Ahern’s new ad invokes praise from Rhode Island’s outgoing AG. But he endorsed her rival.

The camera pans to the bottom of the plaque engraved with the name of the presenter: Peter F. Neronha, attorney general. It’s a detail that caught the term-limited Neronha off guard when someone shared the video with him Monday.

“I was watching it and I’m like, ‘All right, well, like where does this end?’” Neronha said in an interview Monday evening. “And I’m like, ‘oh yeah, that’s my name.’”

Neronha said he wasn’t shocked that his name was there, he did give it to Ahern after all — as he has for other lawyers who have left the attorney general’s office. What surprised him was that the campaign chose to draw viewers’ attention to him at all.

“What she decides to do with this post, I’ll leave to her,” he said. “But there shouldn’t be any mistake or misunderstanding as to who I’ve endorsed.”

That chosen successor is Keith Hoffmann, Neronha’s former chief of policy and senior counsel who previously headed the office’s civil rights unit. The outgoing AG described Hoffmann as a proven leader ready to oversee the office of 125 attorneys, even if he lacks Ahern’s criminal trial experience.

“The public safety mission is very, very important,” Neronha said. “But the civil side of what we do — consumer protection, energy, energy regulatory work, environmental work, healthcare — those are all things that I think are critically important to the lives of Rhode Islanders.”

Neronha has also been an outspoken opponent of Ahern’s candidacy on social media, criticizing her tenure as the first chair of the Cannabis Control Commission. 

Hoffmann’s campaign called the focus on Neronha’s name in her social media ad “desperate and dishonest.”

“This is an attempt to mislead voters about her actual record in the office,” spokesperson Evan England said in an emailed statement Tuesday. “We need an AG who is committed to being honest and transparent with voters.”

Josh Block, a spokesperson for Ahern’s campaign, said the video was never intended as an endorsement — just another way to showcase her nine years of prosecutorial experience.

“Kim is enormously proud of her service as a frontline prosecutor under the past three attorneys general, and the plaque she received at the end of her near-decade in the AG’s office attests to her experience and dedication to the job,” Block said in an email to Rhode Island Current.

Matt Ulricksen, an associate professor of political science at the Community College of Rhode Island said the use of Neronha’s name in the ad was a “slick move,” allowing Ahern to benefit from the outgoing attorney general’s political standing without explicitly claiming his support.

“Most people form impressions visually, not textually or aurally,” he wrote in a text message. “Voters are moved by emotive cues, not evidence-based appeals to reason. Images offer powerful emotive cues.”

Neronha too understands the sentimentality behind the plaque. He keeps a framed badge from his time as a state prosecutor between 1996 and 2002 outside his office. 

“When people are recognized in that way, it’s great to send them off and with a good moment,”  Neronha said.

Ulricksen said the Ahern campaign has most likely found Neronha’s endorsement carries weight with undecided voters who could determine the outcome of the Democratic primary.

“Given the level of spending by the Ahern and Hoffmann campaigns — especially Hoffmann — both should be polling much higher than they are,” Ulricksen said.

A poll released Tuesday by Salve Regina University shows Ahern with 23% support from 857 likely primary voters, a 10-point edge over Hoffmann in the four-way race. Rep. Joe Solomon Jr. saw 10% support from likely voters and Rep. Jason Knight sat at 5%. The poll was conducted Aug. 3 to 11 by Embold Research.

Almost half of likely Democratic primary voters surveyed — 46% — remain undecided on the AG’s race.

Early voting starts on Aug. 20 ahead of the Sept. 9 primary. The Democratic nominee will face Republican Alan Gordon in the Nov. 3 general election.

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