Projo Politics Blog

North Providence Mayor A. Ralph Mollis ended his day outside the polling place at the Elmwood Community Center in Providence, shaking voters' hands with his wife, Laurie, at his side.

On a street corner near the community center, dozens of people gathered and chanted candidates' names at passing cars. Two Providence police officers minded the crowd and directed traffic.

Mollis is facing Guillaume de Ramel for the Democratic nomination.

Mollis attributed his support in that neighborhood to his attendance at a block party on Broad Street during the summer, and to the efforts of campaign volunteer Diana Perez.

One voter stopped to take a picture with Mollis, and confided that eight people in his household alone had voted for him.

Later, he walked by in the other direction, heading toward the polling place, clutching a woman by the arm. "One more!" he said.

Across the street, volunteers for Carl Sheeler's U.S. Senate campaign handed out spiral notebooks with Sheeler stickers on the cover.

"Grab some for the kids," Mollis jokingly told his wife. A second later, he added, "I don't think Sheldon would like that." (Sheeler is running against former attorney general Sheldon Whitehouse.)

-- Journal Staff Writer Elizabeth Gudrais

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