By David Wright, CNN
(CNN) — Former CVS executive Helena Foulkes will win the Democratic nomination for governor of Rhode Island, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, defeating incumbent Gov. Dan McKee as she capitalized on voter frustration over the partial closure of a key bridge and the ensuing traffic chaos.
Used by tens of thousands of commuters daily, the westbound lanes of the Washington Bridge in Providence closed in 2023 amid concerns of collapse. While McKee, who was first elevated from lieutenant governor to the top job in 2021, has defended the decision, the lengthy repair became a political liability as he sought a second elected term.
Four years after narrowly losing in her first primary showdown, Foulkes rode the wave of anti-establishment sentiment sweeping through the Democratic Party and McKee’s deep unpopularity in the state to the rare primary defeat of an incumbent governor.
“I’m not running just on the Washington Bridge,” Foulkes told local broadcaster WJAR earlier this year. “I’m running because I love this state. I want people who are here to be able to afford to live here, to get a great paying job, to make state government really work for them.”
In a year that has seen discontented voters oust several veteran Democrats in House contests, Wednesday’s election marked the first casualty in a governor’s race. McKee is the first incumbent from either party to lose a gubernatorial primary in eight years.
Despite the heated race, McKee and Foulkes had less ideological distance between them compared to candidates in other divisive Democratic primaries this year, both offering voters a mainstream vision of liberal governance. Democrats remain favored in the general election in the blue state, though the presence of third-party candidate Ken Block presents a wildcard.
Whoever holds the governor’s office next, however, will still have to contend with the problems surrounding the bridge, which is still years away from reopening.
“The bridge has been just a millstone around McKee’s neck. It wasn’t his fault. It just happened, and you know anybody that got stuck with that already had a problem,” said Maureen Moakley, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Rhode Island. “I guess the underlying point is traffic can do anybody in and get you crazy,” she added.
‘The worst roads and bridges in the country’
Three years ago, engineers discovered structural failures to some parts of the Washington Bridge, which carries Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River, dangerous enough that McKee and state transit officials ordered an emergency shutdown of the westbound lanes.
Since then, that portion of the bridge has been demolished, and work is underway on its replacement. Over the summer, McKee’s administration touted its expectations that the project would be finished by November 2028.
But in the smallest US state by land area, the ongoing closure has been felt everywhere. Traffic remains badly jammed, prolonging commutes and straining alternative routes.
Julia Millon, a teacher who lives in Providence, said she moved to the state in 2021 but had to relocate neighborhoods after the bridge closure routed heavy traffic through her street.
“There were massive trucks coming down at like four in the morning, and the street was not built for that. The amount of potholes, it was just destroyed,” she said. “My house would be shaking at like four in the morning from these semis coming down a residential street, and the traffic just became like impossible, so I ended up moving away.”
And for McKee, it became a major political concern amid persistent questions about the bridge’s inspections and maintenance. According to a poll from the University of New Hampshire in August, 80% of Rhode Islanders disapproved of McKee’s job as governor, with his handling of transportation and infrastructure the most commonly mentioned reason for disapproval.
While Millon ultimately voted for McKee, she noted that the bridge situation had caused “a lot of distrust.”
“The fact that it had gone — it was so catastrophic and somehow went unnoticed for so long that so many questions are being raised,” she said.
McKee placed the blame on former contractors who worked on the original structure, and the state is suing, alleging negligence, among other claims. But the governor faced blowback in the state legislature last fall after the release of an audit, which he’d delayed for over a year, that called out failures by both former contractors and successive governmental administrations.
The saga became a focal point of Foulkes’ campaign against McKee. She argued that McKee politicized the bidding process for bridge reconstruction, costing residents tax dollars and time, and she criticized his decision to retain the state Department of Transportation head, Peter Alviti, until his resignation earlier this year.
“This is the poster child for mismanagement. This is the poster child for it. We have the worst roads and bridges in the country,” she argued at a contentious debate last month.
McKee denied Foulkes’ allegations and defended his leadership while conceding the difficulties that the bridge repairs had caused. “We kept people safe. It’s been a pain in the ass for everybody. I haven’t denied that,” he said at the same debate. “But the alternative would’ve been far worse.”
His campaign also ran a TV ad addressing the issue. “When I became governor, it was clear our leaders had kicked the can down the road on many challenges. The Washington Bridge was a disaster. I shut it down to keep us safe,” he said in the spot.
Traffic woes were further exacerbated in April, when a highway on-ramp collapsed. And like many states, other bread-and-butter issues around housing affordability and electricity rates have been major concerns for voters in Rhode Island.
Mike Raia, a Democratic strategist from Rhode Island who previously worked for former Gov. Gina Raimondo and now supports Foulkes, said the race showed that “competency does matter.”
Under normal circumstances, he said, McKee might have faced a primary challenger who ran from his left as an anti-establishment option. “But in a place where it became a referendum on that competency, it brought in a challenger who is kind of focused on the blocking and tackling and the nuts and bolts of making government work,” Raia said.
“This time the resistance is effective governance and governing well,” said Eric Hyers, the Foulkes campaign’s general consultant. “We have to show the voters that when you trust us with power, we make your life better, deliver, and get things done.”
A 2022 rematch
McKee became governor in 2021, when then-President Joe Biden tapped Raimondo to serve as his commerce secretary.
This year’s primary served as a rematch of the contest in 2022, when McKee faced Foulkes for the nomination in his bid for a first full term. He won that year in a crowded race, capturing just under a third of the vote while Foulkes finished just a few thousand votes behind him.
While Foulkes highlighted McKee’s governing record, he sought to link the former CVS executive to the pharmaceutical industry’s role in the opioid crisis. His campaign seized on a federal lawsuit in 2024 against CVS, which did not name any individuals, alleging that the company worsened the crisis.
McKee’s campaign also ran multiple attack ads highlighting the lawsuit and Foulkes’ connection. “On Helena Foulkes’ watch, CVS put profits over safety,” one of the ads said.
Foulkes pushed back on the attacks in the first TV ad of her campaign. “I tackled the opioid crisis head on, cutting off pill mill doctors, limiting the number of pills, and overseeing an almost 40% reduction in opioid prescriptions,” she said of her time at CVS in the spot. The company has also denied wrongdoing.
She also benefited from prominent support in the form of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime friend of Foulkes’ mother, who joined her on the campaign trail with a little over a week to go in the race.
“Part of the Democratic Party has always been about, this is ok, but we have to do better. And she is really a great messenger, advocate, leader, and courageous one, in that regard. So proud to support her,” Pelosi told reporters during the visit.
The race grew heated as it wore on. At the final debate last month, the candidates clashed in an explosive exchange as McKee accused Foulkes of disparaging the state as she criticized his record.
“You keep on disparaging the state of Rhode Island every single chance you get,” McKee said. “You’re not a cheerleader for this state.”
Foulkes responded, “I am certainly not disparaging the state of Rhode Island, I’m disparaging its governor.”
“I am the State of Rhode Island!” McKee shot back.
Democratic primary voters ultimately disagreed.
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