Sheldon Whitehouse Launches 2024 Re-election Campaign for U.S. Senate
In new video, Whitehouse seeks Rhode Islanders’ support for fourth term
PROVIDENCE, RI – Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today launched his 2024 re-election campaign for the United States Senate. Whitehouse, a senior member of the Democratic caucus, sought Rhode Islanders’ support for a fourth term with a video announcement highlighting his long record of delivering for the Ocean State.
“It is an honor to fight every single day for the Ocean State in the Senate,” said Whitehouse. “I’ve been working to make our government and economy work for all Rhode Islanders. I believe we can restore America and ease pressure on working families by making politics respond to voters, not creepy billionaires; by turning the tax code around so the super-rich don’t corrupt it; by making Social Security and Medicare safe and sound as far as the eye can see; by restoring a Supreme Court we can trust; and by breaking the grip of polluters who block our progress toward a safe climate and healthy oceans. With American democracy itself on the ballot, I look forward to spending the months ahead talking with Rhode Islanders on the campaign trail and asking their support for a strong Democratic ticket in November.”
The video released today highlights Whitehouse’s leadership on safeguarding Social Security and Medicare, making health care more affordable, investing in job-creating infrastructure upgrades, addressing the opioid addiction epidemic, standing up to corporate greed to lower costs for families, leading the planet to safety in the race against climate change, protecting democracy and women’s rights, and holding the Supreme Court accountable.
In 2006, Rhode Islanders elected Whitehouse to the United States Senate, where he’s earned a reputation for standing up for progressive principles and finding common ground between Republicans and Democrats to get big things done. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi described Whitehouse this way: “Relentless. Persistent.”
Whitehouse is focused on lowering costs for families, championing legislation to penalize oil companies that hike prices at the gas pump and to bring homeownership within reach for the middle-class. To help create good jobs and strengthen small businesses, Whitehouse’s work on the Finance Committee seeks to eliminate tax incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas and to rebuild economic fairness. His Buffett Rule legislation would put a stop to multi-million-dollar earners paying lower tax rates than middle-class Rhode Islanders.
Whitehouse understands that Social Security and Medicare are twin pillars of economic fairness and retirement security for Rhode Island seniors and their families. The Senator has a plan for protecting Medicare and Social Security benefits forever, without cuts, simply by making the very highest earners pay their fair share into the system.
The Ocean State’s economy and way of life depend on the health of the environment. As Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Whitehouse is a champion in the fight against carbon pollution, to protect Rhode Islanders’ air and water, and position the Ocean State as a leader in the clean energy economy. Whitehouse founded the Senate Oceans Caucus to forge bipartisan policies protecting our oceans and coasts, and the people and economies that rely on them.
In the Judiciary Committee, Whitehouse battles to rid American politics of corrupting ‘dark money’ and leads the fight for independence and integrity in our federal courts. Whitehouse is the nation’s leading voice for reforming the Supreme Court and holding justices accountable to an ethics code. The Senator relentlessly shines light on special interest money corroding all three branches of government and champions the DISCLOSE Act, his bill to get anonymous special interest money out of politics.
Whitehouse played a pivotal role in crafting and implementing the Affordable Care Act, and fights to protect the affordable health care that law made available to millions of Americans. Like many Rhode Islanders, Whitehouse knows how devastating a cancer diagnosis can be to a family. In 2013, his legislation to improve research on the deadliest forms of cancer was signed into law. Whitehouse ensures that Senator Claiborne Pell’s legacy—the Pell Grant program—remains strong for the next generation of Americans, to turn their dreams of a college education into reality.
When the terrible epidemic of opioid addiction gripped Rhode Island and communities across the country, Whitehouse wrote the bipartisan Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. The 2016 law gives communities, law enforcement, and health professionals tools and funding to help families whose lives have been turned upside down by addiction.
Sheldon and his wife Sandra, a marine biologist, live in Newport. They have two grown children, and two grandchildren.