Gov. Dan McKee's Office Announces Lt. Gov. Finalists

PROVIDENCE, RI — Rhode Island is close to having a new second-in-command, Gov. Dan McKee's office announced Wednesday. Five finalists, selected from a pool of dozens of candidates, will interview with the governor directly before the final decision is made.

The five finalists are:

• Elizabeth Beretta-Perik
• Rep. Grace Diaz
• James Diossa
• Sen. Louis DiPalma
• Councilwoman Sabina Matos

Three of the finalists are elected leaders: Rep. Diaz, who represents House District 11 in Providence, Sen. DiPalma, who represents Senate District 12 in the East Bay and Sabrina Matos, the president of the Providence City Council. Diossa, meanwhile, is the former mayor of Central Falls.

Beretta-Perik, Diossa and Matos were all named Rhode Island electors in the Nov. 2020 election, casting their votes for now-President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The finalists were whittled from a pool of applicants that included dozens of Rhode Islanders, announced in two rounds earlier this year. The governor's office has worked to thin the field since then.

McKee's office did not say when Rhode Islanders can expect an official announcement of the next lieutenant governor, who will be appointed by McKee.

Rhode Island law does not current have a set process for replacing a lieutenant governor vacancy, instead only giving the General Assembly the ability to name a replacement if a lieutenant governor-elect cannot serve. In response, Rep. Arthur Corvese filed a bill in the House of Representatives earlier this year that would allow elected leaders to fill a future vacancy.

"The fact is, neither the Rhode Island Constitution nor the General Laws say what is supposed to happen if the lieutenant governor leaves office," Corvese said at the time the legislation was announced. "There's a provision for all the other general officers. There's a law that says what to do if a lieutenant governor-elect can't serve. There's even a law that describes what to do if both the governor and the lieutenant governor are both vacant at once, but there is no law that applies just to a vacancy in the lieutenant governor's office. In every one of those cases, the law says the General Assembly in Grand Committee is to elect a successor, so my bill enacts the same process for a vacancy of the lieutenant governor."