Seth Magaziner

Three candidates are running for Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District: Democrat Seth Magaziner and Republicans Vic Mellor and Dr. Stephen Skoly.

The candidates shared their views on key issues including energy costs, health care, food access, surveillance technology, and water infrastructure.

The winner of the Republican primary on September 9 will challenge the incumbent, Seth Magaziner, in the general election.

There's no shortage of color in this year's race for Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District.

Vic Mellor, who calls himself a proud "J6er" and recently relocated from Florida, has loaned his campaign millions and is literally lighting up Rhode Island with flashing LED billboard trucks.

Dr. Stephen Skoly, an oral surgeon who became a folk hero for Rhode Island conservatives when he defied the state's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, has been running a relatively low-key campaign by comparison. But he'll have the advantage of the Rhode Island GOP's endorsement when he faces Mellor in the Republican primary on Sept. 9.

The winner will go on to challenge U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner, a Democrat, in the general election.

The Providence Journal asked all three candidates to weigh in on issues, ranging from Flock cameras to fish.

Below, you'll find their written responses, presented in alphabetical order by last name.

Answers have been edited only to conform with style, and not for spelling or grammar. Additionally, each candidate was instructed to limit responses to 150 words for each question.

Would you support a new natural gas pipeline to New England through Pennsylvania and New York? If not, how would you propose addressing Rhode Island’s rising utility costs instead?

Seth Magaziner, Democrat: I am fighting in Congress to lower energy costs by getting more affordable clean energy including wind and solar onto the grid, working to crack down on runaway profits by the big energy companies, and fighting to end the Trump administration’s tariffs that are contributing to high energy prices by making grid upgrades more expensive. Natural gas will continue to be a significant part of Rhode Island’s energy mix for the foreseeable future, particularly for home heating, and natural gas infrastructure requires upgrades to ensure safety, and to improve reliability and affordability, but the best way to make energy more affordable and protect ratepayers from the volatile price swings of the commodity markets is to produce more clean energy here locally as quickly as possible.

Vic Mellor, Republican: I wholeheartedly support construction of the Constitution Pipeline as a much-needed component to reduce energy costs.

The Constitution pipeline received FERC approval in 2014 but was stalled by regulators in New York. This year reinstatement of the FERC certificate is once again being pursued. If approved, it would provide Rhode Island with a much-needed additional supply of natural gas beginning in 2027. When successfully completed, the pipeline will be a welcome factor in lowering winter heating costs and reducing the cost of electricity year-round, as our reliance on very expensive solar and wind sources will be reduced.

Rhode Island’s ratepayers need relief. The cost of electricity has increased 72% since 2014. Constrained supply is a major factor.

High energy costs hurt our residents, negatively impact our jobs climate and increase the cost of consumer goods and services. Bringing additional natural gas supply to our state will help all of us.

Dr. Stephen Skoly, Republican: Yes. And I'd go further.

Rhode Island makes about 87% of its electricity from natural gas. Our residential rate is running near 28 cents a kilowatt-hour against a national average of about 18. That isn't a mystery. It's a supply problem. In winter the fuel can't physically get here.

A pipeline helps, but it takes years and New York has to agree. There's a faster fix sitting in front of Congress. Federal law bars moving LNG between American ports on foreign ships, and there is not one American-built LNG tanker in service. So Boston buys gas from Trinidad while we ship our own gas to Europe.

Temporary waivers haven't moved a single domestic LNG cargo. Nobody signs a supply contract on a 90-day permission slip. Make the LNG exemption permanent.

Thousands of Rhode Islanders have lost access to health care because of changes to Medicaid and surging costs of health care. What policies will you advance to make health care more affordable in Rhode Island and secure funding for programs like Medicaid?

Magaziner: Every Rhode Islander should be able to find high quality care and afford to go to the doctor when they need to. I voted against the deep cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and and the Affordable Care Act that caused thousands in our state to lose their insurance, and premiums to skyrocket for thousands more. Instead of spending billions on unnecessary foreign wars, we should invest in better health care here at home. But while we must reverse those cuts, it is not enough to go just back to the previous status quo. Every American should be able to access primary care for free, the federal government should use the full scale of its influence to lower drug prices, and we must treat mental health with the same level of seriousness that we treat other health challenges.

Mellor: Obamacare is a failure. It has destroyed quality, accessibility and driven up costs.

I have been working with industry leaders, innovators and advocates to devise serious and practical policies to put patients in control of their health choices.

Earlier this year the president issued an executive order that launched two pillars of our framework. Most Favored Nation drug pricing ensures that Americans enjoy the lowest prices for prescriptions of any nation in the world. In fact, drug costs are lower today than at any time over the past 60 years.

Transparency in pricing is another pillar that gives patients control over where and how much they spend. As a result, costs of routine procedures are falling.

Health Savings Accounts are also part of the plan.

When elected, I will work to pass these reforms into law and give Americans the medical care they deserve.

Skoly: I've practiced here almost 40 years. Coverage isn't care. You can hand somebody an insurance card and still leave them with nobody to call.

Brown researchers count roughly 700 primary care providers for 1.1 million of us. About 343,000 Rhode Islanders have no primary care doctor. We need at least 300 more providers. Massachusetts pays about 30% more for the same office visit, so our doctors drive north.

Three things. Pass the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act, H.R. 4731. It adds 14,000 Medicare-funded residency slots, it's bipartisan, and it's just sitting there. Fix Medicare's physician payment formula, which hasn't tracked inflation in two decades. And release the FBI fingerprint authorization so the licensure compact Rhode Island passed in 2022 can finally function.

Chase documented billing fraud before you touch anybody's benefits.

Over one third of Rhode Island households report having trouble accessing nutritious food. Would you support expanding federal funding for programs that purchase underappreciated seafood from local fishermen and redistribute their catch to communities in need, and incentivize schools to include local fish on lunch menus?

Magaziner: I support restoring and expanding federal funding for programs that get more local seafood to hungry kids and families and expand markets for our fishermen. Specifically, I am fighting to restore the USDA’s Local Food Cooperative Agreement Program and Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, two successful programs that were abruptly ended by President Trump last year. These programs provided federal funding for states and schools to buy fresh local foods, including seafood, from nearby farmers and producers and distribute them to kids and other communities in need. I will keep fighting to restore these programs and to expand opportunities for local food producers to support their business by feeding communities in need.

Mellor: I would like to support our local fishermen and make nutritious and less expensive seafood available to all Rhode Islanders by looking at the forces that are working to make their catch more expensive and at the same time, allow foreign competitors to sidestep safety and beneficial food handling processes.

Recent scientific analysis shows that 62-65% of seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported, while 35-38% is produced domestically. Our fishermen would love to see that percentage reversed.

Much of the problem stems from regulations that the American fleet must follow, but foreign competitors are not. It puts our industry at a big disadvantage. It also drives up the cost to consumers.

When elected, I want to work with fishing associations to ease unnecessary and counterproductive rules, especially marine monument closures, observer mandates, and outdated data practices, to boost U.S. seafood production, lower costs, and strengthen domestic competitiveness.

Skoly: Yes, and Rhode Island already proved the idea works. The Commercial Fisheries Center in Wakefield has moved more than 330,000 pounds of scup, sea robin, whiting and bluefish to families who needed it. There's already a school pilot running with Farm Fresh and Tony's Seafood. And roughly 90% of what our boats land leaves the state.

So we have hungry families here and good fish going elsewhere. Fixing that is common sense, not charity.

My conditions are simple. Pay fishermen dock price, not a government discount. Cap administrative overhead so the money reaches boats and pantries instead of consultants. Simplify school procurement, because the obstacle in cafeterias is paperwork and processing capacity, not appetite.

USDA already has the authority. Expand it inside existing programs. Don't build a new agency around it.

Do we need national legislation to regulate surveillance cameras such as Flock?

Magaziner: We need strong and protective guardrails for all technologies that collect Americans’ data. I would support national legislation to ensure that data collected by systems such as Flock is handled properly, not sold for profit, or used inappropriately by federal agencies without local approval.

We have also seen how these systems can be a useful law enforcement tool to keep people safe and solve crimes, including the Brown University shooting. I believe that the ultimate decision of whether or not to use these technologies should be left up to local communities and not the federal government.

Mellor: I will always stand with law enforcement when it comes to giving them the tools and technology they need to do their job, keep us safe and stop the bad guys. Without the best equipment, they are put at a disadvantage in carrying out their vital mission to the people of our state.

In January 2026 Flock cameras were left wide open streaming live video of streets, playgrounds, and parking lots to the open internet with zero passwords, no encryption, and full archive access. Anyone could watch in real time and download weeks of footage.

What’s stopping foreign governments from doing the same right now? One unsecured feed hands our enemies a live window into American life.

We need strict regulations, mandatory encryption, no foreign contractor access, strict data deletion, and independent audits. Without national legislation, we could be handing our adversaries a live view of your neighborhood.

Skoly: Yes. And I say that as someone who wants police to have real tools.

The problem isn't the camera. It's that nobody voted on the rules. What happens to your travel history is currently decided by a vendor contract and a town council agenda item most people never saw. A network that logs where every car in Rhode Island goes, every day, and holds onto it, is a search waiting to happen with nobody signing a warrant.

Congress should set a floor. Warrant required before searching stored data. Automatic deletion after a short fixed window absent an active case. An audit log the public can actually review. No selling or sharing the data with third parties or foreign governments.

Representatives Self, Crane and Clyde have introduced a warrant bill. That's a reasonable starting point. States can go further.

One of the biggest barriers to dense development in Rhode Island and the Northeast is a lack of municipal sewer and water systems, or systems that need major maintenance or are at capacity. Congress turned on the taps in 1972 with the Clean Water Act, before ramping down cheap financing in 1987. What should be done to ensure the smallest state in the country stops relying on septic systems and private wells?

Magaziner: I am fighting to bring more federal funding home to Rhode Island for municipal water and sewer projects that allow more residents to connect to local water infrastructure as opposed to reliance on individual septic and well systems. These projects can be prohibitively expensive without federal resources. I recently secured Appropriations Committee passage of federal funding for the Town of Coventry to extend public sewer services to residents in the Tiogue Lake area. I am also part of a bipartisan effort to increase funding for the EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, which are the primary source of funding for the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank. I also support robust funding for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program, an EPA-operated bank that provides flexible, low-cost credit assistance to public and private borrowers.

Mellor: Municipal wastewater treatment systems have made Narragansett Bay, tributary rivers and our beaches cleaner and healthier.

The Act continues to force our communities to modernize failing systems and continuously improve water quality. Additionally, state legislation bans cesspools and requires these old systems to be upgraded. The state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund has provided over $1 billion in low interest financing for wastewater projects. These projects have been necessary and critical in those areas to prevent sewage discharges.

Where maintenance or upgrades are needed, the current system, perhaps augmented by federal funds when prudent, should be explored.

However, in rural areas septic systems are still the most viable and preferred choice. The cost to homeowners for conversion would be prohibitive and unnecessary. It might also lead to dense housing that would destroy the rural character.

Skoly: About a third of Rhode Island households are on septic or cesspool. You can't build housing on a leach field, so this is the zoning constraint nobody campaigns on.

Three things. Put the Clean Water State Revolving Fund back on the terms that built these systems originally: principal forgiveness and near-zero interest for small systems. A town of 12,000 cannot carry a market-rate loan for a treatment plant.

Second, fix WIFIA's minimum project size. It was written for big-city projects and it excludes nearly every Rhode Island municipality by design.

Third, tie the money to housing. If a town takes federal sewer dollars, it should permit the density that sewer makes possible. Otherwise we pay to build capacity and then forbid anyone from using it.

And shorten permitting. Four-year reviews on two-year projects cost real money.