Senate District 29’s Democratic voters will choose between the incumbent Senate Majority Leader and a second-time candidate in a rematch of the 2018 primary on Sept. 8. The race is expected to show if the Rhode Island Democratic Party will take a more progressive direction or stick to the established platform this year.

Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey, a practicing attorney, has served in the senate since first being elected in 1994. Jennifer Rourke, a self-described “true Democrat” with a liberal platform, is running for the second consecutive time for the seat. McCaffrey defeated Rourke in 2018, allowing him to run unopposed in the general election. Whoever wins this year’s primary will face opposition in November from Republican Jean Trafford.

According to public campaign finance records, McCaffrey has spent about $58,025 overall during his campaign between Jan. 1 and Aug. 10, and his campaign war chest currently has $241,083.21. Rourke’s campaign fund has a balance of $6,884.21, and she has spent about $26,400 on her campaign. The majority of expenses for both candidates are advertising, consulting and office supplies.

McCaffrey argued that in a time of crisis, Rhode Island should have stable leadership with lots of experience as well. He put economic relief as one of the tent poles of his platform. McCaffrey also supports reducing the car tax and eliminating the sales tax on certain small business purchases.

“The first thing we have to look at is that the coronavirus crisis is a health crisis and an economic crisis,” McCaffrey said. “We’ve had a drop in state revenue, and a number of small businesses who have closed their doors. I have been in contact with a number of business owners.”

Rourke is running again because she believes not much has changed in government since her last bid, and she has gathered more support. Regarding the economy, she said that helping small businesses would also be imperative to improving the economy, and felt that the well-connected received too many tax cuts.

“The big one is where we can legalize cannabis,” Rourke said. “And we can also give the mom and pop shops the correct tax rate so they are not taxed higher than corporations.”

Rourke studied healthcare management at the College of Our Lady of Elms. As such affordable health care and nursing home staffing are some of her top priorities.

“We need to make sure our nursing homes are properly staffed and they have the funding that they need,” Rourke said. “I am for Medicare For All because I don’t believe your insurance should be tied to your employment. People shouldn’t have to worry about if they can get treatment at all during a pandemic.”

McCaffrey said he supported a bill that would keep Affordable Care Act protections in place in the state if it were to be repealed at the national level. He also supports lower prescription costs for senior citizens, and increasing healthcare workers’ wages during the pandemic.

“The Senate also passed legislation that would increase wages for healthcare workers in certain facilities,” McCaffrey said. “Those are the people who are in the trenches and go to work no matter what and they should be compensated instead of having to work at multiple facilities to make a week’s pay.”

The pandemic also raised concerns regarding going back to school. Rourke was cautious about returning, but argued that education should be made a constitutional right, just as it is in Massachusetts.

“I don’t think it's safe as a mom of three little ones and a senior in college, I don’t feel comfortable sending my kids back to school yet,” Rourke said. “Our teachers can’t even afford tissues and cleaning supplies, we have to donate that. How can we even get PPE?”

McCaffrey explained that his education priorities include securing CARES Act relief and additional state aid for Warwick schools. Another part of McCaffrey’s education platform includes returning state funding that goes to charter schools back to Warwick public schools. One mailer from McCaffrey focused solely on his education platform.

Regarding reopening schools in the fall, McCaffrey said he was looking for input from parents, students and teachers.

“We never thought this would happen, never imagined it would happen, and now we have to deal with it best we can,” McCaffrey said. “I think that so far the people in different positions have done a fine job.”

Rourke grew up in low-income housing in Springfield, Massachusetts before moving to Rhode Island. Because of this, she feels that people with certain disadvantages have not been treated fairly. Rourke’s platform includes preventing racial injustice and discrimination against the LGBTQ community, as well as affordable housing. She also comes from a family of veterans, so veteran’s rights are also a cause close to her heart.

“My husband, my father, my grandfather, my aunt and my uncles are all veterans,” Rourke explained. “I notice when they come back from service they don’t have the resources they need. We need to make sure that they have mental health services because there is a whole stigma against it.”

McCaffrey championed criminal justice reform, and was a supporter of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, which was a package of bills that called to cut costs by promoting criminal rehabilitation and informed decision-making in sentencing and probation.

“We shifted our crime and punishment to see why the person is doing what they’re doing,” McCaffrey said. “We made some modifications to that and the governor had a commission on the juvenile criminal population.”

McCaffrey says that his passion for the local community and years of experience make him the most qualified candidate.

“I’ve lived my entire life in Rhode Island,” McCaffrey said. “My wife has lived in Warwick her entire life. We raised four children here; they went to Warwick schools. The city has grown over the years and I want my kids to grow up and come back and live here. Being the Senate Majority Leader, it allows me to help get additional resources and pass legislation that affects Warwick in a good way.”

Rourke, however, said that there need to be new voices on Smith Hill in order to create lasting change. In one of her campaign letters, she described current Senate leadership as “unresponsive, inaccessible and out of touch.”

“I feel like it’s time for change,” Rourke said. “I was two weeks postpartum last time, and I’ve noticed since then nothing has changed and have gotten progressively worse.”