State Senator Lou Raptakis may be Coventry born and bred but he's been representing four towns, including a hefty chunk of East Greenwich, since District 33 was redrawn in 2002.

In December, Raptakis, a Democrat, said that he would not run for reelection after holding legislative office since 1992. Then, in early January, he announced that he was going to enter the race for secretary of state.

Despite its relatively small size, East Greenwich is served by two state senators. Raptakis represents District 33, which stretches from Division Street to the north to Middle Road to the south and Howland Road to the east.

Mike Lenihan represents District 35, which covers the rest of the town and parts of Potowomut  and North Kingstown. Robert Watson is the lone state representative for the town.

Raptakis, whose full first name — Leonides — reflects his Greek heritage, is the child of Greek immigrants who settled in Rhode Island in the 1940s.

He makes much out of being a small businessman in a legislature full of lawyers and teachers.

Raptakis started Venus Pizza, a restaurant on Nooseneck Hill Road in Coventry, with his father 30 years ago, while he was attending college.

Venus Pizza sits next door to the house Raptakis grew up in and in which his mother still resides. He lives in a house behind the restaurant, with his wife Donna and two teenage children.

Raptakis said in an interview Thursday that he decided to run for state office for the same reason he first decided to run for the General Assembly in 1992.

"I ran in 1992 as a small business owner because of the banking crisis. Now we are facing another crisis," Raptakis said from his office behind the kitchen at his restaurant.

"It's a broken system," he said, noting the constant budget shortfalls, political corruption and the "red tape" hampering small businesses.

During his 17 years in the General Assembly, Raptakis has ruffled some feathers in his own party. For instance, he was one of only two Democratic senators to vote against Democrat M. Teresa Paiva Weed when she was elected Senate president last year.

With his decision to run for secretary of state, he'll face fellow Democrat A. Ralph Mollis, the incumbent, in the primary in September.

Raptakis said he would model his actions as secretary of state on that of U.S. Representative James Langevin, who served in that position from 1995 to 2000.

"I want to make it easier to vote and not harder," he said. In addition, he said, "I want to watch over the General Assembly."

One thing he would do, he said, is to make legislative votes available online immediately.

He said he also hopes to combat the bureaucracy that faces small businesses like his. "Do you want to see my permit file?" he said Thursday. "It would stretch out to the parking lot."

Raptakis noted that his efforts on behalf of East Greenwich centered on opposing the West Warwick casino referendum in 2004; developing a positive partnership with Kent County Water Authority; and improving the traffic problem at Division and Route 2.

In particular, Raptakis wants to see the next governor and state legislature push to connect Route 95 north with Route 4 south and Route 4 north with Route 95 south.

As for state aid to East Greenwich, he said, the only good thing about the current budget woes is that East Greenwich gets so little state aid already that any reductions from the state — while painful — will be less dramatic than for many other cities and towns.

He sees it as a potential opportunity for the town.

"Let the town decide what mandates to follow if it isn't receiving state aid anymore," he said.

Raptakis is optimistic and full of energy as he moves into campaign season. "You can't slow down. You sit, you don't get anything accomplished."