Down to the wire for Cicilline, Gemma

NORTH PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Congressman David Cicilline is losing his voice.

It’s symbolic of how intense the primary race has been between Cicilline and second-time Democratic candidate Anthony Gemma.

“I think everyone who runs for office conducts his or her campaign that is comfortable for them,” Cicilline said outside a polling location in North Providence. “The one thing I know is you don’t have control over the way somebody else conducts themselves.”

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A not-so-veiled reference to Gemma’s stunning allegations of voter fraud he leveled against Ciclline during a raucous news conference earlier in the campaign.

Accusations Cicilline vehemently denied.

For his part, Gemma said he doesn’t regret how he ran his campaign but did acknowledge he veered away from the controversial issue in the last few weeks of the race.

“When we do polling [voters] tell us what they want to hear is the issues,” Gemma said. “So we got back to the issues very quickly and giving the voters what they want to hear.”

Greeting voters in East Providence, Gemma said he thinks “people are in for a bit of a surprise today.”

“If the undecided voters come out, we’re going to win,” Gemma said. “If the undecided voter doesn’t come out, it’s going to be a close race.”

Cicilline, too, was cautiously optimistic (a WPRI poll in May gave the incumbent a 12-point lead), but said he thought the primary results will be close.

“You know, when it started people thought I had no chance of winning it,” CIcilline said, “We’ve worked hard, my whole team has.”

Tim White ( twhite@wpri.com ) is the Target 12 investigative reporter for WPRI 12 and Fox Providence. Follow him on Twitter: @white_tim