grants to local businesses. Those positions are not necessarily contradictory. They do show that her objection is not simply to government involvement with private enterprise. The circumstances and structure appear to depend on the type of business. This may be the clearest sign of her position towards fi***rms than anything explicitly mentioning them.

Morgan presents the opposite challenge. Her tax proposals, opposition to many mandates and attempts to place greater legislative control over administrative rules generally seek to reduce government costs or executive agency authority. Her 2026 legislation, for example, included a proposal requiring final agency rules to receive General Assembly approval. But a long legislative record also contains decisions that do not fit neatly within a limited government philosophy.

That may be the most useful distinction in the race. Morgan offers voters a long state record that can be measured against limited government principles. Wilcox offers a shorter municipal record showing support for transparency and local control alongside greater willingness to use targeted spending, environmental regulation and government programs.

The records available today provide enough information to move beyond campaign slogans and party labels. The more useful question is what happens when each candidate believes government can solve a problem: how willing are they to spend public money, impose a restriction or expand government authority to do it?