Helena Foulkes has defeated Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee in the Democratic primary, according to an Associated Press projection, ending the incumbent’s bid for a second full term.
With about half the vote counted on Wednesday night, the former CVS executive held a commanding lead of 62.3 per cent to Mr McKee’s 37.7 per cent. The result makes Mr McKee the first sitting governor in the United States to lose a primary since 2018.
It is also the first time in more than 30 years that a Rhode Island governor has been beaten in a party primary. Mr McKee, who previously served as lieutenant governor, took over in 2021 after Gina Raimondo became commerce secretary and won a full term in 2022.
The campaign was dominated by anger over the Washington Bridge, a crucial link between Providence and the state’s eastern suburbs. The bridge was partially closed in December 2023 after officials identified a critical structural failure, forcing almost 100,000 vehicles a day on to a reduced number of lanes.
The replacement project was initially expected to cost $368 million and finish this year. It is now estimated at $427 million, with completion scheduled for November 2028 — delays and rising costs that Ms Foulkes made central to her criticism of Mr McKee’s administration.
Ms Foulkes, who has never held elected office, narrowly lost to Mr McKee in the 2022 Democratic primary. She returned to the race campaigning on housing, affordability and healthcare, drawing on a 25-year career at CVS, where she eventually led the company’s pharmacy division.
She has proposed raising Medicaid reimbursement rates and introducing an additional three per cent tax on income above $1 million to help finance the construction of more than 20,000 homes.
Ms Foulkes also benefited from prominent political connections. Her grandfather and uncle, Thomas and Chris Dodd, were Democratic senators in neighbouring Connecticut, while former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — a former college roommate of Ms Foulkes’s mother — endorsed her campaign.
Rhode Island has not elected a Republican statewide since 2006, leaving Ms Foulkes as the strong favourite for November’s general election. Aaron Guckian and Elaine Pelino are contesting the Republican nomination.
