Helena Foulkes defeated Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee in the state’s Democratic primary Wednesday, making him the first governor in any U.S. state to lose a party primary since 2018.
McKee’s defeat ends his bid for a second full term and marks the first time in more than 30 years that a sitting Rhode Island governor has been beaten in a primary.
Foulkes, a former senior executive at CVS and the retailer Hudson’s Bay, wasn’t the only challenger to oust an incumbent Wednesday. The mayor of Providence lost to David Morales, a young democratic socialist endorsed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
For Foulkes, the win was a redemptive rebound from 2022, when she narrowly lost to McKee in a more crowded primary field — on a night when the governor notably refused to take her concession call.
In their rematch, McKee was dogged by questions about his administration’s work to replace a critical bridge in the state capital that was abruptly closed due to safety problems in 2023.
Foulkes leveraged public exasperation over the cost and pace of the bridge project for her argument that McKee’s administration isn’t working for most Rhode Islanders.
“Tonight, we may have won the Democratic primary for governor, but let me be clear about what happens next: You will have a governor for everyone,” Foulkes told a large crowd in Providence during her victory speech Wednesday. “Because there is so much work that needs to be done, and we need to do this together.”
McKee attempted to characterize Foulkes as an out-of-touch elite who turned a blind eye to the opioid crisis during her tenure at CVS, arguing that he had a stronger record.
However, in his concession speech in Providence, McKee promised to work with Foulkes to ensure a “smooth transition.”
“This is something that I think is difficult to deal with, but we just got to hold our heads high,” McKee said, adding that he has his head “very high because I know the work we’ve done together is really special.”
Incumbent governors rarely lose party primaries. The last time it happened in Rhode Island was in 1994, when Democrat Bruce Sundlun lost to state Sen. Myrth York, ending his bid for a third term. In that race, Sundlun was facing multiple controversies and voter fatigue while York ran on reform.
In a separate election shakeup, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley lost his reelection bid to Morales, 27, in the Democratic primary. Smiley, 47, has held the seat since 2022. Aside from Sanders, Morales also had the backing of U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna and several high-profile labor unions.
McKee has been governor since 2021.
In 2023, McKee closed the Washington Bridge, a vital link that carries Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River and connects Providence to its eastern suburbs and the south coast of Massachusetts. During the summer, it also carries traffic bound for Cape Cod.
State transportation officials had flagged a “critical failure” in an older part of the bridge, but demolishing and replacing it has taken longer than the governor initially estimated. Traffic continues to flow but has been squeezed into fewer lanes on a newer part of the span, leading to lengthy commute times.
McKee maintains that his decisions kept people safe and that the bridge construction will be finished by 2028. He often points to Maryland, saying the Washington Bridge will be complete ahead of the replacement of Baltimore’s much larger Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed and killed six construction workers in 2024 after a container ship crashed into it.
Foulkes’ grandfather and uncle, Thomas and Chris Dodd, were both Democratic U.S. senators in Connecticut. She worked at CVS for 25 years, eventually becoming president of the company’s pharmacy division between 2014 and 2018. She then became chief executive officer of the Canadian retail giant Hudson’s Bay before leaving in 2020.
When pressed on her time at CVS, Foulkes argued that CVS reduced its opioid dispensing by 40% when she was president of CVS’ pharmacy division. In 2022, after Foulkes had left CVS, the company agreed to pay $5 billion to settle lawsuits nationwide over the toll of opioids without admitting wrongdoing.
The last governor to lose in a primary was former Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer, who narrowly lost the Republican nomination to Kris Kobach in 2018.
In the Republican gubernatorial primary, Aaron Guckian and Elaine Pelino were in a close contest for the nomination, separated only a few hundred votes with most of the vote counted. Guckian is a state trade association executive and was the nominee for lieutenant governor in 2022. Pelino is a former actor and first-time candidate. The state party has endorsed Guckian.
