Businessman joins race for lieutenant governor

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A Rhode Island businessman is joining the race for lieutenant governor.

Fifty-eight-year-old Karl Wadensten filed paperwork Monday to run in the race for lieutenant governor as a Republican.

Wadensten owns a company that makes industrial vibrators used in dump trucks. He made the announcement at the secretary of state’s election division, accompanied by state GOP chairman Brandon Bell.

He is a member of the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation as a board member and cast the sole vote against a $75 million loan guarantee for 38 Studios as a member of the state’s Economic Development Corporation. His company, VIBCO Vibrators, is based in Wyoming, Rhode Island.

Wadensten graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a degree in business and has a Master’s in Business Administration from the Florida Institute of Technology.