PROVIDENCE — The state Senate’s powerful leadership team faces a high-stakes election that could threaten its control, with the Senate president and his top lieutenant facing November challenges and the Finance Committee chairman already out of the running.

In September, Finance Chairman Stephen D. Alves, a West Warwick Democrat, lost his bid for a ninth term the primary against political newcomer Michael J. Pinga, a local baker. Alves’ legal battle to win a rerun of the contest died this month when the state Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

Now Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano is waging his own war, working hard to stave off a challenge in District 17 from independent Edward O’Neill, of Lincoln, who has spent $30,000 of his own money and hours going door to door. The district, which also includes parts of Pawtucket and Montalbano’s hometown, North Providence.

To the south, in District 13, Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed, of Newport, is fighting a well-publicized race against Republican Donna Perry, a former state GOP leader and the sister of right-wing talk radio host John DePetro. Perry, like O’Neill, is running on the premise that Rhode Islanders concerned about their financial futures should be worried about the leadership of Paiva Weed and the other “deeply entrenched” Democrats on Smith Hill.

“I think Alves’ loss was a bellwether,” said O’Neill. “It was a wake-up call for Montalbano and Paiva Weed that they could be next. If Montalbano goes down and Paiva Weed goes down and Alves is gone, those three leadership positions in the Senate open up.”

State GOP Chairman Giovanni Cicione agreed that the Alves loss and that of Central Falls Democrat Daniel Issa in the primary could set the tone for the Nov. 4 election.

“I think people have a sense that the Senate is a real piece of the problem up there,” Cicione said. “… For the voters of West Warwick to kick out the head of the Finance Committee –– because I think people understand in a very basic way that the head of the Finance Committee can bring home the bacon –– there’s no way he should have lost that.”

The Senate president rejects any suggestion that he and Paiva Weed are vulnerable, noting their popularity among fellow senators and the expectation that both will easily hold onto their leadership posts if reelected.

“I think the impression is being created that we are seriously threatened for defeat in November,” Montalbano said. “It’s all about creating an impression.”

Paiva Weed says that if enough Rhode Islanders wanted to oust the Democratic leadership, the GOP “certainly would have fielded more candidates.”

Of the 38 state Senate seats, 15 are uncontested this election season and just one of those will go to a Republican, meaning Democrats are in no danger of losing their lock on the Senate.

As in the House of Representatives, Senate Republicans could face problems if Democrats flock to the polls in record numbers to cast presidential ballots for Barack Obama.

Political observers project the Republican races to watch are in the East Bay. The first is the District 12 contest pitting 11-term Republican incumbent June Gibbs –– well-loved on both sides of the Senate aisle –– against Democratic challenger and Middletown Town Council member Louis DiPalma. Some believe DiPalma is organized enough to pick off the seat Gibbs’ has held for almost 25 years.

The second of those races is the District 32 contest in Barrington and Bristol where Republican incumbent David E. Bates is said to face a formidable challenge from Democrat Lawrence J Signore.

Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere of Westerly –– the only Republican running unopposed in the Senate –— says Republicans can hang on to the seats they have in the Senate and potentially pick up a few new ones to help even out the balance of power on Smith Hill.

But as long as the state has a Republican governor, Paiva Weed says, some degree of balance already exists.

“The executive branch is Republican and the legislature is Democratic,” she noted. “Most people I talk to see that as an appropriate balance.”

cneedham@projo.com