Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee lost his Democratic primary Tuesday to Helena Foulkes, a former CVS Health executive, becoming the first sitting governor to fall in a primary election since 2018. Public polling had shown McKee trailing Foulkes by double digits heading into the vote, and Foulkes outspent him on television advertising by a margin of 3-to-1, according to ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

McKee, 75, has served as governor since 2021, when he assumed the office after Gov. Gina Raimondo was appointed by President Joe Biden to serve as Secretary of Commerce. His tenure was heavily defined by the December 2023 closure of the Washington Bridge, a major commuter thoroughfare in Providence, after state engineers discovered broken anchor rods and significant structural problems. An Emerson College poll conducted in August found that 63 percent of likely Rhode Island voters disapproved of McKee's handling of the bridge closure, with just 18 percent expressing approval. McKee defended the closure as a safety-driven decision and has said the reconstruction, now projected to cost $427 million and running behind its original schedule, will be completed by 2028.

Foulkes, 62, has no prior elected office experience but carries significant political connections. Her uncle and grandfather, Chris Dodd and Thomas Dodd, both served as U.S. senators from Connecticut, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — a college roommate of Foulkes' mother — campaigned on her behalf. Foulkes ran on issues of housing affordability and economic growth, including a proposed Millionaire's Tax that would impose an additional 3 percent levy on incomes exceeding $1 million to fund construction of more than 20,000 new homes. Political scientists who spoke with CBS News characterized the race less as a contest of competing policy platforms and more as a referendum on McKee's performance in office.

The last Democratic governor to lose a primary was Hawaii's Neil Abercrombie in 2014, who fell to state Sen. David Ige by 35 percentage points. On the Republican side, Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer lost his 2018 primary to then-Secretary of State Kris Kobach. McKee's defeat comes amid a broader wave of anti-incumbent sentiment that has already claimed eleven House members and two U.S. senators in primaries this election cycle. Foulkes enters the general election as a heavy favorite in a state that has not elected a Republican governor since 2010 and that Vice President Kamala Harris carried by nearly 14 points in the 2024 presidential election.