Vic Mellor Won’t Seek RIGOP Convention Endorsement: “Rhode Island Last Isn’t a Slogan, It’s the Data”

The Marine veteran credits new state party chairman Allyn Meyers for beginning to move the RIGOP toward America First, but says the hurdles are too big to make a difference this cycle, and Rhode Islanders can’t wait. “Our people have the Gaspee spirit. Their leadership has been anything but.”

WARWICK, R.I. — Vic Mellor, Republican candidate for Rhode Island’s Second Congressional District, announced today that he will not seek the Rhode Island Republican Party’s endorsement at its convention, crediting the party’s new chairman for moving in the right direction but saying the hurdles facing the state party are too big to make a difference in this election cycle. Mellor released the following statement:

“Rhode Island Last isn’t a catchphrase. It’s not a perception. It’s not a few angry old-timers complaining down at the diner. It’s a cold, hard fact. It’s driven by the data, and by the conversations happening in real kitchens and real break rooms all over this state.

I’m talking about the worker being told the plant is closing or moving south. The family business that finally gave up and shut its doors. The young couple sitting their parents and grandparents down to say they have to leave Rhode Island just to find opportunity. This isn’t new. It’s been the so-called ‘norm’ here for as long as most of us have been alive.

Rhode Islanders are famous for our grit, our Gaspee spirit, the tenacity that built this place. But for too long, the RIGOP’s leadership has been anything but. They’ve watched this state finish last, year after year, and called it good enough.

And the data backs it up. Rhode Island was just ranked the worst state in America to start a business. Dead last, fiftieth out of fifty. We pay some of the highest electricity costs in the country. And we keep losing the jobs, the employers, and the young people who can’t find a
future here. It’s almost hard to keep track of how many lists like these we sit at the bottom of. We finish dead last in one category after another, and in the ones where we’re not dead last, we’re right near the bottom.

I didn’t reach this decision from the sidelines. I went to the Rhode Island Republican Party in good faith, like a lot of Rhode Islanders have. And I want to give credit where it’s due. The party’s new chairman, Allyn Meyers, has begun moving the RIGOP toward an America First
approach, and I respect that work. But the hurdles are too big to make a difference in this election cycle. Decades of business as usual can’t be undone in a single year, and the families of this district can’t afford to wait for it. So I won’t be seeking the RIGOP’s endorsement at this year’s convention.

Let me be clear about why, because it matters. I agree with my fellow Republicans on the overwhelming majority of the issues. I’d put it at ninety-five percent. This isn’t a fight about what we believe. It’s about how hard, and how fast, we’re willing to fight for it. I believe the
overwhelming majority of Republicans across this state want a bold, relentless, Rhode Island First campaign, and they want it now, not years from now. I’m not willing to ask the people of this district to wait any longer.

So instead of chasing an endorsement, I’m taking this fight straight to you. At VicFightsForYou.com, you can question me directly, bring me your problems, and hold me accountable. No insiders, no gatekeepers.

Rhode Island First means we stop accepting last. It means we make this a place where you can build a business and a career again, the way you can in the states that are winning. It means we bring down some of the highest energy bills in America. It means we give parents a real say in their children’s education. It means real medical reform, standing with the Great American Health Alliance (GAHA) to lower costs, bring real transparency, and put patients and families ahead of the system. And it means we build an economy where your kids don’t
have to leave home to have a future.

And I won’t just talk about jobs. I intend to deliver them. Over the last five years, I’ve built real relationships in Washington, and I’ll use every one of them to bring good jobs, and the employers who create them, home to Rhode Island. That’s what a seat at the table is for:
using it for you, not for yourself.

Our people have never lacked the spirit to fight. They’ve lacked leaders willing to fight alongside them. I intend to be one.

Rhode Island First.”