Jake Bissaillon
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Jake Bissaillon (Democratic Party) is a member of the Rhode Island State Senate, representing District 1. He assumed office on December 8, 2023. His current term ends on January 5, 2027.
Bissaillon (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Rhode Island State Senate to represent District 1. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Bissaillon completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Jake Bissaillon was born in Lynn, Massachusetts. Bissaillon earned a bachelor's degree and a graduate degree from Providence College in 2009 and 2010, respectively, and a J.D. from Roger Williams University School of Law in 2016. His career experience includes working in government.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Rhode Island State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Rhode Island State Senate District 1
Incumbent Jake Bissaillon won election in the general election for Rhode Island State Senate District 1 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jake Bissaillon (D)  | 95.4 | 5,694 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 4.6 | 274 | ||
| Total votes: 5,968 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Rhode Island State Senate District 1
Incumbent Jake Bissaillon advanced from the Democratic primary for Rhode Island State Senate District 1 on September 10, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jake Bissaillon | 100.0 | 611 |
| Total votes: 611 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
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Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Bissaillon in this election.
2023
See also: Rhode Island state legislative special elections, 2023
General election
Special general election for Rhode Island State Senate District 1
Jake Bissaillon defeated Niyoka Powell in the special general election for Rhode Island State Senate District 1 on November 7, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jake Bissaillon (D) | 82.8 | 904 |
 | Niyoka Powell (R) | 16.4 | 179 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.8 | 9 | ||
| Total votes: 1,092 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Special Democratic primary for Rhode Island State Senate District 1
Jake Bissaillon defeated Nathan Biah, Michelle Rivera, and Mario Mancebo in the special Democratic primary for Rhode Island State Senate District 1 on September 5, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jake Bissaillon | 53.4 | 752 |
 | Nathan Biah | 24.4 | 344 | |
| Michelle Rivera | 19.0 | 268 | ||
| Mario Mancebo | 3.2 | 45 | ||
| Total votes: 1,409 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Special Republican primary for Rhode Island State Senate District 1
Niyoka Powell advanced from the special Republican primary for Rhode Island State Senate District 1 on September 5, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Niyoka Powell | 100.0 | 18 |
| Total votes: 18 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jake Bissaillon completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bissaillon's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I came to Providence to attend Providence College (PC). PC fueled my passion for politics and public service. It was there that I rallied other students and city residents behind President Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign. As a student organizer tasked with recruiting volunteers to knock on doors in New Hampshire and make phone calls to Iowa, I learned how building a team to work toward a common goal can contribute to major victories. After graduating from PC with my MBA, I went to work as Chief of Staff to the Providence City Council. Since then, I have worked for both the House of Representatives and State Senate in leadership roles and presently oversee a staff of more than 50 employees.
- Housing is the single most pressing issue facing Providence and the State of Rhode Island, and I have a front row seat to it campaigning here in District 1. From the Charles Street encampments to the lack of access to traditional working class homeownership opportunities in Wanskuck, Senate District One is a perfect window in to the state’s housing crisis. I believe in a multifaceted approach to addressing this crisis, which is grounded in the reality that more than 20 new laws have been passed over the last two years to spur development. Taking that into account, I think now we need to expeditiously incentivize the development of affordable housing, workforce housing, and low-barrier entry housing. It’s not enough to make it easier to b
- We can strengthen public safety in Providence and Rhode Island by building sustainable and authentic relationships with public safety, which begins with increased transparency and accountability for our public safety officers and a return to neighborhood policing. We must curb access to firearms to prevent them from falling in to the wrong hands; such as, children, adults seeking to inflict harm on themselves or others, or those suffering mental health and substance use disorders. As legal counsel to the Senate Majority Leader, I helped to draft the state's Red Flag Law and a state statute that allows court's to disarm domestic abusers. Lastly, we must ban the sale of assault weapons and weapons of war.
- We can strengthen public education in Providence by returning our focus and investment to traditional public education. This starts with returning Providence Public Schools to the City of Providence, thereby increasing accountability and autonomy.
I would like to see our state continue down the path of criminal justice reform. One of the first initiatives I worked on when I began my career as an attorney was passing Justice Reinvestment. Justice Reinvestment was a compressive package of sentencing, parole, and probation reforms designed to: reduce recidivism, ensure justice-involved individuals receive the treatment they need, and save taxpayers dollars. I believe we need to build a more compassionate society and that begins by assisting, rather than criminalizing, non-violent individuals who are beholden to mental health disorders, substance abuse disorders, or a combination thereof.
My parents. Both of them were teachers, and they taught me the importance of being involved in my community from a very young age.
Our city and state's challenges center on the most basic elements of our daily life. Too many residents experience housing and food insecurity. A proliferation of guns on our streets leads to the mindless menace of violence that we seemingly read and hear about every day in our city. Our public schools languish as students struggle to catch up from the COVID-19 learning disruption, and our teachers struggle just to get by every day in the classroom. Improving our city and state starts with more housing, safer streets, and better schools.
I've worked with individuals from all walks of life, and I have come to appreciate that any lived experience is important to our legislative process. While it's helpful to have professional experience in public administration, there is no perfect resume for a legislator and I think that is what makes our democracy so vibrant and dynamic.
Yes. You can't get a bill turned into a law without building relationships with your colleagues.
Yes. During my time with the Providence City Council, the Rhode Island House of Representatives, and the Rhode Island Senate, I worked across party lines, ward boundaries, zip codes, and cities and towns to pass forward-thinking reforms to improve the lives of residents in Providence and throughout Rhode Island. From strengthening gun control measures, to raising wages, to protecting our environment, to improving quality of life in our city, and to building housing, I have fought to pass the most substantial reforms enacted into city and state law in recent memory. These reforms would not have been possible without compromise, which begins by meeting people where they are and working together openly and honestly towards a commonly understood positive outcome.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2023
Jake Bissaillon did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Rhode Island scorecards, email suggestions to [email protected].
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Rhode Island State Legislature was in session from January 2 to June 14.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Rhode Island State Senate District 1 |
Officeholder Rhode Island State Senate District 1 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on November 18, 2023
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Maryellen Goodwin (D) |
Rhode Island State Senate District 1 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
