This week we continue our profiles of progressive candidates running for office in 2024! Today we are featuring Sam Bell, who is a democratic socialist Rhode Island State Senator. Outside of his legislative career, Sam (he/him) is a planetary geophysicist studying impact cratering. His Senate district represents parts of Rhode Island’s capital, Providence. He is most passionate about healthcare, housing, and fighting poverty. Sam and his wife Samantha are both openly bisexual and are proud parents to their 2-year-old son Jacob.

Where are you based?
I live in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island.

What is your position/what position are you running for?
I represent parts of Providence in the Rhode Island State Senate.

How would you briefly summarize your platform?
Above all else, I’m committed to building a Rhode Island that works for everyone, not just the wealthy and well-connected. That means rebuilding our shattered social safety net, fighting back against health insurance companies that deny our neighbors lifesaving care, ensuring that everyone has a safe place to live, and standing up against economic policies that let the rich prosper off the suffering of the poor and the middle class. It means standing up to bigotry, hatred and discrimination in all forms and working to dismantle systems of inequality that deny members of marginalized communities the opportunities everyone deserves. And it means holding firm to our community’s values rather than succumbing to the corrupting influence of the corporate lobbyists.

What inspired you to run?
My parents and grandparents raised me to be proud to be an American and to believe that our country should give everyone a good life — safe and affordable housing, strong public schools, robust healthcare, and freedom from discrimination. They taught me that we should never ignore those in most dire need to benefit a wealthy few. That’s why I am a Democrat. When I saw how flagrantly Rhode Island politicians were going against these principles, I knew I couldn’t stand on the sidelines. From electing a pro-life Speaker and Senate President to passing the second-largest tax cuts for the rich that any state has ever passed, the so-called Democrats in our General Assembly were undercutting everything our party is supposed to stand for. I became an activist, and then, in 2018, I was elected to the State Senate for the first time.

What change are you hoping to bring to your district, state, and country?
As discussed above, I’m committed to building a healthcare system that works for all Rhode Islanders instead of the health insurance companies and their lobbyists, ensuring that every single person in our state has access to safe, affordable housing, and continuing to fight against tax cuts for the rich. I am also dedicated to fighting against the rising tide of hatred that our immigrant and LGBTQ neighbors face — two issues that are deeply personal to me as a bisexual man and descendant of Holocaust refugees. We also have so much work to do in the fight against systemic racism and the climate crisis. As a product of public schools, I will always fight for public education, which is under attack in our city like never before. I don’t promise my constituents that I will win on every issue, but I do promise I will fight as hard as I possibly can.

How long have you been in office? What do you consider to be your major accomplishments so far?
I’m running for my fourth two-year term this year. In my first six years in office, we’ve stopped the relentless parade of brutal Medicaid cuts, and now we’re starting to repeal them. My intern and I discovered how Rhode Island had been turning away an average of $197 million a year in federal funding to build affordable housing, and since we released our report and worked with various stakeholders to start taking the federal funds, the volume of affordable housing investment has dramatically increased. Most importantly, we have made the Rhode Island Senate much less right wing. We’ve made it much more of a normal Democratic chamber — still with plenty of flaws, but on a more normal level. That’s meaningful progress, but it’s certainly not enough. We did it by standing up to the right-wing leadership and forcing them to move on policy. Had we been afraid to fight, we never would have won a $15 minimum wage, legalized cannabis, passed a high-capacity magazine ban, repealed the cuts in state aid to Providence, or made progress on countless other issues.

What do you feel are the most important issues right now, why, and how do you plan to tackle them?
The most important issues to me are healthcare, housing, and economic justice.

Healthcare isn’t just an abstract issue to me: my wife Samantha, my son Jake and I all suffer from rare and serious conditions. For far too long, Rhode Island leaders passed brutal Medicaid cuts, leading to heartrending and entirely preventable tragedies. I’m proud to have led the charge to stop the cuts and begin reversing them during my time in office — but there’s so much more work to do and no time to waste. Ultimately, we need Medicare for All.

The housing crisis is one of the most serious problems my constituents face. Our lack of affordable units in Rhode Island is a self-imposed predicament m— the state has turned away more than $1.5 billion in federal funds for affordable housing in the last decade. When it comes to low-income housing, the feds have authorized us to build 731 new units of public housing that we refuse to build. The housing subsidies the state has provided have primarily benefited luxury developers rather than low-income families in dire need, which is absurd and must be changed.

In 2006, Rhode Island passed the biggest tax cut for the rich of any state other than North Dakota. When the 2008 financial crisis hit, the consequences were disastrous. They tried to make similar cuts at the height of the pandemic recession, and I am so glad we were able to stop most of the cuts. And now, in 2024, there’s a proposal–yet again backed primarily by Democrats–to codify a major provision of the Trump tax cuts into state law. I will never support efforts to slash our state budget and line the pockets of the rich. It will always be our most vulnerable neighbors who suffer.

America is extremely divided these days. How would you hope to bridge that divide with your constituents to better unite Americans?
The biggest issues I care about — corruption at the State House, the housing crisis, the dire state of our healthcare system, and cruel budget cuts that prevent us from supporting the folks who need it the most — matter to people in both parties. It’s about building a stronger state for every single one of us. Most of my Democratic colleagues in the Senate vote however the leadership tells them to, even if they know it’s wrong. I don’t think that’s right. I’d much rather stand up for what I believe in than blindly vote the party line. I’ve voted against the leadership more than any other Democrat, and I’m proud of that. We have to do what’s right instead of blindly following the party establishment.

How would you foresee your unique identity and background to be an asset to you in office?
My family’s struggles with our broken healthcare system motivate me deeply. My wife has type-1 diabetes, I have hereditary spastic paraplegia, and our son has FARS2 mitochondrial disease. What we’ve been through has not just helped me understand broader policy issues. Most of the day to day work of a state Senator is helping the people you represent navigate life challenges that intersect with state programs. So many of my constituents’ most serious challenges involve healthcare, and our experiences have made me better able to help the people I represent.

Also, as a bisexual, I’m also personally invested in standing up against hatred and discrimination. No matter how much money Republicans funnel into our state to fund operatives spreading bigotry, I won’t rest until we’ve secured full equality for all. And I’ll remain vigilant against efforts to reverse the hard-fought gains brave activists have won. (Right now, I’m especially concerned about attacks on trans people across our country.)

Finally, my work as a scientist makes me especially aware of the severity of the climate crisis. It helps me understand why we need a Green New Deal that transforms our economy to stop carbon pollution and save our planet.

What is your motto in life?
My campaign slogan is Real Democratic Values. That’s what it says on my yard signs. I believe that, as Democrats, we must always advocate for a world where noone has to worry about healthcare, housing, good public schools for our children, or living free from poverty or discrimination. Unfortunately, many politicians in our party have abandoned those values. I fight every day to return our party to the values we are supposed to be fighting for.

I don’t live my life by a motto. I believe we all have to try to do the right thing, to lead ethical lives where we do what’s right for everyone, not just what’s right for ourselves.

Where can we find out more about you?
Check out my website, and follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.