Gina Raimondo

Candidates in Rhode Island's 2026 governor's race have spent about $9.9 million combined, making it the cheapest contest in inflation-adjusted terms since 2006 and well below the $14.8–$22.2 million range of the last three cycles. Democratic nominee Helena Foulkes accounts for roughly 69% of that spending at about $6.8 million, followed by Gov. Dan McKee, who lost the September primary to her, at nearly $2.6 million. Independent Ken Block and Republican nominee Aaron Guckian have spent far less. Analysts attribute the drop-off to a thin post-primary field, though outside spending by parties and unions is filling some of the gap and rising media costs continue to push overall campaign costs higher.

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee lost Wednesday's Democratic gubernatorial primary to former CVS and Hudson's Bay Company executive Helena Foulkes, who won decisively 62.4% to 37.6%, four years after narrowly beating her in a multi-candidate race. McKee, governor since 2021, had faced sustained criticism over his handling of the Washington Bridge closure, a critical Interstate 195 span shut down in 2023 over safety concerns whose replacement has run behind schedule; McKee said construction would finish by 2028, but Foulkes called the project "a poster child for mismanagement." Foulkes has focused her campaign on affordability, pledging to build 20,000 new homes, enact a tenant's bill of rights, and push for a gubernatorial line-item veto. McKee had attacked her record on opioids during her 25-year CVS career, but Foulkes maintained opioid dispersal fell 40% under her leadership. Foulkes is heavily favored in November's general election in the deeply blue state.

McKee is the first elected governor to lose a primary since Hawaii's Neil Abercrombie in 2014, and the first sitting governor overall not renominated since Kansas's Jeff Colyer in 2018. On the Republican side, party-backed Aaron Guckian held a narrow lead over Elaine Pelino, a Trump-aligned former actress, in a race too close to call. Sen. Jack Reed easily won his Democratic primary and will face Republican Raymond McKay in November.

Rhode Island voters went to the polls Wednesday in primaries for governor and other federal, state and local offices. Gov. Dan McKee, who ascended to office in 2021 and won a full term in 2022, faces a tough Democratic challenge from Helena Buonanno Foulkes, a former CVS executive who finished a close second in the 2022 primary. Foulkes has outraised and outspent McKee and has led him in independent polling throughout the year, though many voters remained undecided heading into the vote. A loss would make McKee the first elected Rhode Island governor to lose renomination since 1994.

The race has centered on McKee's handling of the Washington Bridge closure and reconstruction, now delayed until 2028, and a 2024 investigation finding he improperly intervened in a state contract award, though no laws were found broken. McKee has attacked Foulkes over CVS's alleged role in the opioid crisis. In the Republican primary, party-endorsed Aaron Guckian faces Elaine Pelino. Rhode Island hasn't elected a Republican governor in 20 years.