Jonathan Daly-LaBelle is running for state rep in Westerly's District 37

"I want to ask people what they think about the 2016 and 2020 Bernie platform. Those are my values, those are my goals, and that's what I would work toward."

Steve Ahlquist: You have some news? What's up?

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: I went to Westerly Town Hall a little before four o'clock, and I filed my declaration of candidacy to run for state rep against the incumbent, Sam Azzinaro in District 37.

Steve Ahlquist: Why are you running?

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: I decided to give the incumbent a challenge and give the people of Westerly a choice. The person who's currently serving is anti-choice and against most gun regulations. He was the primary sponsor of the book-banning legislation that was moving around in the State House last year, and he was very vocal and influential against turning VJ Day into Peace and Remembrance Day.

Steve Ahlquist: I want to talk about that because I'm meeting you here right after your peace protest outside Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's Providence office. Can you talk to me about that activism, which you've been doing as long as I've known you?

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: I have two main silos to my activism. They both relate to issues of peace and anti-militarism. The one that you're referencing is oftentimes just myself. Other times I have another peace activist or two who joins me - sometimes we have a small crowd - but we've been going outside congressional member's offices, as well as other locations around the state, for about seven years now, focused on reducing military spending. When issues of high priority come up, we'll shift focus to.

Steve Ahlquist: Like Palestine.

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: Right. Right now we're looking for a permanent ceasefire. That was my sign, “Say it, Sheldon “Permanent Ceasefire.” It's our taxpayer money. So that's where that focus is.

The second part is that I'm one of six to eight peace peace organizers in a loose-knit group called Just Peace RI. We've just finished our fourth year collaborating, trying to move issues forward at the State House that relate to peace and anti-militarism

Steve Ahlquist: And that's the group that wants to change Victory Day to Peace and Remembrance Day.

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: Correct. The primary sponsor of that was Representative Jennifer Stewart. It's very important to her. That was her initiative and we were happy to support her. We want to reframe societal thinking. Why are we celebrating a situation that ended up killing hundreds of thousands of people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and celebrating the use of the worst weapons known to man? Why can't we frame it as peace? That should be part of our new societal template. We will still have the remembrance - nobody wants to minimize the service of the people who fought in that, or any war. In general, when people sign up, they're thinking in terms of trying to promote democracy, trying to promote freedom. Unfortunately, we know that's not always the case, but we want to remember the people who were lost and acknowledge that sacrifice.

Steve Ahlquist: Theoretically, isn't the ultimate goal of every war peace? We're not supposed to be doing it because we love war. Theoretically, we're doing it because we want there to be peace.

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: I hear what you're saying, and we align on these things for sure. I think a lot of the time that's how war is framed, but at the same time, war theoretically could be peace-related, but a lot of it is over resources, territory, and religion. It's framed as "once we get our way, there will be peace." That's not a healthy society.

Steve Ahlquist: I was being a bit flippant because I know there's a strong factor of capitalism built into this - the selling of arms and the instigation of war is a way of making obscene profits for people who own munitions companies.

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: To your point, it can be framed that way because ultimately everybody should want a peaceful world, who can be against that?

Steve Ahlquist: Who would be against that out loud?

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: My opponent is locked into Victory Day. I don't think renaming that day is the number one issue in the world right now or for the constituents that I would like to represent in Westerly, but I have talked to people in Westerly about this, and everybody who I've talked to, says that it's not their top priority, but also, why is it Victory Day? Rhode Island is the only state that still celebrates.

Steve Ahlquist: That's interesting because “top priority” isn't what the State House is about. They passed hundreds of bills there this year. Most of the bills passed were not top priority, they were just bills that passed. We're capable of doing more than one thing, and the General Assembly does hundreds of things every year.

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: I realize it's going to be a challenge to get into office. A few years ago there was a movement to put less power into the hands of the Speaker and give more power to the committees - to have the House be a more democratic institution. I'm going to be looking at what has happened in the past that would move some of the power away from the Speaker and give the members the ability to move things forward and not just wait for what the Speaker or the Senate President wants.

Steve Ahlquist: Democrats who vote for the Speaker choose to give the power they have to the Speaker. It is a choice. As a group, they decided to give up their power to the Speaker. They could elect a weaker Speaker, but they decide not to. Once the power is vested in the Speaker, moving away from that becomes very difficult. Giving up your power is easy. Reclaiming it is hard. You're running as a Democrat, so if you win you will have a say in the choice of Speaker, though it seems to me that present Speaker Joseph Shekarchi is a shoo-in.

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: I'm not running under any illusions of how easy things would be. But I want to do whatever I can to uplift issues important to my constituents and work towards a more democratic institution.

Steve Ahlquist: What do you consider to be more of your primary issues?

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: I want to be a strong ally on some of the core issues of the Democratic Party. I know some of these things have happened at the State House, but as a value statement, I am pro-choice. Women's rights are human rights.

On guns, more needs to be done at the federal level, but we need to pass whatever reasonable regulations we can at the state level to make our communities safer. I will be an advocate for that.

And I am very protective of LGBTQ rights. There are all sorts of terrible challenges and threats for LGBTQ people. I want to be a good ally there and uplift those human rights.

Moving beyond that, housing is a critical issue.

Steve Ahlquist: Can I ask about the housing situation in Westerly? What's your take on that?

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: People are challenged. It's the same here as across the state. Rents are ridiculous. Westerly and North Kingstown are maybe a little better positioned and a little more affordable, but it's still far beyond the reach of anybody with a regular income, which includes me. I'm fortunate that I own my home, but with the economy how it is, I rent out rooms in my home just to help be able to live the best quality of life I can and to get by. I talk to people in Westerly. There's not enough housing. There are so many Airbnbs and second homes. The investor class has taken over the housing market and all the beach towns are going to be less and less populated by regular people.

Steve Ahlquist: What else are you thinking about?

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: I know there was a push a couple of years ago to get healthcare for all in Rhode Island. I was involved in that slightly. I know the proponents at that time felt it was viable. I would like to look into that.

Steve Ahlquist: Representative David Morales puts the bill in every year

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: I started a job about nine months ago. I still don't have health insurance. I'm fortunate that I'm healthy. Nine months ago, I was an independent contractor. I haven't had health insurance for 20 years.

Steve Ahlquist: My wife and I are both self-employed. We've covered through Obamacare.

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: It's very expensive.

Steve Ahlquist: My wife has cancer and if it wasn't for the ACA, we would be broke right now. But healthcare still costs too much. Obamacare helps, but it doesn't solve the problem for a lot of people.

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: It is better than nothing. Obamacare should have been a building block toward something better.

I like working on issues. I've held political office before. I was on the South Kingstown School Committee. I've been an activist on one issue or another for 20 years, focused on peace and anti-militarism for the last seven. Other people may be better connected or more talented, but I have some decent talents. Nobody will outwork me.

For the last two election cycles, I've thought about a run and opted away from it. I didn't feel like my life was settled enough to do it. This year I realized that the job that I'm in is giving me a lot of stability and I am feeling very settled economically, I'm fortunate. I'm comfortable enough that I can pay my bills right now. I've been talking to people in Westerly. I've been talking to activists across the state and nobody has been negative toward the idea. I've only gotten positive feedback and support.

Steve Ahlquist: What are you hearing from people in your district about their concerns?

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: The housing crisis, healthcare, and education - but also coastal access. The coastal access issue is important to me. I love going to the beach and I don't like paying to go to the beach. I ran into somebody at town hall as I was filing who is very involved in these issues.

Steve Ahlquist: What are you thinking about the environment? Does Westerly have any particular environmental concerns?

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: The reality is that if the predictions being made by the professionals come to pass, not only is Westerly going to be wiped out, but south of East Greenwich is going to be wiped out. People know this is a critical issue for Rhode Island. Unfortunately, there's been so much climate denialism by so many for so long and not enough leadership from Democrats historically. I know that there's been progress made at the State House - legislation that sets requirements and guidelines.

Steve Ahlquist: There's a possibility that President Trump will be back in power shortly after you take office, and that would make things different in the State House. We won't know what the effect is going to be, but it's not going to be easy in a blue state dealing with a president who's actively hostile to a lot of that. Do you have any thoughts about that?

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: A lot of people would prefer not to think about that. To think that a convicted felon could be president. Biden's not the worst guy, but he's not popular. The only reason he won is because he ran against Trump. I would rather see Biden be president than Trump.

Steve Ahlquist: On many issues, Trump will be far worse than Trump. On trans rights, on climate change.

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: Trump pulled us out of the Paris Accords.

Steve Ahlquist: He'll do it again, and worse. It's pretty existential.

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: Rhode Island got a huge cash infusion under Biden and the Democrats. That's how some of the housing initiatives are being funded and why does Rhode Island have a surplus? It's not like all of a sudden the people in the State House did an incredible job.

Steve Ahlquist: We were always behind the eight ball money-wise, the last few years have been made better.

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: I wanted to give the voters in Westerly a choice. The current Rep was born in Westerly Hospital. He is 81 years old. He served on the town council for a dozen years. He's been a state rep for 14 or 16 years. I'm not taking anything from him - he loves Westerly and the town means a lot to him. But he has these positions that are more attributable to Republicans than Democrats, so I felt that people should have a choice.

I want to ask people what they think about the 2016 and 2020 Bernie platform. Those are my values, those are my goals, and that's what I would work toward.

Steve Ahlquist: Are you looking forward to doing a debate or public forum with your opponent?

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: I would love to do that, but from what I've seen, no organizations are built to do that before a primary.

Steve Ahlquist: There being no Republican in this race, the election will be pretty much settled in the primary. Alex Nunes from The Public's Radio should do it in a room at the Westerly Library.

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: He'd be perfect. That could work very well.

Steve Ahlquist: He'd do a great job. I'm saying that on record

Thank you so much for your time, this is my first official election interview for 2024.

Jonathan Daly-LaBelle: Thank you. Appreciate this.