PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT: MELLOR SAYS CUBA COVERAGE PROVES HE IS RUNNING “THE MOST TRANSPARENT CAMPAIGN RHODE ISLAND HAS EVER SEEN”
Woonsocket native ties his Cuba work to the jobs Rhode Island already lost — and vows the state will be first in line, not last again
Warwick, R.I. — Republican congressional candidate Vic Mellor responded today to coverage of his voluntary Foreign Agents Registration Act filing by pointing to a public record stretching back months — and by putting the fight where it belongs: Rhode Island jobs.
“I began this campaign with a promise of transparency, and a promise to outwork every other candidate in this race,” Mellor said. “Promises made, promises kept. Everything I’ve done in Cuba, I did in the open — announced in advance, on the record, on camera. You can’t ‘uncover’ something a man’s been telling you for two months.”
The public record speaks for itself. Long before the July filing was reported, Mellor’s Cuba work was documented in his own words, in public:
May 27, 2026 — The Mellor campaign issued a press release titled “Vic Mellor Travels to Cuba Looking for Trading Partners and Jobs for Rhode Islanders,” announcing the trip before departure and stating it would be conducted “in full compliance with all applicable U.S. regulations.”
On camera — In a recorded public appearance, Mellor told a Rhode Island audience he was returning to Cuba “this weekend,” ahead of the trip.
June 4, 2026 — Mellor sat for an interview with Telemundo 51 discussing his meetings and his purpose on the island.
June 16, 2026 — Mellor filed his disclosure with the U.S. Department of Justice under FARA — voluntarily and publicly, the filing itself stating there is “no agreement or understanding” and no compensation.
“A scandal is something a politician hides while he serves himself,” Mellor said. “This is the reverse. I filed the federal paperwork myself, even though there’s no contract and nobody’s paying me. That’s more disclosure than the law asked for — not less. That’s not what people who are hiding something do.”
Why this matters: Rhode Island has watched this movie before.
“I grew up in Woonsocket,” Mellor said. “I know what a mill looks like when the lights go out and the work goes somewhere else. My whole life, I’ve watched Rhode Island make things the world wanted — and then watched Washington cut a deal and ship those jobs overseas.”
Mellor pointed to losses every Rhode Islander can name:
Fruit of the Loom — one of the oldest brands in America, trademarked in 1871, older than Coca-Cola — was born right here in Warwick, founded in 1851 by the Knight brothers at the Pontiac Mills. As recently as 2014, the company was still shutting American plants and moving the work to Honduras to cut costs — 600 workers laid off in a single announcement. “A brand this state invented,” Mellor said, “and now those shirts are sewn in Central America.”
Costume jewelry — Providence wasn’t just in the business; Providence was the business. In the 1980s, Rhode Island produced an estimated 80 percent of all the costume jewelry made in America, and Providence was called the jewelry capital of the world. Then, through the 1990s, cheap Chinese imports gutted it. The benches emptied out across Providence, Cranston, and Central Falls — jobs that had put food on the table for generations of Rhode Island families.
The roll call of the vanished — Brown & Sharpe, once the largest tool factory on earth. Nicholson File. Gorham Silver. American Screw. “These weren’t just companies,” Mellor said. “They were paychecks. They were names your grandfather said with pride.”
The scale of the loss is staggering: in 1900, nearly three out of five Rhode Island wage earners worked in manufacturing. By the early 2000s, it was fewer than one in six. “Drive through Pawtucket, Central Falls, my Woonsocket,” Mellor said. “The empty mills are still standing. Every one of them is a monument to a deal Washington made and Rhode Island paid for.”
Which is exactly why Cuba matters now. “When Cuba opens for business, they’re going to need enormous amounts of the goods and services Rhode Island still makes — food, medical supplies, building materials, expertise,” Mellor said. “I intend for Rhode Island to be first in line this time, not last. That’s the whole point. I’m not on that plane for me. I’m on it for the guy who lost his bench, and his kid who never got one.”
Mellor was direct on the specifics: “My conversations are with Raúl Guillermo and his team — not the grandfather who was indicted, whom I’ve never met or spoken to. I have never claimed to speak for the United States. I’ve said publicly that Secretary Rubio is doing an excellent job. An open conversation is not a betrayal.”
Responding to state party criticism, Mellor said the objection proves his point. “The chairman himself admits this status would only matter if I’m elected — at which point I’d relinquish it, exactly as the law intends. So there’s no conflict today. There’s just a candidate doing the job differently and doing it in public. President Trump proved that doing things differently gets a better result for the people.”
Answering incumbent Rep. Seth Magaziner, Mellor said: “Seth talks about loyalty. My loyalty is to the Rhode Islanders who lost those jobs and want them back. Rhode Island ranks last in category after category on his watch. I’m out fighting to bring work home. He’s issuing press releases, and if you look at his voting record it aligns far more with the Communist policies of Cuba than it does with the American Free Enterprise system which I have always and will continue to support with every fiber of my being.”
