Rhode Island's Democratic governor lost his own party's primary by a devastating margin, becoming the first sitting governor in the country to be denied renomination in eight years, a rejection driven by a 24% approval rating and voter fury over a botched bridge project.

Gov. Dan McKee fell to businesswoman Helena Foulkes on Wednesday night in a rematch of their 2022 contest, and this time the result was not close. Foulkes, a former CVS Health senior executive who now sits on Costco's board of directors, captured roughly 62% of the vote to McKee's 37%, a 25-point rout that left no room for ambiguity about where Rhode Island Democrats stand on their incumbent.

The last sitting governor anywhere in the country to lose a party primary was Kansas Republican Jeff Colyer, who fell to then-Secretary of State Kris Kobach by fewer than 400 votes in 2018. McKee's defeat was not nearly that narrow, and Fox News Digital reported it also marks the first time in more than 30 years that a sitting Rhode Island governor has been beaten in a primary.

A 24% approval rating and a bridge that wouldn't open

McKee first took office in 2021 after his predecessor, Gina Raimondo, left the governorship to serve as Commerce Secretary in the Biden administration. He won a full term in 2022, edging Foulkes by just a few percentage points in a crowded Democratic primary field. But whatever goodwill voters extended him four years ago had evaporated by the time the 2026 campaign began.

His approval rating stood at just 24%, one of the lowest among U.S. governors, according to the New York Post. The central issue was the Washington Bridge, a critical span that was abruptly closed in December 2023 over structural concerns and remains under reconstruction more than two and a half years later. The cost and slow pace of the project became a symbol of administrative failure that Foulkes hammered throughout the campaign.

McKee defended his record on the bridge. "The Washington Bridge was a disaster. I shut it down to keep us safe, secured federal funding and we're on pace to complete the bridge ahead of schedule," the governor said during the campaign. But voters were unconvinced, and the lengthy commute disruptions the closure imposed on Rhode Islanders gave Foulkes a concrete, daily grievance to run on.

Foulkes framed the race as a broader indictment of how state government operates under McKee. "People feel like state government just works with a powerful few," she said. "They don't think it's working for them." That argument, paired with the bridge mess, proved decisive.

Foulkes ran as a competent outsider, but McKee tried to tie her to CVS and opioids

McKee's campaign strategy centered on reframing the race around Foulkes' corporate past rather than his own gubernatorial record. He repeatedly targeted her tenure at CVS Health, the Rhode Island-based pharmacy giant, suggesting she was an out-of-touch corporate executive. He specifically went after her leadership role at the company amid its controversial handling of prescription opioids, an issue with deep resonance in a state hit hard by the addiction crisis.

Foulkes, whose 2026 bid was only her second run for elected office, weathered those attacks. She later served as CEO of Hudson's Bay Company before joining Costco's board of directors. Her campaign leaned into the argument that McKee's administration simply was not delivering results for ordinary Rhode Islanders, a message that landed with a Democratic electorate already frustrated by the bridge debacle and a governor whose approval numbers had cratered.

McKee's loss is part of a broader pattern of Democratic incumbents facing rejection from their own voters in recent primaries across the country. Whether the challenge comes from the left or from a competence-focused rival like Foulkes, the common thread is a Democratic base increasingly willing to fire its own officeholders.

Providence's mayor went down too

McKee was not the only Rhode Island Democrat to fall Wednesday night. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley also lost his reelection bid in the same primary, according to the Associated Press, a signal that the voter revolt against incumbents in the state extended well beyond the governor's mansion.

The twin defeats suggest something deeper than one candidate's personal unpopularity. Rhode Island's Democratic electorate sent a clear message that holding office is not, by itself, a qualification for keeping it.

That message echoes intra-party tensions visible elsewhere in the Democratic coalition, where incumbents and establishment figures have struggled to hold off challenges from rivals who argue the party's leaders are out of touch with the voters they claim to represent.

Foulkes enters November as the favorite, but the field is crowded

Foulkes now advances to the November general election, where she is considered the favorite in a state that leans heavily Democratic. She will face the winner of the Republican primary between Aaron Guckian, the GOP's 2022 nominee for lieutenant governor, and Elaine Pelino, a retired business executive. Three independent candidates, Ken Block, Jasjit "Jay" Gotra, and Christopher "CD" Reynolds, will also appear on the ballot, according to the Rhode Island Current.

In her victory speech Wednesday night, Foulkes struck a unifying tone. "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," she told supporters.

Whether Foulkes can deliver on that promise remains to be seen. But the Democratic Party's internal struggles, from far-left insurgencies defying party leadership in Senate races to power grabs sparking bipartisan revolts in local party organizations, show a coalition that increasingly cannot agree on who should lead it or where it should go.

McKee's 25-point loss is the sharpest version of that problem. When your own party's voters reject you by that margin, the bridge is not the only thing that collapsed.