There are at least 3 (2 current, 1 former) Mayors that could run for the job, Scott Avedisian, the current Mayor of Warwick, former Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey (my personal preference), and Newport Mayor Stephen Waluk.
There’s word that Chafee himself may run for the Governorship (as a leftist Independent). If he runs and a Democrat runs, the Republican could win with a plurality. If that happens, that will mean the GOP will have held the Governorship for 20 straight years (24 if they are reelected, and both Almond and Carcieri have been). You’d have to go back to the period from 1864-1888 to find the last time the GOP held the office for that long (the Dems were never shut out THAT long from the Governorship in the state, even when it was overwhelmingly GOP).
Another option could be recruiting another businessperson from the private sector. Prior to 2002, I had never even heard of Carcieri. He’s certainly been one of our great success stories. It’s too bad that fmr. Gov. Craig Benson of NH (who should’ve been another Carcieri) didn’t turn out that way.
Was their a problem with Benson? I noticed at the time he lost by a larger margin than Bush.