Democratic U.S. Rep. Cicilline to resign, head Rhode Island foundation
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[February 22, 2023]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democratic U.S. Representative David
Cicilline, a leading voice for gay rights and a critic of Big Tech's
market power who has represented Rhode Island in Congress for over a
decade, said Tuesday that he will resign from office effective June 1.
In a surprise announcement, Cicilline, a former Providence mayor, said
he will become president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, a major
funder of nonprofit organizations in the state.
"The chance to lead the Rhode Island Foundation was unexpected, but it
is an extraordinary opportunity to have an even more direct and
meaningful impact on the lives of residents of our state," Cicilline
said in a statement.
Cicilline will remain in office until he begins work at the foundation
on June 1, his office said.
Republicans have a slim majority in the House, with 222 seats. There are
212 Democrats, including Cicilline, and one vacancy that is expected to
add another Democrat following voting in a special election on Tuesday.
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A special election to fill Cicilline's seat will be held sometime
following his departure from Congress. It was not immediately known when
that would be.
Democrats hold Rhode Island's two U.S. Senate seats and two House seats
in this "blue" state.
In November, Cicilline briefly ran for the position of assistant House
Democratic leader, in a bid to raise the profile of gay issues in
Congress.
He dropped out after receiving assurances from party leaders that such
issues would be represented, according to a House Democratic aide. He
had run against Representative James Clyburn, who has long held top
party leadership jobs in the House.
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![](../images/022223PIX/news_w13.jpg)
Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) speaks
during a hearing in the Rayburn House office Building on Capitol
Hill, in Washington, U.S., July 29, 2020. Mandel Ngan/Pool via
REUTERS
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First elected to the House in 2010, Cicilline has established a
solidly liberal voting record, defending low-income constituents
from budget cuts and accusing Facebook of failing to discourage hate
speech and Russian propaganda.
Cicilline also led the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel,
with the committee releasing a report in late 2020 that sharply
criticized Facebook, now Meta, Alphabet's Google, Amazon.com and
Apple for abusing the power of their platforms to maintain and
expand their dominance.
While little to none of the proposed antitrust legislation aimed at
tech or pharmaceutical giants became law, Cicilline was one of
several lawmakers who successfully pushed for more aggressive
enforcement of existing law.
One of the staffers who wrote the big tech report, Lina Khan, is now
head of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
Cicilline was re-elected last November with 64% of the vote.
(Reporting by Rami Ayyub, Richard Cowan and Diane Bartz; Editing by
Doina Chiacu and Nick Zieminski)
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