A Republican candidate for state’s Second Congressional District is criticizing incumbent lawmakers, including his opponent, Rep. Jim Langevin, for not condemning rioters protesting police brutality at both the state and national level.

Bob Lancia, a former Cranston state representative, said that the members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation – Democrats Langevin, Rep. David Cicilline, Sen. Jack Reed and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse – did not speak out against riots in Portland nor looting in Providence earlier this year. Lancia also said that the lawmakers did not speak out against calls to defund police departments in response to cases of police brutality against Black Americans.

“The fact that Congressmen Langevin, Cicilline, Whitehouse and Reed remained ‘loudly silent’ on the crucial issue of defunding and abolishing the police is dangerous,” a press release from Lancia’s campaign reads. “He hopes they remember that it is the police who are called when a situation is too much for a civilian to handle alone, be it a fender-bender to domestic abuse to murder.”

Lancia told the Warwick Beacon that President Donald Trump’s deploying of federal troops across the country, even if local and state officials oppose it, is legal because the “federal government definitely has the rights to send those troops in to protect federal property.”

In a tweet posted on July 23, Langevin had a more negative view of the use of federal troops in Portland. As a member of the House Committee of Homeland Security, Langevin said he and other Democrats on the committee will question Acting Homeland Security Director Chad Wolf regarding the deployment of federal officers in cities without the consent of local governments.

“The tactics being used by unidentified [U.S. Department of Homeland Security] agents deployed in Portland are profoundly troubling,” Langevin wrote. “We cannot stand by while basic constitutional rights are being violated.”

Lancia also referenced late-night riots that occurred in Providence in early June in the wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis. Lancia said Gov. Gina Raimondo did not do enough to prevent rioting and looting of local businesses.

“We go back to that Monday when the president said to mayors and governors to dominate the streets, and she didn’t do anything in that regard,” Lancia said. “That night we had the riots in Providence. That night over 100 businesses in Providence were destroyed. It’s not right.”

According to separate reports from WPRI and the Boston Globe, “dozens” of businesses were vandalized and looted the night of June 1, when protests in Rhode Island reached their peak.

Lancia said that the looting of small businesses, and the congressmen not discussing it, was especially shocking to him, especially since many small businesses have struggled during the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He said Raimondo’s Restore RI initiative, in which the state invests $100 million in Rhode Island’s small businesses for reopening expenses and social distancing measures, did not do enough to help small businesses. He particularly emphasized that the $15,000 maximum grant per small business is not enough to help businesses reopen after protests and the pandemic.

“At this point, we need to be helping our businesses substantially with the kind of help that they needed from the beginning,” Lancia said. “Put in a bill to give them the money that they need.”

Lancia said he understands why people are protesting for racial justice, but believes there is a balance between peacefully protesting and destroying property illegally. He said that many people have good intentions when peacefully protesting in support of police reform, but he views the organization Black Lives Matters is harmful and socialist, referencing one of the movement’s co-founders personally identifying as a “trained Marxist” in a 2015 interview.

“I think because of the whole issue with Black Lives Matter, I think [the congressmen] are wanting to be politically sensitive by not saying anything at this point,” Lancia said. “But the issues of supporting those people involved and making sure they are treated well and right versus supporting a socialist organization is a major difference.”

Langevin’s staff said that Langevin does not condone those who riot and destroy property during protest. Instead, Langevin supports police reform to help communities of color, and has supported the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would include provisions such as required training police officers on racial profiling, banning police chokeholds and no-knock warrants, limit military-grade equipment to be used by police officers and requiring federal police officers to wear body cameras. The legislation would also grant the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division the power to issue subpoenas to police departments if there is evidence of bias or misconduct, establish a federal registry of police misconduct complaints and provide grants to state attorney generals to create processes to investigate police misconduct.

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed the bill along party lines, but the Republican-controlled Senate is expected to reject it.

“The Congressman supports Americans’ Constitutional right to protest peacefully, and he strongly condemns any acts of violence,” Victor Morente, Langevin’s communications director, said. “While police reform is needed to ensure equal protection under the law for all, the vast majority of police officers conduct themselves with utmost professionalism and integrity. The Congressman understands that the American people continue to grieve and are demanding change in the justice system, which is why he is supportive of critical reform legislation such as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to address police brutality by promoting accountability and oversight.”

The Rhode Island Republican Party endorsed Lancia as their candidate of choice earlier this year. Lancia is running against Donald Fredrick Robbio in the Republican primary on Sept. 8, while Langevin will face challenger Dylan Conley in the Democratic primary. The primary winners will go head-to-head during Nov. 3’s general election.