Who Funds Providence
Updated Apr 28, 2026 Next filing window Apr 30 · Q1 2026 Primary Sep 8, 2026
2026 Providence Mayoral Primary · Democratic

What's publicly known about the money behind Smiley vs. Morales — every figure sourced.

The official Q1 2026 campaign finance filings are due to the Rhode Island Board of Elections on April 30. Until then, this page shows only what the candidates and their spokespersons have said publicly, drawn from local reporting. Each figure is dated and linked to its source.

§ 01 — Cash on hand

A widening gap.

Cash on hand reported at the close of each quarterly filing period, December 2024 through December 2025. Each point is a publicly disclosed number from a Board of Elections filing as reported by local press. Q1 2026 figures will land at the end of April.

Brett Smiley · Friends of Brett Smiley David Morales · David Morales for Mayor

As of the most recent reported numbers, Smiley holds about $14.60 in his campaign account for every $1 Morales has. Morales formally entered the race in September 2025; Smiley has been raising as the incumbent throughout.

§ 02 — Most recent reporting

The top-line numbers, sourced.

Each figure below ties to a public statement or filing. Q1 2026 figures are those given to reporters by campaign spokespersons; official filings will confirm or correct them at the April 30 deadline.

Brett Smiley

Incumbent · Friends of Brett Smiley
Cash on hand · End of Q4 2025
$1.3M
"A balance of nearly $1.3 million in the most recent campaign finance report from the end of 2025." — Rhode Island Current, April 23, 2026
Cash on hand · End of Q3 2025
$1.08M
GoLocalProv, Jan 5, 2026
Q1 2026 raised (reported)
$250K+
Per Smiley spokesperson Josh Block — Boston Globe, April 2, 2026

David Morales

Challenger · David Morales for Mayor
Cash on hand · End of Q4 2025
$89,088
"$89,088" reported. — Rhode Island Current, April 23, 2026
Q4 2025 raised
$130K
"Nearly $130,000 in the 4th quarter of 2025." — Morales campaign via GoLocalProv, Jan 5, 2026
Q1 2026 raised (reported)
$100K
Per Morales spokesperson Shanahan — Boston Globe, April 2, 2026
§ 03 — Where donors live

A local coalition vs. a national one.

In January 2026, the Morales campaign released figures comparing their Q4 2025 donor geography to Smiley's Q3 2025 donor geography. These are the only published donor-geography numbers for either campaign so far. Importantly, they come from one campaign, not from independent verification of filings.

Note on these numbers: Both percentages were released by the Morales campaign and refer to donor counts, not dollar amounts. The Smiley figure has not been independently verified against the underlying Q3 2025 filing. We will update both with verified numbers once we parse the actual filings.
28%
of Smiley's Q3 2025 donors reported Rhode Island addresses, according to the Morales campaign's analysis.
Source: Morales campaign statement, GoLocalProv · Jan 5, 2026 · Unverified
85%
of Morales's Q4 2025 donors reported Rhode Island addresses; over 60% from Providence specifically.
Source: Morales campaign statement, GoLocalProv · Jan 5, 2026
§ 04 — What's coming

What this page will add, and when.

This site is built on real, sourced, dated public records. The interesting analyses — donor sectors, top contributors, donation-size shape, address-level geography — all require parsing the itemized contribution data that ricampaignfinance.com publishes each quarter. Here is the build queue.

PENDING Itemized contributions

Every donor, with employer and date

Once parsed from ERTS filings: full lists of every itemized contribution to each campaign, sortable, with self-disclosed employer and occupation as filed. The raw material for everything else.

After Q1 2026 filing · Late April / Early May
PENDING Donor sectors

What industries each campaign draws from

Aggregating itemized donations by donor-reported employer into sector groupings — real estate, legal, healthcare, education, individual donors, and so on — using a published, transparent methodology.

After scraper · ~ 4–6 weeks
PENDING Donation-size distribution

Few large checks vs. many small ones

The shape of each campaign's coalition: how much of each candidate's total comes from sub-$100 donors versus $1,000+ donors. The visual signature of small-dollar vs. large-dollar fundraising.

After scraper · ~ 4–6 weeks
PENDING Donor geography

A real map, from real addresses

Donor zip codes plotted on a Providence neighborhood map, with verified percentages from in-Providence, rest-of-RI, and out-of-state donors — replacing the unverified single-source figures in §03.

After scraper · ~ 4–6 weeks

What you're looking at, and what you aren't.

Every number on this page is real and sourced. Each figure shown links to or quotes a piece of local journalism that reports the underlying campaign finance filing. Where a number comes from one campaign's own statement rather than a parsed filing, that is flagged in the source line.

No mock data, no estimates, no extrapolations. Until the Q1 2026 filings are parsed and verified, the page will show the limited public picture from quarterly reporting and press coverage. Anything more analytical — donor sectors, top contributor lists, address-level geography — is on the build queue in §04.

The data origin. Quarterly itemized contribution data is filed by candidate committees with the Rhode Island Board of Elections through its Electronic Reporting and Tracking System (ERTS), available publicly at ricampaignfinance.com. Reports are filed quarterly. The Q1 2026 reporting period closed March 31; filings are due April 30, 2026.

Update cadence. This page updates within 48 hours of each filing deadline as we parse new public records. A timestamped "updated" date appears at the top of every page.

Editorial stance. We arrange public records so voters can see them. We don't tell anyone what these figures mean.

Sources cited on this page
  1. Castro, A. "Providence mayoral race's first forum brings Democratic party fault lines into focus." Rhode Island Current, April 23, 2026. link
  2. "Morales campaign says he's leading incumbent Smiley in Providence mayoral race." Boston Globe, April 2, 2026. link
  3. "Providence Mayoral Candidate Morales Says He Raised Nearly $130K in Quarter." GoLocalProv, January 5, 2026. link
  4. Shea, C. "Rep. David Morales makes it official." Rhode Island Current, September 15, 2025. link
  5. Marcelo, P. "RI Rep David Morales may challenge Providence Mayor Brett Smiley." Boston Globe, December 2, 2024. link
  6. Rhode Island Board of Elections — ricampaignfinance.com (primary source for all underlying filings).