Yes, there’s still time for Zachary A. Cunha to run for… whatever the heck political office he wants in Rhode Island.

Cunha wasn’t exactly a media sensation during his tenure as US attorney in recent years, but that changed Thursday during his three-hour grilling of Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti on the failure of the Washington Bridge in a joint hearing before the House and Senate Oversight committees.

My colleagues Steph Machado and Edward Fitzpatrick have full coverage of Thursday’s hearing, so you should start by clicking here.

The bigger picture: Cunha, now a partner at Nixon Peabody, was hired by House Speaker Joe Shekarchi and Senate President Val Lawson to run a professional, focused, and deliberate hearing – and by all accounts, he delivered.

Cunha asked thoughtful questions and even better followups during occasionally tense exchanges with Alviti, expressing appropriate skepticism – at times bordering on exacerbation – while not allowing the hearing to go off the rails with personal attacks or misguided tangents.

It was a rough day for Alviti, who is used to filibustering his way through more friendly and forgiving interviews on WPRO-AM each week. At one point, he couldn’t recall the name of the department employee who handles the state’s entire bridge inspection program. Alviti admitted that he doesn’t meet with the employee regularly.

What’s next: It’s possible that the Oversight Committees will hold more hearings about the bridge, but nothing has been scheduled.

As for Cunha, his name was floated earlier this year as a potential candidate for attorney general in 2026 – term-limited Attorney General Peter Neronha did the bulk of the floating – but he decided not to enter the race.