There are still 4 weeks left, but a newly released poll in Rhode Island’s Second Congressional District shows what a red wave could look like. The last time voters went to polls to pick their Congressman in RI 2, they chose incumbent Democrat Jim Langevin by an almost 17 percent margin. But he is retiring, and the seat is open.

The only Republican who ran for the nomination for the seat was Allan Fung, who served as the Mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, the second largest city in the state with a population just over 82,000 from 2008 to 2021.  As mayor of Cranston, Fung was popular with voters, easily winning re-election until he was term limited out of office, receiving a landslide 2-to-1 margin in his final contest.

Allan Fung (photo credit: Kenneth C. Zirkel CC BY-SA 4.0 license

On the Democrat side, with such a heavily Democrat district, 5 candidates ran in the primary, and Seth Magaziner won with 54% of the vote, a strong showing with such a large field. Magaziner currently is the General Treasurer of the State of Rhode Island, a position he has held since 2015.  If his last name rings a bell, that’s probably because his father, Ira Magaziner, was the “architect” of HillaryCare that went down to defeat in Congress in Bill Clinton’s first term in office.

Cook Political Report rates the seat a “tossup,” but a poll released today from Suffolk University shows a strong lead for Fung, with 45.26% supporting him, 36.73% supporting Magaziner, 5.21% supporting “Independent Moderate” candidate William Gilbert, and 12.8% undecided.

With Fung still below 50%, and with relatively few total responses to the poll (422), it is too soon to be confident of victory.

But in a deep blue district in a deep blue state, a lead of this size for a Republican is something to celebrate.