The Rhode Island state representative, who was endorsed by the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders as well as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), is now the favorite to secure the mayoralty in the deep blue city’s November general election against the Republican nominee, 77-year-old David Talan.
If he wins, Morales, at 27, will be the youngest mayor Providence has ever had.
“Few believed that a 27-year-old democratic socialist could ever, few believed that we could ever take on big money, corporate real estate interests and endless attack ads – and we took them on and we won,” Morales said in his victory speech, which he delivered partly in Spanish.
“The same way that we campaigned, we are going to govern – in coalition, side by side with our neighbors,” he added.
Morales ran on a progressive platform pledging sweeping changes including capping annual rent hikes, building more affordable housing and raising taxes on corporate polluters and landlords.
Rent stabilization was a key factor in the race, with Smiley, now ousted after one term, having vetoed a rent-stabilization ordinance back in April that had been passed by the city council.
“When working people are getting priced out of the city that they love, then we must cap rent increases at 4% every single year,” Morales said. “We put housing justice on the ballot.”
Morales, the son of a Mexican immigrant single mother, also took a hardline stance on making Providence an official sanctuary city and standing up to Donald Trump’s aggressive anti-immigrant agenda.
“The city of Providence must use every tool that we have at our disposal to defend our immigrant community and protect us from the fascist ICE agents,” he said in his primary victory speech.
In his tenure as mayor, Smiley had also faced scrutiny for implementing the city’s largest property tax increase in a decade, and for his continued support for Israel. Morales, by contrast, has accused the Israeli government of committing genocide in Gaza, and is a fierce proponent of Palestinian freedom.
Born in Soledad, California, Morales became the youngest graduate in the history of the Brown University public administration master’s program. And when he was elected to the Rhode Island house of representatives at age 22, he became the youngest Latino ever elected to a US state legislature. He is also a part-time professional wrestler.
A victory for Morales in November would follow a surge of democratic socialist victories in US cities this year, following the groundbreaking election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City last November. Since then, Seattle mayor Katie Wilson has also taken office, with Janeese Lewis George set to follow in Washington DC, and the movement secured a string of summer wins in Democratic primaries in places including Michigan, Florida, Colorado, New York and Pennsylvania.
As momentum around leftwing challengers to more established incumbents continues to grow, focus will turn to Los Angeles over the coming months, where another member of the DSA, Nithya Raman, will attempt to continue this winning streak against the current mayor, Karen Bass.
