Sen. Jessica de la Cruz withdraws from RI Congressional race, endorses Allan Fung

PROVIDENCE — Republican state Sen. Jessica de la Cruz has suspended her campaign for Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District seat and endorsed former Cranston Mayor and two-time candidate for governor Allan Fung for the GOP nod.

"While I was encouraged by the strong grassroots support my campaign has received, right now, the best place for me to fight for Rhode Islanders is in the state Senate ... supporting important causes like suspending the gas tax, parental rights in education and our constitutional freedoms," de la Cruz said Thursday night.

Of the two Republicans who remain in the race to succeed Rep. Jim Langevin — Fung and former state Rep. Robert Lancia — de la Cruz said: "I believe that Mayor Fung now represents the best chance for Rhode Island to send a Republican to Congress. He has my full endorsement."

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"As for me, I will continue my work at the state level to get Rhode Island back on the right track," she said. She said that will include "working to grow the Republican caucus in the state Senate and developing candidates around the state to bring a common-sense and pro-taxpayer agenda to Smith Hill."

De la Cruz announced her decision to withdraw after a reporting a relatively meager $65,000 first-quarter fundraising total on top of a $20,000 personal loan to her campaign.

In response to her suspending her campaign, congressional candidate and former Mayor Fung offered the following: 

"I'm grateful for Senator de la Cruz's friendship, hard work in the Senate, and now endorsement of my congressional campaign. The two of us will work very hard together to elect more Republicans not only in the General Assembly but in local races across the board. I'm very much looking forward to working together with Rhode Islanders of every party to bring common-sense solutions to DC and tackle some of our biggest challenges when I'm in Congress."

Lancia, a former state lawmaker from Cranston who lost his bid for reelection in 2018 and his 2020 bid for Congress, also issued a statement, saying he is in the race to stay.

"I look forward to continuing to prove to voters of the district that I will speak in their voice on ALL matters important to our communities," he said.

He also posted a number of tweets from a recent trip to Florida, including one dated April 13 that said: 

"At Mar a Lago this evening with my wife Maryann to attend a fundraiser featuring former ICE Director Tom Homan. He’s involved with a campaign designed to educate Americans to vote for border security and sovereignty in the 2022 and 2024 elections."