Not that it affects the gubernatorial elections, since Rhode Island is a deep-blue state, but incumbent Gov. Dan McKee will need to update his resume after being blown out by his primary challenger, former CVS executive Helena Foulkes. Ms. Foulkes clinched 62 percent of the vote, and how she did it is straightforward: the Washington Bridge is a disaster. It’s responsible for letting some 70,000 people travel to Providence, and under McKee the project has moved at a torpid pace. Foulkes hammers McKee over it, and it worked. He suffers the ignominy of being the first sitting governor since 2018 to lose a primary (via Politico):
McKee had partially closed the bridge in 2023, and estimated at the time that it would fully reopen this summer. But last year, he said the bridge likely won’t be completed until 2028. Construction began in June.
Throughout his campaign, McKee continued to insist that the bridge project was handled well. He told The New York Times in August that “people are going to realize we did the right thing.”
The last incumbent governor to lose a primary was Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer in 2018. McKee’s loss Wednesday adds to the substantial list of Democratic incumbents ousted in primary challenges, though this race didn’t feature the same generational and ideological contrasts as other primaries that have felled Democrats this cycle. Foulkes and McKee, both baby boomers, both ran center-left campaigns.
Foulkes’ victory adds a chapter to her family’s long political lineage. Her grandfather, Thomas J. Dodd, and her uncle, Chris Dodd, were both senators from Connecticut. She worked as an executive at CVS for over 25 years before launching a 2022 run for governor.
McKee won that round, but she got the final word on Wednesday.
I’m sorry, a Democrat got wrecked because he couldn’t complete a bridge on time. Sounds about right.