U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner now has a Republican opponent for this year’s election. Political newcomer Dr. Steven Corvi, who filed with the Federal Election Commission on March 21, announced last Friday that he’s running for Rhode Island’s Second Congressional District.

“I would love to have a government by the people, for the people again rather than the government by special interest groups and lobbyists and for them too, by them, for them,” Corvi said when asked why he’s running for Congress. “I think it’s time for a change, and if we don’t, the system that’s currently in place is unsustainable.”

Corvi has worked for several colleges as an adjunct professor teaching history. The list of colleges he taught at throughout the last 25 years includes the United States Naval War College, Northeastern University, where he earned a Ph.D. in history in 2004, and Bentley University. Before purchasing a home in Warwick in 2022, Corvi said he lived in the South Shore region of Massachusetts for 15 years and was born and raised in Malden, Massachusetts. He said that he moved to Rhode Island “for a better quality of life than Massachusetts.”

During this campaign, Corvi says his platform will focus on three key pillars: merit, equality and transparency (MET). Those pillars Corvi said are “in response to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

“Everyone should be based on the content of their character as Martin Luther King said,” Corvi said when describing the merit portion of the MET platform. “It should be that. Merit. That is it. Not by political identity, not by gender, not by race, not by any of it.”

He added that with the element of merit then comes equality.

“And when I say equality, I mean equality of opportunity, equality of careers, equality of everything,” Corvi said. “And not equity. There’s a big difference between the [words] equity and equality, and equity is what the Democrats and the current government uses. And that’s to try to bring one group up to balance another — you can’t do that, it doesn’t work, it’s never worked in history. You need equality for everybody.”

As for the transparency portion, he cited an example: if someone is applying for a job and they don’t get it, there should be complete transparency as to why. Those pillars in his platform also factor into certain policy goals he supports, one of which is a move toward a merit-based immigration policy.

Another issue Corvi plans to focus on is the economy. The main step he says Congress must focus on is to “create a budget that borrows less money than the previous fiscal year.”

On the issue of reproductive rights, Corvi, who is personally pro-life, explains his stance is “women should be the arbiters of their own reproductive choices, but the government, both federal and state, shouldn’t be paying for it.” If he’s elected to Congress, Corvi says he wouldn’t vote for any federal abortion ban or legislation that codifies Roe v. Wade, emphasizing the need for this issue to be up to states.

A big question Republicans will face throughout the 2024 election cycle, as they did in 2022, is how aligned they are with the now presumptive presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump. Corvi considers himself a moderate.

“I’m not against Trump,” added Corvi. “My choice, right now, between the two, I’m pro-Trump because Biden is ineffectual and represents complete corruption. That’s a no-brainer. Am I all on board with the red hat and everything he says? No.”

As for how he views the 2020 presidential election results, another litmus test Republicans faced last cycle, Corvi believes Biden won and that the result was legitimate, but also emphasized the need for campaign and electoral reforms moving forward. The reforms he mentioned were eliminating ballot harvesting and promoting voter ID laws.

Currently, Corvi says he’s running a grassroots-styled campaign. His team consists of campaign manager Max Provencher, a current student of Corvi’s at Bentley University, and Raine Spearman, a friend of Provencher who also attends Bentley. In addition to Provencher and Spearman, Corvi says other students are also volunteering and he’s reached out to the state Republican Party and local committees about having volunteers help.

Rhode Island GOP Chairman Joe Powers said that he has spoken to Corvi and his campaign team, adding, “They’ve done their due diligence and spoke to a lot of people including the NRCC about running.”

Powers’ reaction to Corvi’s candidacy is that he’s “glad to see we have Republicans still looking to step up and run to try and effect change in [Rhode Island].”

The state party primarily focuses on statewide races Powers said, but explained that the Rhode Island GOP “will support and promote the federal candidates throughout their campaign.”

At the time of publication, Rhode Island Democratic Party Chairwoman Liz Beretta-Perik did not respond to inquiries about the other party’s reaction to Corvi’s candidacy.

Magaziner confirmed on Monday that he’s running for reelection and was asked about his reaction to Corvi’s candidacy.

“I’m just going to focus on representing Rhode Island in Congress the best I can because right now the stakes in Washington are very high,” Magaziner said. “I’m fighting to lower costs, protect Social Security, protect abortion rights. Unfortunately, the Marjorie Taylor Greene wing of the Republican party is focused on trying to cut Social Security, and cut abortion rights and pave a return to Donald Trump.”

As for if he considers Corvi to be a part of that wing of the GOP, Magaziner said, “I don’t know much about him, but I do know that if he’s saying that he supports Donald Trump and is going to support Republican control of Congress — that is more extreme right now than what Rhode Islanders want.”

There are a couple of policies that both of the candidates have similar opinions on. One of them is term limits for Congress. Magaziner introduced a constitutional amendment last year that would make the limit 10 years for the U.S. House of Representatives and 12 for the Senate. Corvi favors 12 years for the Senate as well but differs at eight years for the House. Another policy they both support is banning members of Congress from trading and having stocks, with Corvi saying he would introduce that bill if elected and Magaziner signing onto a bipartisan bill as a cosponsor last year.

Corvi’s campaign kickoff is set for Saturday, April 13 at 3 p.m. in Warwick at Rocky Point State Park.