Good Intentions Matter. Results Matter More.

With 2025 coming to a quick close, I am reflecting with gratitude on the ways in which my roles as a small business owner, General Manager of the Bonnet Shores Beach Club and Candidate for Rhode Island Senate has given me the ability to touch so many people and hear their stories.

As we head toward 2026, I keep coming back to a simple belief: we should not give up on the American Dream, especially here in Rhode Island.

This is still an amazing time to be alive. Innovation is accelerating. New tools are everywhere. Opportunity exists, but too often, our policies lag behind the reality people are living every day.

I’m convinced that Rhode Islanders care deeply about one another.

We all want safer communities, affordable health care, cleaner energy that makes sense, and the opportunity for improvement.

These goals unite us.

Where we sometimes fall short is in how we pursue them.

Too often, our politics focus on the short-term instead of looking at the big picture. Instead of creating pathways to success, our leaders try to manage hardships.

Hope doesn’t come from endless studies or well-intentioned plans that never quite land.

Hope comes from results people can feel like lower costs, better jobs, stable communities, and a real sense that effort still matters.

I also don’t believe progress comes from punishing people who are successful. That approach doesn’t lift anyone else up.

In fact, it often drives opportunity away and makes life harder for the very people we’re trying to help.

What does work is giving people the tools to succeed.

• That means policies that encourage work, entrepreneurship, and smart risk-taking.

• It means removing barriers, not adding new ones.

• It means measuring outcomes honestly and being willing to adjust when reality doesn’t match the theoretical.

We are not victims of the future.

Like my grandparents who came to America with nothing but a hope for a new life, we are the builders of the future.

There’s a line from Taylor Swift that sticks with me: “Long story short, I survived.”

That sentiment feels familiar to a lot of Rhode Islanders right now.

Families, workers, and small businesses have weathered a lot, and they’re still standing.

What they need isn’t more labels or lectures. They need leadership that helps them move forward.

Rhode Islanders have always worked hard, but working smarter matters just as much.

When policy aligns with common sense, innovation, and accountability, we get better results without asking families to carry an ever-heavier burden.

Real progress raises everyone, not by pulling some down, but by creating more opportunity across the board.

As we look ahead to 2026, I’m hopeful.

Not because the challenges are small, but because our potential is enormous.

If we stay grounded, stay practical, and stay focused on outcomes, we can build policies that actually work in the real world.

That’s how we keep the American Dream alive here in Rhode Island, and that’s something we should all be able to agree with.