Incumbent Sen. Bridget Valverde (D) beat Charles Callanan (R) Tuesday in the state Senate District 35 (EG, NK, SK, and Narragansett) race after a long night of waiting for returns to be uploaded (the large number of mail ballots put Valverde easily over the top – click here for more information). It wasn’t the election night she had anticipated. 

“I thought that I would be up, but I underestimated just how tired you get waking up really early in the morning and standing outside in the cold all day long,” she said. 

After a long period of campaigning and another win in her pocket, though, Valverde expressed her excitement and gratitude for the people of District 35. 

“I’m honored that they trusted me to represent them in the Senate for two more years,” she said. “I have worked really hard in my first term to represent four different communities which is sometimes difficult. I’m happy that they have felt I’ve done a good job.”

Looking towards her second term, she plans to focus on passing budgets for fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2022 that will move the district towards recovery from the COVID pandemic, which has caused major dips in municipal revenue streams.

“We need to make some changes, and we need to make sure we’re making investments in education and in infrastructure, particularly in green energy,” she said. “Those are some things I’d really like to see moving forward.”

As of now, she said the plan is to pass the fiscal ‘21 budget in November and then dive into the budget season for fiscal year ‘22, once the new General Assembly reconvenes in January and the governor proposes a state budget. 

With the upcoming election for Senate president, Valverde said a couple of people, including current Senate president Dominick Ruggerio have expressed interest in the position, but she said she hadn’t committed to anyone yet. 

“Those conversations will happen probably over the next few days,” she said. “We’ll see where things end up.”

EG News reached out to Callanan for a comment but he did not respond.