Democrat Lou Raptakis of Coventry said he plans to run for state Senate during a "community dinner" Sunday night at Cole Middle School in East Greenwich hosted by U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.

Raptakis said he will run for Senate Dist. 33, a seat now held by Republican Glen Shibley of Coventry. Raptakis gave up his seat in the state Senate two years ago to run for Secretary of State. He lost in the primary against incumbent Ralph Mollis, who won re-election. 

 “The state’s not on the right track,” Raptakis said. “You can see the headlines every single day.... We’re going to be the Flint, Michigan, of the East Coast.”

He said he wants to return to the General Assembly to push for things like a container port, trash incinerators and desalination plants.

“I think Rhode Island is one of the only states on the East Coast without a container port,” he said. In addition, “we should have desalination plants to reduce our reliance on the Scituate Reservoir.… Massachusetts has done all these things.”

The old District 33 encompassed parts of Coventry, East Greenwich, West Warwick and Warwick. The new district includes Coventry, East Greenwich, and West Greenwich.