Mike Penta puts friends first.

The Republican City Committee chairman was one of those who attended the announcement of Ward 3 Councilwoman Camille Vella-Wilkinson that she would run for the House District 21 seat.

Vella-Wilkinson is a Democrat, but the fact that they are of different political parties didn’t matter to either of them. Then, and it didn’t appear to be a surprise to Vella-Wilkinson, Penta revealed he was thinking of also running for the House seat.

Penta announced this week that he will resign as party chairman and that he is a candidate for the General Assembly.

In an interview, Penta said he reached the decision after talking with his wife, Angelica, and meeting with Republican leaders, including Rep. Patricia Morgan.

Penta enters an already crowded field. Incumbent Rep. Eileen Naughton, having served for 25 years, is seeking to be re-elected. In addition to Vella-Wilkinson, Democrat David Kruzona has declared, thereby setting up as three-way Democratic primary in September. Also in the race is Michael Underwood, who is running as an independent, creating the potential for a three-way contest in the general election.

Penta said Morgan cautioned him a three-way race with an incumbent in the running would be difficult. Penta said he talked with Underwood, and Underwood is committed. So is Penta.

There’s shared themes to the candidacies of the three challengers – that Naughton has been in office long enough, and that the district needs a representative free from House leadership.

Penta, who at the age of 14 lived on the street taking care of his younger brother and now owns and operates, with the help of his wife, a construction business, MC Renovations, and a local restaurant, says he knows what it takes to build a life from the ground up.

He said his abusive father, now living in San Diego, left the family, and soon thereafter they were forced to leave the house on Beach Avenue. Penta took his brother, Gary, under his care, and the two lived out of boxes near the Salvation Army on Warwick Avenue. The boys continued going to school, with school authorities being none the wiser to what was happening.

Penta found work, scraping together enough money from a janitorial job to eventually buy a car that became their home and stove (they wrapped hamburgers in foil and cooked them on the engine).

“We had great experiences,” Penta said.

From the car, and living some time with his sister, Dawn, he moved to an apartment, where he connected with Warwick realtor Don Morash. To help offset the cost of rent, Penta did odd carpentry jobs for Morash. Penta credits Morash with mentoring him and giving him the confidence to start his own construction business.

Morash also helped nurture Penta’s interest in politics.

In 2012, Penta ran for the Ward 4 City Council seat held by Joseph Solomon. Penta said he enjoyed walking the ward, meeting and talking with people. He recalled ringing the doorbell of a homeowner who had more than one Solomon sign on his lawn and being asked why he was wasting his time. Penta said he wanted people to meet him regardless of their political leaning. He was then asked what he thought of Solomon. Penta didn’t have anything negative to say.

On Election Day, in an unusual move, Penta and Solomon stood beside each other outside the polls.

That could happen again, only this time Penta could be standing with a Democrat and an independent. He said he plans to buy a ticket to Vella-Wilkinson’s next fundraiser.

Friendship is one thing, winning is another.

“I’m not going to back down. I’m in this to win,” Penta said.

He said he’s in the race because he wants his grandchildren – he has four children and five grandchildren – to stay in Rhode Island.

“We need people on Smith Hill who will listen to their constituents and not the leaders. They are called representatives because they serve our interests and not the interests of the leadership,” he writes in a release.

Specifically, Penta said he opposes truck tolls, believing not only are they bad for business but that they would be eventually extended to cars; favors two-year terms, with a limit of four terms; and favors elimination of community service grants, the line item veto, and Ethics Commission oversight of the General Assembly.

“We’re never going to get new ideas [in the General Assembly] unless you get new people,” Penta said of his endorsement of term limits. He feels the state is “stuck in history” and that Rhode Islanders are “sick and tired of the nonsense.”

Penta backs Donald Trump for president, although he adds, “I don’t see eye-to-eye with everything he says, absolutely not.”

Penta said he has all the signs from his Ward 4 race that will be re-purposed for the House race. He said he has 15 to 20 volunteers that are ready to help, and that people can expect to see him outside Dave’s Marketplace waving and in their neighborhoods going door-to-door.

He senses the voters are receptive to new blood and fresh ideas.

“People have just had enough,” he said. But his campaign won’t take him away from his friends, regardless of their political label.