CD1 candidate releases tax returns

State Sen. Ana Quezada has achieved two firsts this week in the crowded race for the open 1st Congressional District seat. The Providence Democrat made her tax returns public Wednesday, challenging the 33 other candidates in the race to do so.

“You have some candidates that can afford to lend their own campaigns more than many Rhode Islanders make in a year,” Quezada said in a statement released by her campaign. “Others portray themselves as champions for working families, but maybe they haven’t really lived that life. So I’m saying to all of them, put your cards on the table. Let’s see who you really are.”

Quezada also was the first to collect at least 500 signatures from registered voters in the district and have them validated by local canvassing boards. Candidates must collect 500 signatures from eligible registered voters in the district’s 19 communities to have their names on the ballot. Nomination forms for each municipality must be turned into the respective local canvassing board. The deadline to submit nomination forms is 4 p.m. Friday.

Really excited to share that we are the first campaign with enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Onward! pic.twitter.com/IRiLcrKCKR

— Ana Quezada (@anaqforcongress) July 11, 2023

Quezada’s 2022 tax return, filed jointly with her husband Lazaro Quezada, revealed the couple reported $131,878 in taxable income in 2022. She earned $62,570 from the City of Providence and $17,664 from the state. She works as a code enforcement inspector for Providence and a state legislator representing the South Side and West End of Providence.

“I want people to understand that I don’t just talk about these issues, I live them,” she said in a release from her campaign.

It is common for candidates for statewide and federal office to share tax returns publicly, said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island. Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, who is also a Democratic candidate for the 1st Congressional District, is an example of a candidate who has done this in previous elections., he said. Marion said he expects more candidates to follow Quezada with financial transparency. 

“It’s important for voters to go into the booths to vote knowing whether or not the candidates have any conflicts of interests, tax returns help provide a level of transparency about what the financial interests are for the candidates,” Marion said.

As of 4:30 p.m. Thursday, other Democrats running for the 1st Congressional District seat who also had collected at least 500 validated signatures from voters and qualified for the ballot were Gabe Amo, John Goncalves, and Aaron Regunberg.

None of the nine independents or four Republicans running for the seat have had their nomination forms completed as of Thursday afternoon.

Thirty-five candidates originally announced their intention to run, including 22 Democrats. There are now 21 Democrats running.

One Democrat, Paul LeBon of Woonsocket, withdrew from the race after announcing July 7 that he had experienced a stroke. “With tears in my eyes, I shredded 16 pages of nominating papers with 352 signa(tures) collected on my own,” he tweeted on July 11.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a correction. An earlier version incorrectly stated Quezada’s nomination papers were validated by the Secretary of State. The deadline for local canvassing boards to deliver validated nomination forms to the Secretary of State for certification is 4 p.m. on Tuesday, July 18.