Sandra Cano

State Senator

Sandra Cano is a Democrat representing District 8 (Pawtucket) in the Rhode Island Senate and running to represent Congressional District One.

Sandra Cano was born in Medellin, Colombia, and moved to the United States with her family in 2000 under political asylum. She was educated in the Pawtucket School System and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management and Economics from Bryant University (2007) and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration at the University of Rhode Island (2012). She attended the Harvard Kennedy School where she completed multiple executive leadership programs in 2016. Professionally, Sandra is the Director of Commerce for the City of Pawtucket. She is responsible for working with the City’s business community, with a particular focus on collaborating and providing assistance to local small businesses. She is currently on a leave of absence as she runs for Congress. She previously worked as the Assistant Vice President of Community Development at Navigant Credit Union, where she was responsible for developing community-based partnerships and developing financial education campaigns for low income and diverse populations.

Elected to the Senate in a special election in 2018, Sandra Cano serves as the first Latina chair of the Senate Committee on Education and is a member of the Senate Committee on Finance and the Permanent Joint Legislative Commission on Child Care. Prior to serving in the Senate, Sandra served on the Pawtucket City Council from 2014-2018 and on the Pawtucket School Committee from 2012-2014, and before that was an appointed member of the Pawtucket Juvenile Hearing Board. Additionally, Sandra was the highest vote getter in the 2020 Presidential Delegate Selection for CD1 receiving nearly 28K votes.

Since being elected to the Senate, Sandra has worked with her colleagues to pass landmark legislation such as the Act on Climate and has been a leading cosponsor of the Environmental Justice Act.