(pensive music) - Rhode Island is a project for Republicans.

If we have a strategic plan with a vision that is long-term, I think we could be effective.

- Welcome to "One on One."

I'm Ian Donnis.

Rhode Island Republicans have not won a statewide election since 2006, and the party holds just 14 of 113 General Assembly seats.

So, can a new generation of Republicans change the landscape in the years ahead?

Chairman of the Rhode Island Young Republicans, Ken Naylor Jr., joins us to discuss that.

(pensive music) Chairman of the Rhode Island Young Republicans, Ken Naylor Jr., welcome to "One on One."

- Thank you and thank you for having me and the opportunity.

- Ken, let's start with your effort to build the farm team for the Republican Party in Rhode Island.

Take me through your thinking on what this will mean for the future of the GOP over the next five or 10 years.

- Yeah, there's a short-term approach to it and a long-term approach to it.

It's much deeper than just finding candidates, whether that be on the local level for School Committee, Town Council, State Representative.

We need an aggressive field program going into the election cycle.

We need to talk to voters.

We need to make sure that they know who the candidates are and we also want to ensure that we can get that lower-propensity Republican that doesn't usually come out to vote.

We are laser-focused on trying to make sure that they come out and vote in the upcoming election cycles.

- One area you focused on is increasing the number of statewide chapters of the Young Republicans by city and town.

How has that number changed from the time when you signed on as chairman?

- It's running steady.

I have realized that it is a lot when you are taking on and developing these cities and towns.

And the other side of it is it's great because you're giving individuals responsibility and leadership roles on a smaller level to develop, and then you see them go and they either run for office, you see them go and work for campaigns, how to learn how to do a press release, learn how to do outreach, learn how to run for office.

So there is a lot of moving that goes behind the scenes with that because people take this as kind of a stepping stone, rightfully so, which is what the YRs are, and apply these skill sets that they learned in other areas.

- How many Young Republican chapters are there around Rhode Island now?

- I think right now, it's eight or nine.

- To come back to my initial analogy of your efforts being like a farm team for a Major League Baseball team, the idea is to grow the talent of the future.

If things go according to your plans or hopes, what would this mean as far as Republican candidates in future elections?

- Well, again, it's looking at a variety of things.

We obviously want to bring on more candidates and give voters options, no matter the district that they're in.

So the hope is I am always an advocate of running for School Committee and Town Council.

Get your name out there and start developing that network for you to run.

You run for a School Committee, then you go for State Rep, then you maybe think about running for that gubernatorial race when you have a proven track record, or maybe Congress.

But I do believe that if you start low enough and you do it organically and build up, I think the success rate is going to be very high for candidates at that point.

- Your organization recently posted on social media about some of your campaign efforts as this campaign year is getting more active.

Your organization talked about more phone banking, door knocking, messaging via text and email.

Are the Young Republicans more active at this point than the statewide Republican Party as a whole?

- I think we have different focuses right now.

We are focused with the YRs on bringing in young people to run an effective field program.

Right now, it is succeeding.

We just had Lawrence Almagno who is running for Representative Patricia Serpa's seat in West Warwick.

She is leaving.

That leaves an open seat, to my knowledge, that there is still nobody that has announced on the Democratic side that is going to run for that.

So, we went out there, we knocked doors, it was great.

We captured data, and again, we're focused on low-propensity voters and turning them out.

Early next month, Jasmin Roy, who is running as well, we will be out there supporting her.

We're gonna be in South County.

We're gonna be all over the place.

We'll be back for Lawrence as well, so... - To pull back and look at the statewide picture, we know how Republicans like to criticize the long-term leadership of Democrats in Rhode Island.

There are any number of problems or failures of state government.

They can point to the Washington Bridge, the state payroll system, et cetera.

Despite that, voters continue to really overwhelmingly support Democrats in Rhode Island.

What's your explanation for that?

- I think we have to do a better job of priming the electorate.

I think we need to get our message out there.

I think, too often, we see too many seats that go with no Republican running.

Look, I also believe that we should have a candidate running for Providence mayor as a Republican.

And I say that and some people go, "There's no way a Republican can win."

And I would never say, "Never," but when you run for an office like that and you run, it gives candidates a platform to get the message out and what that Republican message is.

I think a lot of people are starting to want a little bit more checks and balances in the state, but at the end of the day, we need to make sure that we have candidates out there that are helping the Republican Party priming these voters.

And now, for one thing, we do a lot with outreach.

As you mentioned, we do our phone banks and text messages.

Not all that is just done on behalf of events and/or candidates.

We do a very... I'm gonna be careful how I use the word poll.

Something that we create on an internal side that we send out for people to click off issues that are important to them, what they care about.

And we do target that towards the 18 to 40, and in hopes in return, we do see people join the organization as a result of that as well.

So what my vision is, is making sure that we're touching all voters inside the state.

I don't wanna stay ancillary.

I think we need to keep getting the issues out there.

It's tricky.

It's a culmination of a media, like we're doing here today, to talk.

It is a culmination of phone banking, door knocking, and text blast, emails, social media.

But it's all a puzzle, and the puzzle pieces have to all plug in perfectly for that to work.

- I think we can agree that Democrats have a number of institutional advantages in Rhode Island.

At the same time, the State Republican Party has failed to field legislative candidates in a number of pro-Trump districts, in conservative pockets around Rhode Island.

So, does the state GOP bear some responsibility for its own marginalization?

- It's tough to say.

Looking back, it's tough.

I don't know how many Republican candidates are actually running at this time, which is very sad to say.

We have started, we've done our own outreach efforts as well.

Alex Asermely, we recruited to run back there during a special election when President Ruggerio ultimately passed, and he's running it again.

So it's good to see him try to give another bite at the apple, if you will.

But it's tough to say, we've seen a lot of losses over the past few years.

So, it's not always easy to tell a Republican, "Look, you're gonna come out.

I know what it looks like in the past."

But I do believe if you work hard, if you hit the doors, you can win.

I believe that you also have to be realistic.

When a candidate says that they want to run for office and I have those conversations, I tell them, "Look, you need to raise 10 to $15,000."

- For a legislative level.

- Yeah, legislative, I'm sorry.

Governor, well, we're talking millions.

But on the legislative level, that's a big number to chew on, right?

And right now, Rhode Island is being crushed.

It's unaffordable.

So when you put that in there, sure, everybody wants to make a difference and do public service.

But when you're talking about those numbers and the commitment that it takes, it's tough, so... - Ken, you're the Chairman of the Young Republicans, I believe you're 28 years old.

What has it been like for you as a young person to grow up, come of age in Rhode Island, and see what it's been like as Republicans have basically treaded water in the legislature for a long time and not won a statewide race since 2006?

- Look, I grew up in a very Democratic household, union household.

I've had my own personal disagreements with family and/or friends.

I got involved in 2020, and look, what I like about Rhode Island and what I care about.

I've worked in other states.

I went to Georgia, I went to Virginia.

I believe that there is potential for Rhode Island.

Rhode Island is a project for Republicans.

And I believe that if we have a 10-year plan, and it's gonna take time, it's not gonna be overnight.

If we have a strategic plan with a vision that is long-term, I think we could be effective.

I'm not saying it's hopeless at all.

I do believe that there is hope for Republicans, but Republicans have to sit still.

We have to brace for what is coming.

It's not going to be easy for the next few years.

I think we have to be realistic for that.

But if we stick to a plan, I think we will see the ramifications and the results of that soon, hopefully.

- You say you grew up in a Democratic household.

What was it that led you to become a Republican?

- So, I... Let me be careful here 'cause I worked for a municipality.

It was a very Democratic city at the time.

And I saw kind of the interworkings in the background of very low-level politicking.

And that kind of raised my curiosity.

And then, at one point, I had ran into a couple people, and I went to my first Republican meeting.

There, I met Madame Susie Yankee, who was the Chairwoman at the time, and I told her I wanted to get involved.

I did look around the room and I said, "I think I can contribute with the Young Republicans.

I want to help, I want to bring people in."

And since then, it's become a passion.

And we have events, and there's been a few times where people have come up to me and thanked me for putting these on.

And although it's not me, it's a team of people we have, that's very fulfilling, so... - Let's talk about the issue of Inspector General legislators, mostly Republicans, for many, many years, have been proposing this.

The concept has not really gone anywhere.

And then recently, the newly elected House Speaker, Chris Blazejewski, put his support behind creating an Office of Inspector General in a very unexpected way.

And now, it seems very likely to happen.

Do you think Republicans missed an opportunity to use more creativity or different tactics to try and build public support for this concept before Speaker Blazejewski ran with the idea?

- No, I think that it came from a place, and that place was Republicans vying for this to happen.

And I do have to give kudos that it happened.

Was it pure intentions by the new speaker?

Tough to say.

He certainly made a splash when he announced this.

I was driving down to Delaware when the news broke and I pulled over 'cause I was curious.

Ironically, Dan Yorke was on at the time and he's the one that broke it.

And look, I wonder the intentions behind it, but I think it is good for Rhode Island.

I think it is a win for Republicans because Leader Chippendale, Leader de la Cruz, have fought tooth and nail for this office.

And I think everybody should be happy, no matter what the reason is, the narrative, we now hopefully will have an Inspector General to hold the state accountable.

And I think that's a big win.

- Democrats like Speaker Blazejewski hold the upper hand in moving forward these kind of ideas.

But I want to come back to my point that, as the minority party, Republicans can't just move legislation, they don't have the numbers.

Is there a way that Republicans can use the bully pulpit in a bigger and better way to build more public support for the kind of reforms that the Republican Party might support or initiatives?

What do you say to that?

- I think that Leader Chippendale and Leader de la Cruz are doing a phenomenal job trying to get their platforms out there and their message, and they are getting people behind them daily.

They don't take their foot off the gas, they're chipping away on a variety of different issues.

And again, it was the same thing with the Inspector General.

They pushed and pushed for it.

Whether it was newsletters, social media, press conferences, they didn't let their foot off the gas.

There was phone calls, I'm sure, that was made to state reps and senators in different districts, where constituents reached out and said, "I'm curious about this, I think this is a good thing."

So, I think they're doing a fantastic job.

It's not always easy for a Republican to get legislation through.

But, on the same token, I think when you produce legislation on the Republican side and you present it, and if it does get shot down, I think that is an opportunity to showcase this to the general public of, "Look, we tried to do this to help you.

It was unfortunately rejected.

This is why we want you to step up and get involved, whether that be run for office, or donate, or volunteer for a candidate, anything."

- This is an election year, and all 113 members of the General Assembly need to run for reelection.

We see how President Trump's approval rating is down and a lot of Americans disapprove of his handling of economic issues with the price of gas being up.

Are you concerned that that's gonna be an adverse factor for Republicans in Rhode Island this year?

- No, absolutely not, because I think we have been seeing a affordability issue in Rhode Island from the years of Democratic control.

I mean, we're approaching a decade of Democratic control in Rhode Island.

But it's tough.

We have to look at it at a bigger picture, right?

We have to look at Rhode Island almost like the electoral map of the country, right, during the presidential election.

There will be areas that we do good, there will be areas that we don't perform well.

I think we have to look at it and think, "Look, there are districts that Trump won, there was districts where he outperformed."

Now, there's another conversation to be had about the down ticket.

And if we had a candidate there, why the candidate didn't keep up.

But I think it depends on the areas.

West Warwick was very competitive for Donald Trump, Coventry as well, and there's a variety of different areas.

So if we have candidates that are gonna run, who knows what's gonna happen?

A lot of people were concerned in 2024 when President Trump ran for reelection.

And look, it wasn't as bad as people thought.

So, we picked up a couple seats in the Republican Party, and hopefully we can keep riding off that momentum.

- Ken, how would you define what success would look like for Rhode Island Republicans this election year?

- I think we have to do incumbent protection and we need to pick up more seats, but not just General Assembly and State Senate.

I think it comes down to School Committee and Town Council.

Look, my focus right now, it is geared towards candidate recruitment, trying to fundraise and build a great organization that is sustainable to help candidates.

We need the candidates there to support them.

But it's a variety of factors.

I wanna make sure that the YRs are in a good foundational place, that there's candidates, and we are supporting them.

- A new right-leaning group, the League of Rhode Island Businesses, has prioritized fundraising to support its efforts to shake up the General Assembly this year.

What kind of impact do you expect that group to make in elections?

- I think their intentions were very good.

I think that they're doing a great job of fundraising.

There is no doubt about that.

And look, there are a lot of small business owners that are feeling the pressure of the economy right now in this state.

So, I think it's a really good thing.

Now, granted, my focus again is I wanna see a lot of Republicans run.

I wanna see them get funded.

I know that there's a lot of primaries that are taking place.

But again, my focus is really on the Republican side and working with the candidates that they're supporting on that front 'cause, again, I wanna make sure that we have Republicans out there and giving alternatives, even in districts that we don't feel are winnable.

At certain points, we have to start moving the needle.

So, to do that, we need to make sure that we have candidates out there running full force and getting the message out there and amplifying it.

- You lost a very narrow election for State Republican Chairman in January to Allyn Meyers.

You lost by 11 votes.

What difference does it make?

How would the statewide party be different if you were leading it instead of Allyn Meyers?

- Well, Allyn has just stepped in.

He has a few months under his belt.

It's to be seen, right?

He's not really from here.

He kind of just moved here not too long ago.

- From Massachusetts.

- From Massachusetts.

So, there is a piece of it where you gotta really know the Rhode Island culture, right, to really understand it.

But right now, I am ecstatic for how the YRs are doing.

We just had a record-breaking fundraising quarter, if my numbers are correct.

I believe we outraised the state party last quarter from individual contributions and donors.

Granted, they had some RNC money come in.

I'm talking strictly from donations that we've raised.

- And what was that amount?

- We were right 7,500.

I was right under 7,500, I believe.

Yeah, under 7,500.

I think it was 74 or 73.

We have a great Treasury that's on top of it, so I don't have to worry too, too much about it.

But we're gonna keep going.

Look, we just hired a Field Director.

We are serious, we brought in a national speaker, we are hosting events, we are doing Days of Action.

I'm incredibly proud of the work that we're doing with the YRs.

But we all have to succeed.

Allyn needs to succeed because if he succeeds, and I'm sure you saw my release the night of that election.

And I said it plainly, I said that we have to hope that Allyn succeeds 'cause if he succeeds, the state party succeeds, then the state succeeds, and the YR succeeds on top of that.

So, we're gonna see what happens over the coming months.

He's made a lot of promises, but we have a lot going with the YRs and we're very proud of the work that we're doing between my Vice Chair, Justin Lake, our National Committee Member, Committeewoman Lex Bonner, we have a new National Committeeman, Nick Lambos, and then Ryan Reid as our Secretary.

We have a really good team.

Our Field Director is working extremely hard, Matthew Gagnon, to make sure that we're facilitating Days of Action.

And we're doing a volunteer outreach to support these candidates.

- Last year, when Charlie Kirk was assassinated, your organization, the Rhode Island Young Republicans, put out a joint statement with the Rhode Island Young Democrats condemning what had happened and calling for renewed commitment to civic respect and civility.

How did that come together?

- I was actually sitting at work and it touched me.

You never wanna see political violence.

At that point, I had to dig deep to find a contact for the Young Democrats and I reached out to them.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to take credit 'cause they were just as eager to do it as well.

But we came together, we worked through the press release.

We wanted to make sure that this wasn't just political.

We had to do something bigger.

I think a lot of times, when incidences like this happen, we craft these press releases.

And it's so easy to do that, right?

Carefully scalped, carefully worded, making sure the message is getting across.

But after a certain point, I feel like they start to become empty, and it lacks that substance.

I don't want to just send a press release 'cause I feel like I need to because of the incident that happened.

I want to make a real difference.

And I think it touched a lot of people, myself and the Young Dems.

There was national coverage that came around to it.

So, it was great to see that.

It was great that we could collab on that.

Not too long ago, we had a roundtable discussion with you, with Autumn.

Yeah.

and it shows that- - From the Young Democrats.

- From the Young Democrats.

It shows that sometimes, it's... Well, it's always okay to come together, and to talk about issues, and to condemn something like what unfortunately happened to Charlie Kirk.

- To your point, are there other opportunities for the Young Democrats and the Young Republicans, despite their sharp differences of view, to work together on other issues or perhaps an ongoing effort to try and discourage political violence and represent a different viewpoint on that?

- Yeah, and look, I think it does go much deeper than just Republicans and Democrats coming together on joint releases or joint events.

I would love to collaborate with something with them in the future and talk about issues.

And again, when you do things like that, even putting that situation aside where the unfortunate assassination of Charlie Kirk, it gives an audience a way of seeing people come to a table and point differences out from both sides of the table.

So, I think it's important.

- To come back to the present, I forgot to ask you a question about the war in Iran.

President Trump clearly did not account for Iran's ability to close the Strait of Hormuz.

Were you surprised by that?

- Look, I think Donald Trump has always showed posture when it's come to Iran.

I think there's a lot of stakes when it comes to this war.

A war is never a good thing, right?

But in the best interest of American lives, I think that it's not lost on most people that Iran is a threat.

But again, I am solely focused on the YRs and making sure that we're focused on state issues going into this crucial election.

Donald Trump's not up for reelection coming into this election cycle, but there's a lot of stakes going on right now, and we're gonna see how it plays out.

But a lot of people voted for Trump to make the best decisions.

He did win the election to guide us through these times, so.

- Closer to home to Republicans, Victor Mellor and Steven Scully are in a primary running for the chance to square off against Democratic Second District Congressman Seth Magaziner in November.

Mellor is more full MAGA.

Scully seems a little more grounded in the conventional GOP in Rhode Island.

How do you see what is at stake in that primary between the two Republicans?

- I think one of them will end up matching up against Seth Magaziner.

And look, there are things in place, right?

So you have... The Rhode Island Republican Party has an SCC, the State Central Committee, where they come together and they do the endorsement.

Then, you have the electorate base of the primary where the actual voters will come out that are Republican, and they will vote on who they want to represent them in this upcoming election.

That's what it's about.

People have asked me my thoughts on this race or who I might be pulling for or who I'm rooting for.

I think by me speaking on it too much, it undermines the actual process at stake with it.

I don't think one candidate should be getting favoritism for any race, right?

You can talk about the gubernatorial race as well.

One thing that is clear, and I've made it clear to all them, if Mr.

Mellor called me, if Dr.

Scully called me, if Elaine Pelino called me, if Aaron Guckian called me, I offer them the same help that I possibly can.

The YRs do not get involved in primaries, and in our bylaws, we actually can't.

We aren't allowed to anyway.

But, after the primary, we're gonna begin to help and support whoever the Rhode Island Republicans elect that they wanna see represent them.

So it'll be interesting to see, but we still have a process.

I don't wanna undermine it by saying who I would support in that.

- Ken, do you have an out-of-the-box idea to move Rhode Island forward?

- I think of different things all the time that could help Rhode Island, and what ties back is always making sure that young Rhode Islanders don't leave after college.

Again, we are seeing far too many people leave.

- What would you do about that?

- I've had talk with legislators before, it's something I had brought up, was potentially doing some kind of tax breaks for college students that are recently graduating to retain them and keep them in Rhode Island.

Now, the other side of that is you have to be able to provide jobs, you have to be able to provide security.

With the rising minimum wage, you can make the case that that's also causing businesses to leave to go to more areas.

We're just simply not competitive.

But again, we have an ocean pour, a trains, we have a highway, you name it, we have it all here.

We just have to take a better advantage of those resources.

- Speaking of having it all here, to close on a lighter side, we're coming up on summer.

What is a perfect Rhode Island summer day for you?

- Well, there is a spot up in Narraganset over in George's.

They have a private little beach back there.

It is wonderful to go to.

For any gentleman that are listening, if they want to take their young lady or take their significant other out, I definitely recommend going there to George's over in Galilee to their private little tiki bar, if you will, and sit under the lights, listen to live music.

But it's a beautiful site over there, seeing the ferries and the boats come in, so... - Chairman of the Rhode Island Young Republicans, Ken Naylor, Jr., thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you for having me, and you can go to riyrs.com to find out more information.

My email is chair@riyrs.

Feel free to reach out anytime and don't ever hesitate to get involved.

(pensive music) - Thanks for watching "One on One" with me, Ian Donnis.

You can find all of our past interviews on the YouTube channel for Ocean State Media.

We'll see you next week.

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