Memo: State of the Rhode Island Governors Race in 2022
To: Interested Parties
From: Chris Sloan, Senior Campaign Advisor, DGA
Subject: State of the Rhode Island Governors Race in 2022
With less than two weeks until the Rhode Island Primary for Governor, the DGA is turning its focus to the General Election. The Republicans have cleared the field for Ashely Kalus, a little known candidate who wants to move her new-found home state in a radical direction.
Ashley Kalus is wrong for Rhode Island.
She is out of touch with hard working Rhode Islanders. Between traveling between her four houses and her work for a governor who supported cutting the minimum wage in Illinois, she is clearly out of touch. Ashley Kalus is not from Rhode Island, she only lived in the state for a year before starting her run for Governor. She wouldn’t even tell the Providence Journal if she paid any taxes in Rhode Island in 2021. She and her husband got married in a lavish multi-day event in Morocco in 2009, complete with a camel ride and 1,000 white roses. Shortly after launching her run for governor, she appears to have asked the wedding planning company they used to scrub its website of any mention of her by name, likely in the hopes that it wouldn’t be noticed as she tries to run for governor as an average Rhode Islander.
Asheley wants to bring a radical Republican agenda to Rhode Island. Kalus used to work for former IL Gov. Bruce Rauner, which previews a bumpy road for Rhode Island if Kalus becomes Governor. During his campaign for governor, while Kalus worked for him, Rauner announced he was “adamantly” against a minimum wage hike, and even called for cutting Illinois’ minimum wage back down to the national minimum of $7.25 from $8.25. As Governor, Rauner vetoed a $15 minimum wage. While Rauner was governor, Illinois lagged behind neighboring Midwest states in economic growth, and he oversaw the longest budget deadlock in Illinois since the Great Depression. And when asked, Kalus named Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the political figure she most admired. Rhode Island is on an economic recovery but Kalus’s economic policies would derail that progress.
Ashley Kalus is wrong for Rhode Island, she is an out of state, out of touch candidate.