2014 Rhode Island Senate - Zaccaria vs. Reed

Rhode Island, our nation's smallest state, is probably the most heavily Democratic. The switch to Democratic dominance came abruptly in 1935, when the "bloodless revolution" broke the back of the Republican machine: Democrats declared the state Supreme Court and other state institutions still dominated by Republicans vacant, eliminating the inertia that slowed realignment. Republicans intermittently controlled the state Senate into the 1950s, but the House and U.S. Senate seats were almost exclusively Democratic from the 1940s forward.

Despite this strong tilt, Republicans managed to hold one of Rhode Island's Senate seats from 1976 through 2006. Then Sheldon Whitehouse defeated liberal Republican Lincoln Chafee in a race that few observers expected to be competitive at the beginning of that year. The loss signaled the end of Republican competitiveness in Senate elections, at least for the foreseeable future. In 2012, Republicans barely contested Whitehouse’s seat. In 2014, former state GOP chairman Mark Zaccaria seems unlikely to threaten Jack Reed significantly.