Helena Foulkes defeated Gov. Dan McKee in Rhode Island’s Democratic gubernatorial primary on Wednesday, a rare rebuke of a sitting governor in a race dominated by the state’s troubled Washington Bridge.
It was the second time the two have faced each other. McKee narrowly beat Foulkes in a five-candidate primary in 2022, his first run for the office after being elevated from lieutenant governor in 2021, when sitting Gov. Gina Raimondo resigned to join the Biden administration.
Foulkes, a former president of CVS Pharmacy, attacked McKee’s performance throughout her campaign, frequently pointing to the incumbent’s growing unpopularity among Rhode Islanders due to his handling of infrastructure in the state.
At a debate last month, McKee accused Foulkes of “disparaging the state of Rhode Island.” She replied: “I’m certainly not disparaging the state of Rhode Island. I’m disparaging its governor.”
Incumbent governors almost never lose primaries. McKee is the first of either party to lose a primary for reelection since 2018, and the first sitting governor of Rhode Island to lose a primary in more than 30 years.
McKee has become one of the least popular governors in the country. In an August poll from the University of New Hampshire, 16 percent of Rhode Island residents and 24 percent of Democrats in the state approved of his job performance. The majority of those who disapproved cited his handling of transportation and infrastructure.
Much of that frustration traces to the Washington Bridge in Providence. In 2023, McKee abruptly closed the westbound span in Providence after officials discovered critical failures in the structure. The eastbound side was reconfigured for two-way traffic and still carries all of the roughly 80,000 vehicles that cross it each day. The work is not scheduled to be finished until 2028.
Foulkes enters November as a heavy favorite in one of the most Democratic states in the country.
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