Republican-turned-independent Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee is set to continue his journey leftward, according to the Washington Post, which reported that he will announce his intentions to run for re-election as a Democrat.
Chafee served one term as a Republican senator. He then left the party and became an Independent, eking out a narrow win in a three-way gubernatorial primary in 2010.
Reached by phone, the governor’s press office said they were “not confirming” the news.
A Public Policy Polling poll of 614 Rhode Island voters at the end of January found Chafee’s approval rating to be downright bad, with just 33 percent saying they approved of his job performance and 59 percent saying they disapproved.
In a hypothetical match-up against several other potential candidates, the poll found that Chafee performed better as a Democrat than as an Independent. 18 percent said they wanted Chafee to run as a Democrat, 20 percent said they would rather he run as a Republican, and 57 percent said they would prefer that he not run at all.
The poll surveyed voters from January 28 to January 30 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.