Result
Sen. Jonathon Acosta (D-Central Falls) won a fourth term representing Rhode Island Senate District 16 on Nov. 3 with no opponent on the ballot, drawing 2,911 votes, or 98.1% of the total, in unofficial results. He was also the only Democrat on the ballot in the Sept. 9 primary.
His new two-year term begins when the General Assembly convenes Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2027. He first won the seat in 2020.
Candidates and Platforms
Before joining the Senate, Acosta taught middle school math in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Central Falls and then became a school administrator, according to his Senate biography. He now serves as secretary of the Senate Finance Committee and of the Senate Committee on Rules, Government Ethics and Oversight.
Education has been at the center of his work in the State House. He sponsored the law authorizing Central Falls to spend nearly $6 million on school repairs and construction, and the Senate passed his bill extending teacher certifications to ease the state’s teacher shortage, according to a Senate news release. In 2021, the Senate passed Isaac’s Law, his bill named for a cousin with Down syndrome, which bars discrimination against organ transplant candidates based on disability.
District and Chamber
District 16 covers Central Falls and part of neighboring Pawtucket. Acosta served two terms on the Central Falls City Council, representing Ward 1, before he ran for the Senate.
Republicans lost two of their four Senate seats on Nov. 3, leaving Democrats with 36 of the chamber’s 38 seats, The Boston Globe reported. Republicans also lost two of their 10 seats in the 75-member House.
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