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David Nicola Cicilline ( ; born July 15, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 36th mayor of Providence from 2003 to 2011, the first openly gay mayor of a U.S. state capital.
Cicilline chaired the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law. In this role, he has supported efforts to modernize antitrust law. On September 29, 2022, he was elected chair of the House Middle East, North Africa, and Global Counterterrorism subcommittee, succeeding Ted Deutch, who resigned from the House on September 30, 2022. In November 2022, Cicilline announced he would run against outgoing Majority Whip Leader Jim Clyburn as Assistant Democratic Leader, the fourth senior position in the Democratic House caucus. Cicilline later dropped his bid for assistant minority leader.
In February 2023, Cicilline announced his resignation from Congress, effective June 1, 2023, to become president and chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Foundation.
He was raised in Providence before moving to Narragansett. In high school, he served as president of his graduating class, and participated in the Close Up Washington civic education program before attending Brown University, where he established a branch of the College Democrats with his classmate John F. Kennedy Jr. He graduated magna cum laude with a degree in political science in 1983. He then went to Georgetown University Law Center, where he earned a Juris Doctor
He remained in Washington, D.C. for a while to work as a lawyer at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.
In 1992, he ran for the Rhode Island Senate against incumbent senator Rhoda Perry, but lost the Democratic primary. Two years later, he was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing the 4th district on Providence's East Side.
Cicilline defeated Joseph R. Paolino, Jr, Keven A. McKenna, and David V. Igliozzi in the Democratic primary.
In November 2002, Cicilline was elected in a landslide with 84% of the vote, following the downfall of controversial mayor Buddy Cianci and the aftermath of Operation Plunder Dome. He succeeded acting mayor John J. Lombardi, who served out Cianci's term and decided not to run in the 2002 election.
In 2006, Cicilline defeated Christopher F. Young in the Democratic primary. He went on to win an easy reelection with 83% of the vote.
In 2009, Cicilline served as one of six selection committee members for the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence.
Between 1980 and 2009, most prostitution was legal in Rhode Island. As mayor, Cicilline was a strong advocate for outlawing it. Cicilline personally testified in Superior Court to stop the opening of "spas" in Providence, and discussed his position in the 2009 documentary Happy Endings?. He lobbied for a prostitution law—not only to arrest sex workers and their customers, but also to fine landlords that permitted prostitution on their premises. On September 2, 2009, Cicilline submitted an ordinance to the City Council to ban indoor prostitution in the city, imposing a $500 fine and a potential 30-day prison sentence on violators. On November 3, 2009, Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri signed into law a bill making the buying and selling of sexual services a crime.
On July 8, 2008, Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri claimed that Cicilline was not upholding his oath of office by failing to report undocumented immigrants, and suggested that the U.S. Attorney investigate the mayor. Mayor Cicilline responded by accusing Carcieri of "playing politics". Eight days later, Cicilline wrote an op-ed in The Providence Journal, stating that the city always has and will continue to report all arrests to immigration authorities, and that the focus is therefore inappropriate.
In 2004, Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards canceled a fundraising appearance in Providence in support of the Local 799. In 2007, Hillary Clinton asked Cicilline, a Clinton supporter, not to attend a Clinton rally, because of threats by the union to picket the appearance.
Both the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) censured Cicilline for his conduct in this matter. In 2009, due to the union picketline, the Obama administration canceled Joe Biden's appearance at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Providence, in the interests of remaining neutral in the conflict.
Before reporting to prison, John M. Cicilline gave the city of Providence a $75,000 check for taxes owed by a client, but asked that the check not be cashed, and only held as collateral. Two of the mayor's top aides told the city tax collector, Robert Ceprano, not to cash the check because it would bounce. In four instances, Ceprano said mayoral aides pressured him to perform tax favors for the mayor's friends and/or campaign contributors. The mayor claimed the taxpayers had been given relief because the city had made errors on their taxes, not because they were his friends or contributors. During the controversy, Ceprano was fired.
On May 10, 2009, Robert Ceprano filed a lawsuit against the City of Providence, alleging conspiracy, corruption, libel, and wrongful termination. The suit accused John M. Cicilline, the mayor's imprisoned brother, of attempting to defraud the City of Providence by writing a bad check for $75,000 on behalf of a delinquent taxpayer. Furthermore, it alleged the mayor and his aides "willfully conspired...to conceal John M. Cicilline's illegal activities". Ceprano also charged that he was fired not for poor job performance, but because he resisted the mayor's efforts to perform tax favors for political friends and supporters. Lawyers for Ceprano asked for $10 million. Judge Kristin Rodgers dismissed the single-count complaint against John M. Cicilline on November 17, 2009.Court Docket 09-2712
Shortly after assuming office, Cicilline's successor as the Mayor of the City of Providence, Angel Taveras, announced that the City was facing a "category 5" hurricane due to its substantial debt. Tavares made budget cuts, including teacher layoffs and paycuts for city employees. The total structural debt inherited by Tavares in 2011 was $180 million.
A report commissioned by the City of Providence found that the Cicilline administration had transferred funds from the Undesignated Surplus (the city's cash reserves) without the proper approval of the City Council, had not provided financial information on a timely basis to the independent auditor, the City Council, or the Internal Auditor, and had not provided the City Council with monthly financial statements, or with projections of year-end surpluses or deficits, among other findings. Providence City Council Finance Chairman John Igliozzi accused him of "hiding the scope of the city's fiscal woes through 'illusory revenues, borrowing, and other tricks.'"
Fitch Ratings also downgraded Providence's ratings, citing "imprudent budgeting decisions, and failure to implement recurring budget solutions". Cicilline, who portrayed himself as a reformer looking to restore transparency to City Hall, was criticized by his opponents from the primary and House elections; Democrat Anthony Gemma said that he felt Cicilline had lied his way to federal office, and Republican John Loughlin said, "You just don't lie to people in such a transparent way".
A year later, it was reported that Providence could be on the brink of bankruptcy. Former Mayor Cianci placed much of the blame on Cicilline for Providence's problems, saying that although he didn't think it was entirely his fault, he did hide it from the public. Experts have said that the only way out for Providence may be to declare bankruptcy.
In November, he defeated Republican State Representative John Loughlin with 51% of the vote.
A February 2012 survey showed Cicilline's approval rating had dropped almost 10% in 3 months, with the percentage of those who rated his performance as "excellent or good" dropping by 24%. Anthony Gemma, Cicilline's primary opponent, said that the poll clearly showed that “a majority of Rhode Islanders wanted to see Cicilline go.”
In 2011, it was reported that although Rhode Island had experienced a population shift of only 7,200, a new congressional map would put 125,000 Rhode Islanders into new districts, which would help Democrats—and notably Cicilline. Fellow House Democrat Jim Langevin accused Cicilline of trying to use the redistricting to aid with his reelection campaign. Potential Republican contenders suggested that it was an attempt to save Cicilline after his approval numbers had dropped. Cicilline rebuffed the allegations, and asserted that he did not attempt to influence the redistricting.
In September, Cicilline stated that if Democrats became the majority party in the House, he would run for assistant Democratic leader. For his work on the Assault Weapons Ban he had introduced to the House, The Newtown Action Alliance endorsed Cicilline in the 2018 election.
Cicilline won the general election, defeating Republican nominee Patrick Donovan with 66.6% of the vote.
Cicilline won the general election, defeating Republican nominee Allen Waters with 64% of the vote.
Cicilline has voted with his party 96% of the time. He has been called a "populist-leaning liberal". Since 2016, he has served as a co-chair of the Policy and Communications Committee. He has been described as a "rising star" in the Democratic Party. The Democratic Caucus elected Cicilline chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee after he dropped out of the race to become assistant Democratic leader. As chair of the DPCC, Cicilline will be in charge of the caucus' messaging strategy.
Cicilline voted for both articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
On January 12, 2021, Cicilline was named an impeachment manager (prosecutor) for Trump's second impeachment trial.
In October 2021, Portuguese Ambassador to the United States Domingos Teixeira de Abreu Fezas Vital made Cicilline a Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry.
Cicilline voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight analysis completed in January 2023.
On February 21, 2023, it was announced that Cicilline would resign from Congress on June 1, 2023, to become president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation. A special election was scheduled to fill the remainder of his term, with Gabe Amo winning in November 2023.
Cicilline has come out publicly in favor of net neutrality, saying that "he will do whatever it takes" to stop the Federal Communications Commission's proposed plans to end regulation of internet service providers under Title II.
On March 7, 2018, Cicilline introduced the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act to the House. The aim of the bill was to temporarily allow news publishers to band together to negotiate with large online platforms, such as Facebook and Google. In a fact sheet published by Cicilline's office, he claimed that a "free and diverse press, particularly local press, is the backbone for a healthy and vibrant democracy". One of the bill's goals was to restore public trust in online media.
In the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal—in which Facebook reportedly gave access to the data of 50 million accounts to Cambridge Analytica—Cicilline sent a letter to the Chairman of the Judicial Committee requesting that he invite Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify before the committee. Cicilline said in a statement: “This incident is only Facebook’s latest abuse of public trust and attempt to obscure its role in the rise of information warfare and propaganda online.”
Cicilline and Representative Jeff Fortenberry sent Sundar Pichai a letter following up on a complaint from 20 advocacy groups regarding Google's compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The letter asked the company to reveal the details of how it collects the data of children.
Cicilline attended the November 2019 meeting of the International Grand Committee on Disinformation and 'Fake News' in Dublin. The committee was made up of parliamentarians from 10 countries, and sought to enhance global collaboration on the regulation of harmful content, hate speech, and electoral interference.
In July 2020, Cicilline chaired a meeting of the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, which included Zuckerberg, Pichai, Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, so that they could testify about their platforms. Cicilline and the other members of the bipartisan committee extensively interrogated and scrutinized the four CEOs, and accused them of anti-competitive practices, with Cicilline insinuating that the various platforms had problems with their competitive practices. When questioning Pichai, Cicilline claimed that Google's business model was a problem, and displayed emails from over a decade ago that showed the company had engaged in "a pattern of anti-competitive behavior." He also argued that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the urgent need for regulation of these companies, and compared them to past monopolies, such as the railroads and Standard Oil, AT&T, and Microsoft.
The Hill.
In March 2018, Cicilline was among a handful of U.S. legislators to receive the Presidential Medal of Gratitude from President Bako Sahakyan of the Republic of Artsakh. According to Public Radio of Armenia, "The Medal of Gratitude is awarded to individuals, organizations, and collectives for significant contributions in restoring and developing the economy, science, culture, and social spheres of the NKR, as well as for defending and promoting international recognition of the Republic." Cicilline was a part of the bipartisan group of 37 U.S. Representatives to call for a $70 million aid package to Armenia and Artsakh.
On March 23, 2018, Cicilline released a statement voicing his opposition to Trump's appointment of John Bolton as National Security Advisor. Cicilline cited Bolton's advocacy for preemptive attacks on Iran and North Korea, as well as his support for the Iraq War, when he worked as Ambassador to the United Nations during President George W. Bush’s administration.
In April 2018, Cicilline warned Trump against meeting with Kim Jong-un, saying, “There was a reason that prior presidents had rejected the idea of meeting with a North Korean dictator, his father, and grandfather before him, because it elevates his standing in the international community right away by having the meeting. The notion that it is historic, it is historic, but it may not be historic in a good way.”
In May 2018, Cicilline introduced a bipartisan bill to block the sale of F-35s to NATO ally Turkey. He cited concerns over Turkey's increasing aggression against U.S.-backed forces in Iraq and Syria, as well as the Turkey's increasingly friendly relationship with Russia.
Cicilline and Representative Adam Kinzinger authored an opinion piece about the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia. They commended the UN's work in Liberia, and cited the mission as one of the UN's major peacekeeping successes.
Cicilline accused Turkey of inciting the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On October 1, 2020, he co-signed a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that condemned Azerbaijan’s offensive operations against Nagorno-Karabakh, denounced Turkey’s role in the conflict, and called for an immediate ceasefire.
In October 2017, after the Las Vegas shooting, Cicilline introduced a bill to ban .Mahtani, Melissa (October 5, 2017) CNN After the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, he introduced the Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2018. The bill would ban 205 specific firearms, such as the AR-15 and the AK-47, outright. Cicilline was also among the members of Congress who supported the National School Walkout, and met with protesters at the U.S. Capitol.
On March 6, 2018, Cicilline introduced the Advancing Mutual Interests and Growing our Success (AMIGOS) Act, which would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to include Portugal as a country whose citizens would be eligible for entry into the United States as E-1 or E-2 nonimmigrants, provided that Portugal provides similar benefits to U.S. nationals.
In 2015, Cicilline introduced the Equality Act, a bill that would expand the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In September 2017, he reintroduced the Equality Act. In 2019, Cicilline reintroduced the Equality Act again, the first time it was introduced in a Democratic-controlled House. The bill passed the House on May 17, 2019.
In September 2016, Cicilline asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Saldana what her agency was doing to "enhance" guidelines for LGBT individuals in ICE custody. Saldana answered that ICE officers spoke with LGBT+ undocumented immigrants in order to properly accommodate them while they were in American detention facilities.
In July 2018, Cicilline was a co-sponsor of The Gay and Trans Panic Defense Prohibition Act. This act would prohibit defense lawyers from using a victim’s LGBTQ identity as justification for a crime, or to argue for lesser sentences on the premise that there were extenuating circumstances that motivated their clients to lash out violently. Also that year, Cicilline was one of over 100 Democratic members of Congress to oppose the State Department's decision to deny or revoke diplomatic visas to unmarried same-sex partners of foreign diplomats.
In February 2011, Cicilline voted against prohibiting the disbursement of federal funds to Planned Parenthood, and, in May 2011, against prohibiting taxpayer funding of abortions. He co-sponsored the Violence Against Women Health Initiative Act of 2011, which sought to "improve the health care system's assessment and response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and for other purposes." OpenCongress: H.R. 1578. Retrieved 2011-19-11.
On November 18, 2011, Cicilline said of the Vow Hire Heroes Act, which was intended to increase job opportunities for veterans: "This vote ensures that Rhode Island veterans, and all of our nation's veterans, will receive some of the tools and resources they need to successfully reenter the workforce, and provide for their families and loved ones". Project Vote Smart: Cicillene Praises House Passage of Vow to Hire Heroes Act. Retrieved Jan 7, 2021
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