| Sam Bell | |
| State Senate: | Rhode Island |
| District: | 5th |
| Term Start: | January 1, 2019 |
| Birth Date: | 7 July 1989 |
| Spouse: | Samantha Weiser |
| Children: | 1 |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Otherparty: | Democratic Socialists of America |
| Predecessor: | Paul Jabour |
| Profession: | Geologist |
Samuel W. Bell (born July 7, 1989) is an American geologist and politician who serves in the Rhode Island State Senate representing the 5th district in Providence. A Democrat, he was first elected to the senate in the 2018 elections, and assumed office in 2019.[1] Bell is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.[2]
Bell attended Amherst College where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Astronomy and Geology. Bell also attended Brown University where he earned a master's degree in Geosciences and a PhD in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Science. When not in the senate, Bell works as a geologist.
Bell decided to become involved in politics as a result of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. Bell defeated incumbent senator Paul Jabour in the Democratic primary in September 2018,[3] and ran unopposed in the general election.[1] He assumed office on January 1, 2019.[4]
Bell ran for re-election in 2020, being challenged in the Democratic primary by majority leader of the Providence City Council Jo-Ann Ryan.[5] Bell defeated Ryan by 50 percentage points, and ran unopposed in the general election.[6]
In 2022, Bell proposed legislation that "would impose fines and double the taxes of those who refuse COVID-19 vaccine".[7]
Bell is married to Samantha Weiser, a chairwoman of the Rhode Island Democratic Women's Caucus who also works for Hasbro.[8] [9] Bell and his wife are both Jewish and identify as bisexual.[10] They live together in Mount Pleasant.[11] In October 2018, Bell publicly alleged that he and his wife were personally targeted with antisemitic and homophobic posts from users of the neo-Nazi forum website Stormfront.[10]
Bell and Weiser have one son, Jacob Weiser Bell, born in December 2021, who was diagnosed with infant respiratory distress syndrome after birth.[12]