Democratic House candidate Frank Ferri, in blue shirt, listens as U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse addresses campaign volunteers during a rally on Ferri’s front porch late yesterday afternoon. Ferri won, with 53 percent of the vote, the special election for the seat vacated by Democrat Peter T. Ginaitt.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

WARWICK — Democrat Frank Ferri rolled to victory in yesterday’s special election for the District 22 House seat, defeating Republican Jonathan Wheeler and independent Carlo Pisaturo Jr. to win the seat formerly held by fellow Democrat Peter T. Ginaitt.

Ferri took 53 percent of the vote, 896 in total. Wheeler was second with 33 percent, and Pisaturo a distant third.

“The way I see it, I’ve been on a 2½-month job interview going door to door,” Ferri said last night. “I’m so glad the voters share the same values of community and inclusion and working families. We worked hard, I was committed and I put a lot of energy into this.”

For a special election —and an off-year one at that — the District 22 race garnered an unusual degree of statewide attention. Governor Carcieri, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and a host of General Assembly members made personal appearances on behalf of either Wheeler or Ferri.

But it was Ferri, 53, a progressive Democrat, Johnston bowling-alley owner and gay-rights advocate, whose dogged campaigning brought the voters out in force yesterday.

Bolstered by a team of close to 100 volunteers ranging from political-interest groups to his neighbors from Lippitt Avenue, Ferri proved an unstoppable force in the final days of the campaign.

Even State Republican Chairman Giovanni Cicione took note of the Democratic team’s effort.

“It’s a tough district, a heavily Democratic district. We made a good run, but the Ferri campaign had a lot of resources, a lot of money and a lot bodies on the ground. They did a good job,” he said last night.

At a late-afternoon rally on Ferri’s front porch yesterday, Senator Whitehouse applauded those volunteers — teachers, state senators and members of advocacy groups such as Ocean State Action and Marriage Equality RI — saying it was their work that would help Ferri get elected.

“We already control the legislatures so it’s not going to make a balance-of-power difference,” the senator said of Ferri’s hoped-for victory. “But we also know that we’ve got awful lot of very conservative Democrats, so on issue after issue after issue there is the possibility that this man will be the swing vote and will change the direction of the state.”

Propelled by that message, the volunteers responded as they had throughout this campaign season, by getting off the porch and onto the streets, their flashlights in hand, for one last get-out-the-vote push in the hours before the polls closed.

With a nearly 20 percent turnout, voting yesterday was unusually heavy for a special election. “I think when there’s only one race then the resources of both parties can focus on the one race and to a certain extent that’s an issue of capacity,” Whitehouse said. “When it’s election day and everybody’s up, people spread around, but when you get a race like this it really comes to a very sharp point.”

Many of the voters who came out for Ferri used words like “trust” and “honesty” in describing why they voted for the Democrat.

Rachael Frazier, who bundled up her young daughter and headed to John Greene Elementary School, said she voted for Ferri because he impressed her by calling her on numerous occasions and speaking with her at length about the environment, something she calls a priority.

“I really like his campaign and how he’s doing things,” Frazier said.

It was that message of connecting with constituents that resonated with voters yesterday, more so than Wheeler’s promise of fiscal reform, or Pisaturo’s pledge of experience.

With the campaign behind him, Ferri said the real challenges will now begin.

“Tonight it’s a victory,” he said. “Tomorrow, we start working.”