The Political Graveyard: Providence, Rhode Island

2010 Sep 14: Angel Taveras (Dem), nominated; John J. Lombardi (Dem), defeated in primary; Steven M. Constantino (Dem), defeated in primary; Christopher F. Young (Dem), defeated in primary.

2010 Nov 2: Angel Taveras (Dem), elected; Jonathan P. Scott (Ind), defeated.

2014 Sep 9: Jorge Elorza (Dem), nominated; Michael A. Solomon (Dem), defeated in primary; Christopher F. Young (Dem), defeated in primary; Brett Smiley (Dem), defeated in primary.

2014 Nov 4: Jorge Elorza (Dem), elected; Buddy Cianci (Ind), defeated; Daniel S. Harrop III (Rep), defeated.

2018 Sep 12: Jorge Elorza (Dem), nominated; Kobi Jason Dennis (Dem), defeated in primary; Robert A. DeRobbio (Dem), defeated in primary.

2018 Nov 6: Jorge Elorza (Dem), elected; Dianne S. Witman (Ind), defeated; Jeffrey E. Lemire (Ind), defeated.

2022 Sep 13: Brett Smiley (Dem), nominated; Gonzalo Cuervo (Dem), defeated in primary; Nirva R. LaFortune (Dem), defeated in primary.

2022 Nov 8: Brett Smiley (Dem), elected unopposed.

Postmasters at Providence, 1792-1986 (may be incomplete!)
William Wilkinson 1792-1802 Benjamin West 1802-13 Gabriel Allen 1813-24 Bennett H. Wheeler 1824-31 Edward J. Mallett 1831-45 Welcome B. Sayles 1845-49 Henry L. Bowen 1849-53 Welcome B. Sayles 1853-58 Albert S. Gallup 1858-61 Walter C. Simmons 1861-65 Ephraim S. Jackson 1865-74 Charles R. Brayton 1874-80 Henry W. Gardner 1880-87 Charles H. George 1887-95 Richard Hayward 1895-1901 Clinton D. Sellew 1901-09 Walter A. Kilton 1909-17 Edward F. Carroll 1917-21 Walter A. Kilton 1921-33 Edward F. Carroll 1933-34 Edward F. Carroll 1934-42 Michael F. Coyne 1942 Michael F. Coyne 1942-45 Raymond A. Creegan 1945-46 Raymond A. Creegan 1946-61 Harry Kizirian 1961 Harry Kizirian 1961-86

Collectors of Customs at Providence, 1829-1951 (may be incomplete!)
Walter R. Danforth 1829-41 Gideon Bradford as of 1854 James Shaw, Jr. 1870-77 Cyrus Harris as of 1879-81 Gorham P. Pomroy as of 1891 George W. Gardiner as of 1909 Frank E. Fitzsimmons as of 1917 Emery J. San Souci 1923-32 Joseph J. Cunningham as of 1941 Louis T. Rocheleau as of 1946-51

U.S. Collectors of Internal Revenue at Providence, 1879-1951 (may be incomplete!)
Elisha H. Rhodes as of 1879 George F. O. Shaunessy as of 1919 Frank A. Page as of 1927-32 Joseph V. Broderick as of 1941 Farrell D. Coyle as of 1946-51

"Enjoy the hospitable entertainment of a political graveyard."
Henry L. Clinton, Apollo Hall, New York City, February 3, 1872

The Political Graveyard is a web site about U.S. political history and cemeteries. Founded in 1996, it is the Internet's most comprehensive free source for American political biography, listing 338,260 politicians, living and dead.

	The coverage of this site includes (1) the President, Vice President, members of Congress, elected state and territorial officeholders in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories; and the chief elected official, typically the mayor, of qualifying municipalities; (2) candidates at election, including primaries, for any of the above; (3) all federal judges and all state appellate judges; (4) certain federal officials, including the federal cabinet, diplomatic chiefs of mission, consuls, U.S. district attorneys, collectors of customs and internal revenue, members of major federal commissions; and political appointee (pre-1969) postmasters of qualifying communities; (5) state and national political party officials, including delegates, alternate delegates, and other participants in national party nominating conventions; (6) Americans who served as "honorary" consuls for other nations before 1950. Note: municipalities or communities "qualify", for Political Graveyard purposes, if they have at least half a million person-years of history, inclusive of predecessor, successor, and merged entities.
	The listings are incomplete; development of the database is a continually ongoing project.
	Information on this page — and on all other pages of this site — is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed. Users are advised to check with other sources before relying on any information here.
	The official URL for this page is: https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/RI/ofc/providence.html .
	Links to this or any other Political Graveyard page are welcome, but specific page addresses may sometimes change as the site develops.
	If you are searching for a specific named individual, try the alphabetical index of politicians.
Copyright notices: (1) Facts are not subject to copyright; see Feist v. Rural Telephone. (2) Politician portraits displayed on this site are 70-pixel-wide monochrome thumbnail images, which I believe to constitute fair use under applicable copyright law. Where possible, each image is linked to its online source. However, requests from owners of copyrighted images to delete them from this site are honored. (3) Original material, programming, selection and arrangement are © 1996-2025 Lawrence Kestenbaum. (4) This work is also licensed for free non-commercial re-use, with attribution, under a Creative Commons License.
What is a "political graveyard"? See Political Dictionary; Urban Dictionary.
Site information: The Political Graveyard is created and maintained by Lawrence Kestenbaum, who is solely responsible for its structure and content. — The mailing address is The Political Graveyard, P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106. — This site is hosted by HDLmi.com. — The Political Graveyard opened on July 1, 1996; the last full revision was done on February 17, 2025.