Democratic nominee State Rep. David Morales MPA’19 won the Providence mayoral election, the Associated Press called Tuesday night. At 28 years old, Morales will be the city’s youngest-ever mayor.
Morales’s campaign primarily focused on affordability. In September, he became the first challenger in Providence history to unseat an incumbent in the mayoral primary as part of a grassroots effort that helped elect a slate of progressives across the city. Despite incumbent mayor Brett Smiley spending over seven times as much as Morales, Morales received almost 2,000 more votes.
Republican candidate and co-chair of the Providence Republican Party Dave Talan ran on a platform centered around restructuring the Providence Public School District to ease residents’ tax burden. After Smiley’s loss in the Democratic primary, Talan courted moderate Democratic voters who found Morales’s policies too radical, but ultimately came up short of a victory in deep-blue Providence — which has not elected a Republican mayor since 1978.
Morales has served as a representative for Providence’s Mount Pleasant, Valley and Elmhurst neighborhoods in the R.I. House of Representatives since 2021, and he was the youngest Latino ever elected to a state legislature. During his time as a representative, he contributed to a bill that banned rental application fees, sponsored the “Cover All Kids” proposal which extended health insurance coverage to all children regardless of immigration status and introduced legislation to raise the state minimum wage.
Much of Morales’s campaign was centered on his support for rent stabilization, which he has pledged to sign into law within his first 100 days in office and aims to begin enforcing as early as fall 2027.
Providence was named America’s least affordable city for renters in a 2025 report by Redfin. According to an April press release from the Providence City Council, nearly half of residents spend over 30% of their income on rent. In April 2026, the City Council passed an ordinance that would cap annual rent increases at 4%, but Smiley vetoed it the next day.
Morales also plans to address staffing and funding shortages in the PPSD, push back against federal immigration enforcement and tax corporate polluters and landlords to increase city revenue.
Morales — a member of the Democratic Socialists of America — received endorsements from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the Rhode Island Working Families Party and former Mayor Jorge Elorza, among other local organizations and politicians. In September, Smiley declined to endorse Morales, issuing instead a warning of the DSA’s growing influence on the Democratic Party.
Morales, who also moonlights as a professional wrestler, credits his upbringing by his single immigrant mother and early experiences with housing instability with instilling in him an appreciation of the importance of public services.
He will take office in January 2027.
This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.
Talia Katz is a senior staff writer covering city hall and crime.
