Rhode Island Democrats decisively ousted Gov. Dan McKee on Wednesday, making him the first incumbent governor of either party to lose a primary in the U.S. since 2018. With nearly all of the vote counted, McKee trailed Helena Buonanno Foulkes, 62.4% to 37.6%.
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The result was a reversal of the last time the two faced each other, four years ago. In that contest Foulkes, a former CEO of the Hudson’s Bay Company and executive at CVS, lost to McKee 33% to 30%.
“Our differences in this race were never about how much either of us loves Rhode Island,” Foulkes told cheering supporters on election night. “There is so much work to be done. And we need to do this together and for everyone. Not a governor for one party. Not a governor for one neighborhood, one industry or one ZIP code.”
Like so many other candidates this year, Foulkes has focused on affordability.
“Right now, the cost of housing is out of control. There isn’t a single city or town in this state where a family making $100,000 a year can afford to buy a home. Not one. This isn’t a problem we can study our way out of. It demands action,” she said. If elected, Foulkes has promised to build 20,000 new homes in the state and to enact a tenant’s bill of rights.
She also called on the Legislature to give the governor a line-item veto. Rhode Island is one of only six states where the governor does not have that authority.
Addressing his supporters in Providence, the state capital, McKee conceded the race adding, “but we have to count our blessings, and we have many of them.” He promised a smooth transition following November’s general election.
McKee, then the lieutenant governor, moved up to the top job in 2021 when his predecessor, Gina Raimondo, left to become then-President Joe Biden’s commerce secretary. He barely survived a primary challenge from Foulkes the following year and saw his popularity drop in 2023 after a key bridge linking Rhode Island and Massachusetts was forced to close, presenting commuters with chaos that continues. (The bridge is being rebuilt and the crossing is not expected to reopen until 2028.)
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Foulkes is heavily favored to win November’s general election in the deeply blue state.
On the GOP side, the race remained too close to call Thursday morning. Aaron Guckian, a party insider who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor four years ago is backed by the state GOP. He faces Elaine Pelino, a former actress and Houston Oilers cheerleader who has run as an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump.
Despite pre-election polls showing Pelino comfortably ahead, as of Thursday morning Guckian led by fewer than 300 votes with nearly all of the vote counted.
Other races Wednesday saw Democratic Sen. Jack Reed take 77% of the vote in his bid for a sixth term. He will face Republican Raymond McKay, who was unopposed in the GOP primary, this fall.
In the state’s two House districts, incumbent Democrats Gabriel Amo and Seth Magaziner were both unopposed. Magaziner will face Republican Victor Mellor in November and Amo will face Kellie Keenan. Both seats are considered safely blue.
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