







PROVIDENCE — Pedro Espinal, a real estate investor who owes more than $90,000 in property taxes, moved closer to the Ward 10 council seat Thursday night with a victory in the Democratic primary, prevailing in a campaign that underscored his record of renting out affordable apartments in the city.

Espinal collected 374 votes, thrashing three other competitors, including the second-place finisher, Natalia Rosa Sosa, who garnered 236 votes, according to unofficial results obtained from the Providence Board of Canvassers after the polls closed.

Espinal, who was endorsed by the Young Democrats of Rhode Island, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Espinal also defeated Orlando Correa who collected 205 votes and Monica Huertas who gathered 101 votes, according to an unofficial tally, encompassing mail ballots, provided by the board's clerk, Renay Brooks Omisore. No Republicans entered the race.

Espinal will face off on Nov. 5 against independent candidate Jeffrey Lemire.

July's resignation of former City Councilman Luis Aponte, a Democrat who represented the ward for 20 years, helped set the stage for the contest between Espinal and Lemire.

Aponte resigned after admitting to embezzling $13,942 from his campaign account between 2013 and 2015.

The race to represent Ward 10, which has a population of about 19,578 and consists of Lower South Providence and Washington Park, drew the attention of the entire city.

Lemire is a self-employed scrap-metal worker who spoke throughout his campaign about what he sees as rampant corruption in the city. He has mounted two unsuccessful campaigns for mayor and raised $0.

During his primary bout, Espinal faced his own controversies, including the fact that he owes around $93,332 in property taxes to the city.

All four Democrats in the primary voiced opposition to a proposal for placing a 24-hour nightlife district along Allens Avenue. Board of Licenses Chairman Dylan Conley has pitched the district as a way to mitigate ongoing nightlife issues in the city.

Affordable housing and gentrification were other themes of the race in a ward where constituents make less than residents of other parts of the city and renters are more cost burdened.

The median household income for Washington Park is around $34,000 and around $25,000 for Lower South Providence, according to the latest data from the Opportunity Atlas, a tool that uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The median household income citywide is about $37,366, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In three of the five census tracts covered by Ward 10, over 70% of renters are considered cost burdened, meaning their housing costs exceed 30% of their income, according to Housing Works Rhode Island, a housing research agency within Roger Williams University. Citywide, 55% of renters are considered cost burdened.

Rosa Sosa, a law assistant and former member of the Providence School Board, campaigned on improving residents’ quality of life in the neighborhood.

Huertas, a social worker and activist, ran on a promise to clean up the Providence port. She was endorsed by former Rhode Island Secretary of State and candidate for governor Matt Brown’s progressive group, “R.I. Political Cooperative.”

Correa, a union iron worker, was endorsed by around 30 unions and named rent control and bringing more job opportunities to the ward as some of his top priorities.

The race also turned thorny at times when members of the Rosa Sosa and Espinal campaigns accused each other of inappropriate activities around mail ballots.

In a complaint filed with the Board of Canvassers, an anonymous complainant accused members of Rosa Sosa’s campaign of knocking on doors in a low-income apartment complex and “pushing” residents to hand in their mail ballots. It also said that people “claiming to be from Pedro’s team” were there asking people for mail ballots.

The board sent that complaint to the Providence Police Department for investigation.

Another complaint, filed by Rosa Sosa on Tuesday, is directed at Espinal. In the complaint, Rosa Sosa says that Espinal took the mail ballot of a woman who lives in the Oxford Garden apartment building and “voided it,” telling her that she had filled it out wrong and that he would get her another one. Espinal denied the accusation. He said it was the woman who told his campaign volunteers that she had messed up her own ballot and wanted a new one.

The Providence Board of Canvassers will take up the complaint in a meeting on Friday.

Espinal captured far more mail ballots than his competitors, 117, according to unofficial results. They helped propel him to victory, but they were not decisive.

Jennifer Rourke, co-chair of the R.I. Political Cooperative, issued a statement after the results were announced, saying the cooperative was proud to fight for and with Huertas. "Monica’s campaign was about solving the problems people in her community are facing — making sure they have affordable housing, a living wage and good schools for their children. Those are the things Monica has always fought for and will continue to fight for," the statement said.