“It’s ridiculous that bills are argued in committee and Rhode Islanders come and spend hours of their time to share their personal tragedies, to share their hardships, and then their government does absolutely noting,” says Hoffman. “How disrespectful is that to your constituents?”

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Alex Hoffman announced on Wednesday that he was running for State Senate along with a host of other progressive candidates as part of the Rhode Island Political Cooperative (RIPC), who’s declared mission is changing the leadership and the culture at the State House.

I managed to speak with Hoffman outside the State House. With him was Sathyadev Jeffery Branch, his campaign manager.

Steve Ahlquist: What made you decide to run?

Alex Hoffman: I’m running against Maryellen Goodwin, the Senate Majority Whip. It’s not so much that I think she’s doing a poor job, I think that she’s been there for 32 years and she’s had plenty of time to move on important issues and I’m not seeing the movement that is necessary to address the issues of modern society. I’ve lived in her district, in the North End of Providence, for over ten years, and I think I can do a better job for my community. I think I’m actually in touch with my community.

SA: So has Goodwin been the Senator from District 1 your entire life?

AH: Basically, yeah. I was born in 1986 and she was elected in 1987.

SA: The RIPC announcement said that if elected, you’d be the first openly trans person elected to the General Assembly. How is that important?

AH: As a trans person I’ve experienced a lot of the same hardships as people in my community. So I think I am better equipped to address what is necessary to be done to help the people in my community get out of poverty, get affordable health care, have a living wage, have an affordable education, etc.

Also, as a trans person access to reproductive health care is important. I have a uterus, it affects me, and Goodwin’s the one who helped put the clause in our state constitution that could have potentially taken that right away from me, and she voted no on the Reproductive Privacy Act. [Note: The Reproductive Privacy Act (RPA) codified the protections of Roe v Wade into Rhode Island State Law.]

She’s the majority whip in the Senate. I’m sure we could have passed the RPA a lot faster if the majority was whipping votes and not trying to obstruct them.

SA: Can you talk about your campaign as part of the Rhode Island Political Cooperative?

AH: I’m hoping that by being involved with this group, the Rhode Island Political Cooperative, that can elect enough Senators that we will be able to change the leadership and culture of our Senate.

It’s ridiculous that bills are argued in committee and Rhode Islanders come and spend hours of their time to share their personal tragedies, to share their hardships, and then their government does absolutely noting. How disrespectful is that to your constituents? They are coming and sharing deeply personal things with you and you decide that you don’t care or don’t want to take an action because leadership told you no, no, no, we don’t like that.

That’s not just a problem in the Senate, as you know. I ran Moira Walsh‘s campaign for House District 3 last cycle. Moira was a Democratic incumbent and she had to run against the political establishment. I was really insulted, as a trans Jewish person, that they picked a Trump supporting neo-fascist [Michael Earnheart] to run in my district as a Democrat. I’m sorry, but that’s unacceptable, especially given the national climate.

And she [Goodwin], campaigned with Earnheart against Moira Walsh. House District 3 is a 75 percent non-white community, and to put up a known racist to be their representative – I think that is truly abhorrent. You should not be representing a district if you care so little about your constituents.

Sathyadev Jeffery Branch: Goodwin and Earnhardt were clearly in cahoots during that whole campaign.

AH: It’s time for a change all around. It’s not just about one Senator, it’s about the entire leadership. It’s about the status quo. She’s not the only one that’s been there 25+ years. And the only way you enact change is by changing representation.

SA: How do you see what’s happening in Rhode Island as related to what’s happening in our country nationally?

AH: Considering that on October 8 the United States Supreme Court is going to decide whether or not I have a right to employment, I really need to trust that my Senator and State government are going to have my back and back my rights, and not just my rights, but the rights of the Queer community, immigrant communities and racial minorities.

That’s why I’m running for State Senate.

SA: Over the decade you’ve lived in District 1, how do you see it changing?

AH: Well, 24 percent of District voted against Maryellen Goodwin without even knowing who the candidate was that was running against her, so I think District 1 is ready for a change and they’ve just been waiting for a leader brave enough to stand up to leadership and the establishment.

SJB: A candidate hasn’t emerge in our district for years, and that’s why I’m running Alex’s campaign. Maryellen Goodwin is not representing this new generation of people who are diverse. The people in our community are so diverse. She does not represent that. She represents her own ideas, her own perspective.

AH: Goodwin talks the talk but she doesn’t walk the walk and the only time you can get her to walk the walk is if she thinks it’s politically expedient to do that. I know many constituents running up to the marriage equality act who called her on a daily basis to beg her to give them equal rights, and she said ‘No.’ To every single one she said ‘No.’ Then, at the last minute, when it became apparent that she would be one of the only Senators to vote no, she had a change of heart and voted yes.

Like, thank you for changing your mind, but I have to question the motives behind the action. I just don’t see the leadership that I want to see.

SJB: She did the same thing with the RPA. I lobbied her personally during that whole period with the Reproductive Health Care Act and she literally said, ‘It’s my scientific belief that life begins at conception.’

She’s not there to represent her beliefs, she’s there to represent us.

AH: She told St Patrick’s Church that she would prevent the RPA from ever coming to the Senate floor. I’m glad that she failed, but she certainly tried, and that’s what pushed me over the edge.

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