PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The Latest on the first day of session for the new Rhode Island General Assembly (all times local):
6 p.m.
Rhode Island state lawmakers have re-elected state House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed to lead their respective chambers in the General Assembly.
The two Democrats were chosen on the first day of the legislative session Tuesday to lead the state House of Representatives and state Senate for the next two years.
Paiva Weed won by a unanimous vote of the state Senate. She has led the Senate since 2009.
Mattiello easily won the speakership along party lines with 63 Democrats voting for him and 11 Republicans voting for GOP House Minority Leader Patricia Morgan. One Democrat was absent. Mattiello has been speaker since 2014.
Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, a Democrat, also swore in all of the state lawmakers during an oath ceremony.
11:07 a.m.
A state legislature with one of the most lopsided Democratic majorities in the country is opening its 2017 session with the swearing-in of lawmakers and the election of a House speaker and Senate president.
About 86 percent of Rhode Island lawmakers in the new General Assembly that convenes Tuesday are Democrats, though they don’t hold monolithic views. Several newcomers elected in November add to an informal wing of self-described progressives. But many Rhode Island Democrats consider themselves socially or fiscally conservative.
All 113 lawmakers are scheduled to take the oath Tuesday afternoon, including 16 new members.
House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, both Democrats, are also expected to be re-elected to their leadership roles on Tuesday. They’ve already won unanimous support in party caucus meetings.
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