Foulkes defeats McKee in Rhode Island Democratic primary

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee has lost the Democratic primary to Helena Foulkes, a former CVS executive who turned frustration over a long-running bridge closure into a successful challenge against the sitting governor.

The Associated Press projected Foulkes’ victory Wednesday night. With roughly half the votes counted around 8:30 p.m. ET, she led McKee 62.3% to 37.7%, CBS News reported.

McKee, 75, is the first sitting governor in the country to lose a primary in eight years. He had been seeking a full second term after first taking office in 2021, when then-Gov. Gina Raimondo left to become commerce secretary in the Biden administration. McKee, previously lieutenant governor, won a full term in 2022.

Foulkes, 62, is now favored in the November general election in heavily Democratic Rhode Island. NBC News reported that Kamala Harris carried the state by nearly 14 points in the 2024 presidential election and that Rhode Island has not elected a Republican governor since 2010. CBS News reported that the state has not elected a Republican statewide since 2006. Aaron Guckian and Elaine Pelino are competing for the Republican nomination.

The race was a rematch of the 2022 Democratic primary, when Foulkes narrowly lost to McKee in a five-way contest. This time, she entered the final stretch with major advantages. Public polling showed McKee trailing by double digits, and Foulkes outspent him on television and radio advertising by a 3-to-1 margin, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

The central issue was the Washington Bridge, a major Providence commuter route and east-west traffic artery that The Guardian reported carries roughly 100,000 vehicles a day. McKee closed the bridge in December 2023 after engineers and inspectors found serious structural problems, including broken anchor rods, that raised safety concerns. By March 2024, officials had determined that repairs were not feasible and that the bridge would have to be rebuilt.

The project has taken longer and grown more expensive than first expected. CBS News reported that the rebuilding is now estimated to cost $427 million and is scheduled for completion in November 2028, up from an original $368 million price tag and an earlier target of this past August. McKee has defended the closure, saying he chose safety over politics, and has said construction will be completed by 2028.

Voters gave him little credit for that explanation. An Emerson College poll in August found that 63% of likely Rhode Island voters disapproved of McKee’s handling of the bridge, while 18% approved.

Foulkes seized on the issue in campaign ads, saying Rhode Island had “the worst roads and bridges.” She also campaigned on housing, affordability and economic growth. CBS News reported that she cited her 25-year career at CVS as evidence that she could make health care more accessible, proposed raising Medicaid reimbursement rates and called for a tax on millionaires that would fund the construction of more than 20,000 homes by adding an additional 3% tax on incomes over $1 million.

Foulkes has never held public office, but she has longstanding political connections. Her uncle and grandfather, Chris Dodd and Thomas Dodd, were both U.S. senators from Connecticut. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was a college roommate of Foulkes’ mother, endorsed and campaigned for her.

McKee’s defeat comes during a cycle in which multiple incumbents have lost primaries. NBC News reported that 11 House members and two senators have been defeated in primaries in 2026. But unlike some high-profile Democratic contests driven by ideological or generational divides, Rhode Island’s primary centered largely on local concerns, especially the bridge closure and its effects on commuters.