After Primary Loss, Jan Malik Will Mount Write-in Campaign

WARREN, RI -- "It's an uphill battle to win this," State Rep. Jan Malik (D-Warren) told the Patch on Tuesday night.

But despite his loss to Jason Knight in September's Democratic Primary, Malik is not giving up. He will mount a write-in campaign to hold onto his General Assembly seat.

Malik was among several incumbents who were defeated in the Primary. Asked if the loss could be chalked up to anti-incumbent sentiment, he replied a lot of factors were at play.

For one thing, the turnout was very low.

"The primaries are very different" than the General Election, he said. In September, only about 1,600 voted in his district. By comparison, some 5,000 will turn out for the presidential contest on Nov. 8.

His campaign failed to turn the voters out to the polls.

However, he has represented Warren and Barrington in District 67 for 20 years, and he's running because voters in both towns asked him to stick with it.

"It's something people asked me to do in both communities," he said. Malik described Knight's ideas as "progressive" and said electing Knight would signal a return to the Gordon Fox era, referring to the former House Speaker.

In his opinion, most people don't want that.

The voters want tax cuts, cuts that work for businesses and help for the elderly.

"They don't want to see more progressive agendas," he said.

Although most write-in campaigns have had a tough challenge, he figures he has one advantage. His name is short and easy to spell.

All the voters need to do is circle the slot by the write-in option and then write his name.

"I'm going to be educating people with ads and with cards in the mail," he said.

Besides Knight, the Libertarian Daryl Gould is also running.