Rhode Islanders deciding speaker's fate, state name change

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — It's election time again in the “calamari comeback state” of Rhode Island.

A statewide referendum that would shorten Rhode Island's official name and the Democratic House speaker's tight race for reelection will be dominating Tuesday's election in the Ocean State.

A glance at the races and issues Rhode Islanders are deciding:

PRESIDENT

Rhode Island has backed a Republican for the White House only four times — twice for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, once for Richard Nixon in 1972 and once for Ronald Reagan in 1984. Hillary Clinton won the state by more than 15 points over Donald Trump in 2016. Rhode Island has four electoral votes.

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U.S. SENATE

Longtime Democratic incumbent Sen. Jack Reed faces Republican challenger Allen Waters, a perennial candidate who mounted earlier unsuccessful campaigns for the state Senate and U.S. Senate in Massachusetts.

Reed, first elected to the Senate in 1996, is a senior member of the powerful Appropriations Committee and a ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. Rhode Island’s other U.S. senator, Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, isn’t up for reelection until 2024.

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HOUSE DISTRICT 1

Democratic Rep. David Cicilline, one of Trump’s harshest critics in Congress, faces independents Frederick Wysocki and Jeffrey Lemire in his bid for a fifth term. Cicilline, who's served five terms in the U.S. House, was mayor of Providence from 2003 to 2011, becoming the first openly gay chief executive of a U.S. state capital.

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HOUSE DISTRICT 2

Longtime Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin, the first quadriplegic lawmaker to serve in Congress, is up against Republican former state lawmaker Robert Lancia. Langevin first was elected to the House in 2000....