East Greenwich, R.I.__ It was a great night for a victory party, and when my group members and I arrived at Finn’s Harborside, a beautiful waterfront restaurant and bar, that’s exactly what we expected.

As people arrived, everyone was in good spirits and really positive about the outcome. Pretty much everyone at the party was convinced that the people of R.I. would vote for Block, the Republican candidate for governor. Though having an initial lead, Block fell short to Allan Fung.

Experiencing the mood change upon finding out that Block had lost was cringeworthy. The loud boisterous room went dead silent and no one knew what to do or say.

Witnessing the realization hit Block and his reaction was heartbreaking. Even worse was watching the tears stream down his daughter’s face.

However, Block conceded and gave a speech about how desperately changes need to be made in R.I. He promised that, even though he did not win, he will still do what he can to make this state a better place.

After his speech, the room emptied out and we decided this would be our chance to interview Block. He was immediately approached by WPRI and WJAR, so we patiently waited until our opportunity.

It was a great experience as preparation for the rest of the semester in covering these races. Luckily, through my internship at WPRI, I was given valuable insight on most of the candidates. The digital team I was working directly with had been covering these races all summer. This gave me confidence going into the event and talking about R.I. politics.

It was interesting to feel out the room and figure out who’s important. It was definitely an older crowd and many people approached us to give advice and their opinions.

Moving forward to the elections in November, I will be following the campaign of Jorge Elorza, a Democratic candidate for the Mayor of Providence. I am particularly interested in this mayoral race due to the controversial possibility of a reelection of two-time convicted felon, Buddy Cianci.

Cianci is a household name in Providence and has never lost a mayoral race. I am interested to see if the people of Providence go with the familiarity of his name or realize the corruption and negativity that he could bring. Hopefully throughout this blog and Hawk The Vote, we can bring awareness and education to the voters on politics in R.I.

I look forward to the months leading to the election to see how this controversy plays out.