Helena Foulkes unseats Rhode Island Governor McKee in upset primary win

Helena Foulkes defeated Governor Dan McKee in Rhode Island's Democratic primary after a campaign dominated by the Washington Bridge project. The result delivered a rare blow to an incumbent governor and underscored voter anger over governance and delays.

In Short

• The defeat marks Rhode Island's first incumbent governor primary loss since 1994
• Washington Bridge delays and costs became the campaign's defining voter grievance
• Commuters still face reduced lanes after the bridge shutdown over safety

Helena Foulkes has defeated Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee in the state's Democratic primary, ending his bid for a second full term. McKee's loss is the first time in more than 30 years that a sitting Rhode Island governor has been beaten in a primary, and the first time since 2018 that a governor in any US state has lost a party primary.

Foulkes, a former senior executive at CVS and Hudson's Bay, had narrowly lost to McKee in a more crowded primary field in 2022. In this rematch, questions over the McKee administration's handling of a major bridge replacement project became a central issue, with Foulkes arguing that the government was not working for most people in the state.

Foulkes used public frustration over the cost and pace of the bridge project to press her campaign. "People feel like the state government just works with a powerful few," she said. "They don't think it's working for them." McKee, in response, described Foulkes as an out-of-touch elite and accused her of ignoring the opioid crisis during her time at CVS. "The option here is somebody who wants to buy this state office who doesn't have any credibility with their policy thoughts and someone like myself, who has a strong record in terms of working people," McKee told The Associated Press.

McKee has been governor since 2021, when he took over after then-Governor Gina Raimondo became US commerce secretary. In 2023, he shut the Washington Bridge, a key link carrying Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River and connecting Providence to its eastern suburbs. The route also links to the south coast of Massachusetts and carries summer traffic headed for Cape Cod. State transport officials had identified a "critical failure" in an older part of the bridge, but demolition and replacement have taken longer than McKee first estimated.

Traffic is still moving, but on fewer lanes on a newer part of the bridge, leading to long commutes for many daily users. Signs along the bridge thank drivers for their patience. McKee has said his decisions kept people safe and that construction will be completed by 2028. He has also pointed to Maryland, saying the Washington Bridge will be finished before the replacement of Baltimore's larger Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed in 2024 after a container ship struck it, killing six construction workers.

Foulkes comes from a family with political links, with her grandfather and uncle, Thomas and Chris Dodd, having both served as Democratic US senators in Connecticut. She spent 25 years at CVS and became president of the company's pharmacy division from 2014 to 2018. She later served as chief executive officer of Hudson's Bay Company before leaving in 2020. When questioned about her time at CVS, Foulkes said the company cut opioid dispensing by 40 per cent while she led the pharmacy division. In 2022, after she had left the company, CVS agreed to pay USD 5 billion to settle opioid-related lawsuits across the country without admitting wrongdoing.

The last time an incumbent Rhode Island governor lost a primary was in 1994, when Democrat Bruce Sundlun was defeated by state senator Myrth York in his bid for a third term. The last governor in the US to lose a primary was former Kansas governor Jeff Colyer, who narrowly lost the Republican nomination to Kris Kobach in 2018.

In Rhode Island's Republican gubernatorial primary, Aaron Guckian and Elaine Pelino are contesting the nomination. Guckian is a state trade association executive and was the nominee for lieutenant governor in 2022. He won that two-way primary with about 68 per cent of the vote. Pelino is a former actor and a first-time candidate, while the state party has endorsed Guckian.

Rhode Island held its primary on a Wednesday after state lawmakers moved it from the usual Tuesday because it fell too close to Labour Day. Only four states hold their primary elections in September: Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Delaware, with Delaware scheduled to vote on September 15. Foulkes' win over McKee has ended an incumbent governor's campaign and turned the bridge project and questions around governance into the defining issues of the Democratic contest.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends