This past Tuesday, Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) announced that he is planning on resigning from his spot in Congress after over 12 years of service in which he emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s leading political foes against former President Donald Trump.
In his released statement, Cicilline claimed that he would maintain his spot in office until the first of June, 2021, when he will start his new role at an influential charity nexus in the state as the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation.
His choice to leave the House effectively creates a path for a special election in Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District, which has historically been an area with heavy Democratic support in the more eastern section of the state. Once he leaves, his staff will stay to serve constituents until a new replacement is chosen, explained a spokesman for his office.
“Serving the people of Rhode Island’s First Congressional District has been the honor of my lifetime,” stated Cicilline. “As President and CEO of one of the largest and oldest community foundations in the nation, I look forward to expanding on the work I have led for nearly thirty years in helping to improve the lives of all Rhode Islanders.”
While it has not been made public just how much the salary of the new position for Cicilline will be in his new role, Neil Steinberg, the current longstanding CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation he is slated to replace, was raking in a salary of well over $1 million per year as of 2019, as discovered in IRS filings and reported by WPRI.
“I am thrilled with the choice of Representative Cicilline as the next president and CEO of the Foundation, having seen first-hand — over many years — his commitment to a better Rhode Island,” stated Steinberg in a statement. “He has the experience, the skills, the passion, and the network to ably lead the Foundation.”
As an openly gay man, Cicilline previously worked as the Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island in the years 2003 to 2011, prior to taking his role in Congress. While in the House Cicilline cemented himself as the chairman of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus. He currently holds a seat, as well, as a member of the prestigious Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees.
Members of the Thode Island delegation congratulated Cicilline after he made the Tuesday announcement of his plans.
Cicilline “has been an able, hard-fighting colleague, and I’ll miss his spirit in our delegation, but he’ll be a fabulous leader for [the Rhode Island Foundation] so bravos everywhere,” expressed Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in a social media post.
