Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee was decisively defeated in the state's Democratic primary by Helena Foulkes, a former CVS executive. This loss makes McKee, aged 75, the first sitting governor in the United States to lose a primary election since 2018. He initially ascended to the governorship in 2021 after Gina Raimondo resigned to join President Joe Biden’s Cabinet. McKee had previously narrowly beaten Foulkes, aged 62, in the 2022 gubernatorial primary. Foulkes has significantly outraised the incumbent and heavily advertised during her campaign.
A central issue in the primary race was the widespread public dissatisfaction with the ongoing and significantly delayed repairs to Providence's Washington Bridge. McKee's administration closed the westbound side of the bridge for rebuilding in 2023, announcing a several-month repair timeline. However, the project has since experienced substantial cost overruns and remains unfinished. Foulkes capitalized on this public frustration, arguing that McKee's administration was not effectively serving the interests of most Rhode Islanders.
McKee, in turn, attempted to portray Foulkes as an out-of-touch elite, particularly by criticizing her past role at CVS during the opioid crisis. Foulkes countered these accusations by stating that CVS reduced its opioid dispersal by 40% during her tenure as president of the pharmacy division. Four years after Foulkes left CVS, the company agreed to pay $5 billion to settle opioid-related lawsuits nationwide, though it did not admit wrongdoing. The incumbent also faced challenges from voters' increasing willingness to oust sitting officials, a trend observed in other Democratic primaries this election cycle.
