Dan McKee #

Introduction #

Dan McKee, the 75-year-old incumbent Democratic governor of Rhode Island, lost his party’s primary on September 9, 2026, to former CVS executive Helena Foulkes — making him the first sitting governor in the country to be denied renomination in eight years, and the first elected governor to lose a primary since Hawaii’s Neil Abercrombie fell in 2014. NBC News projected Foulkes the winner after a race in which she outspent McKee on the airwaves by a 3-to-1 margin, per the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, and in which voter discontent with his tenure — above all his administration’s handling of the Washington Bridge — dominated the contest. The New York Post framed the result bluntly: McKee, whose approval rating was among the lowest of any governor in the country, had become the answer to a trivia question nobody in his party wanted to hold.

Background Information #

McKee built his career in Rhode Island municipal and state politics, serving as mayor of Cumberland and two terms as lieutenant governor before first assuming the governorship in 2021, when Gov. Gina Raimondo left office to become commerce secretary in the Biden administration. He won his first full term in 2022 after narrowly emerging from a crowded five-way Democratic primary in which Foulkes, a former longtime CVS Health executive who later served as CEO of Hudson’s Bay Company, finished a close second. The 2026 contest was therefore a rematch four years in the making — and this time the dynamic that had favored the incumbent inverted completely, with Foulkes sitting on Costco’s board and spending decades in the private sector while McKee carried the record of a governor seeking a second full term.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Allegations. This section recounts a contested political record, not criminal conduct: McKee has never been charged with any crime. The criticism of his bridge handling comes from his primary opponent’s campaign and from press reporting on public polling; McKee denies mismanaging the project, says he shut the bridge down to keep the public safe, and notes his administration secured federal funding for the rebuild.

The collapse of McKee’s standing traces to one structure: the Washington Bridge, a major east-west artery over the Seekonk River that connects Providence to its eastern suburbs and Massachusetts and carries roughly 100,000 vehicles a day. McKee ordered the bridge closed in December 2023 after inspectors uncovered serious structural problems that, per NBC News, state engineers determined could eventually have caused it to collapse. By March 2024, officials had concluded that repairing the structure was not feasible and that it would have to be rebuilt; the project, initially estimated to reopen in 2026, has since slipped to November 2028.

The pace and cost of the work became the central issue of the primary. An Emerson College poll from August found that 63% of likely Rhode Island voters disapproved of McKee’s handling of the bridge, with just 18% approving, and a University of New Hampshire poll the same month measured his approval at 24% statewide while showing Foulkes with a 38-point primary lead. Foulkes called the project “a poster child for mismanagement” during a fiery debate and argued that under McKee, “people feel like state government just works with a powerful few.” McKee defended his record — “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,” he said in a campaign ad — while countering that Foulkes was an out-of-touch elite who turned a blind eye to the opioid crisis during her 25 years at CVS. Voters were not persuaded: when the results came in on September 9, the Associated Press called the race for Foulkes.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

McKee’s defeat added the highest-profile incumbent yet to a 2026 primary season that has already toppled 11 House members and two senators, in what NBC News described as a wave of anti-incumbent energy. Foulkes, who campaigned with help from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — a college roommate of her mother — and carries the political lineage of her uncle and grandfather, Connecticut senators Chris Dodd and Thomas Dodd, now advances to the November general election as the heavy favorite in a state Kamala Harris carried by nearly 14 points in 2024 and which has not elected a Republican governor since 2010. She will face the winner of the Republican primary between Aaron Guckian, the GOP’s 2022 nominee for lieutenant governor, and retired business executive Elaine Pelino. The Guardian noted the loss was not driven by a more progressive challenger or a generational upset but by plain frustration over a bridge.

Current Status #

McKee remains governor until his successor is sworn in, with the general election set for November 2026. The Washington Bridge reconstruction he leaves behind is scheduled for completion in November 2028 — nearly a year after the next governor takes office — meaning the defining project of his tenure will outlast his governorship itself. His administration continues to defend the closure as a safety-first decision, with construction, per McKee, on pace to finish by 2028.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

For a 75-year-old politician whose entire adult life was spent in Rhode Island officeholding — mayor, lieutenant governor, governor — the primary loss effectively closes the book on his electoral career. He now joins rare historical company: Abercrombie, the last elected governor to lose a primary, who fell by 35 points in 2014, and Kansas Republican Jeff Colyer, the last sitting governor denied renomination, who lost to Kris Kobach by fewer than 400 votes in 2018. Whatever the eventual fate of the bridge rebuild, his legacy appears set: the governor who shut down the Washington Bridge, could not get it reopened on his watch, and became the first sitting governor in eight years to be fired by his own party’s voters.