In Rhode Island, on Wednesday, September 9, internal party primaries were held, as a result of which candidates for key elected positions were determined. The Democratic winners will be considered the clear favorites in the November midterm elections, taking into account the preferences of local voters, The Washington Post notes.
The main surprise was the gubernatorial race: incumbent (current state head) Dan McKee lost to former top manager of the CVS pharmacy chain Helen Fulks. He became the first sitting US governor since 2018 to fail to secure his party's nomination for another term.
McKee, 75, will lead Rhode Island in 2021 and has been among the nation's least popular governors in recent years. He narrowly beat Fulks in the 2022 primaries, but this time he lost to her by a noticeable margin – 37.6% of voters voted for Mackey, while Fulks received 62.4%.
McKee won the support of many unions in the state, but the influential local AFL-CIO branch did not favor either candidate. Fulks, in turn, has the support of several influential local and federal Democrats, including Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Nerona and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Fulks criticized the current governor for the delayed repair of the Washington Bridge in Providence, one of the region's key transportation arteries. In 2023, McKee closed the western portion of the bridge for reconstruction, saying the work would take several months. However, since then the cost of the project has increased significantly, and renovations are still ongoing. In general, the campaign was not accompanied by pronounced ideological confrontation, WP notes.
Elaine Pelino and Aaron Guckian, who previously served as a special assistant to Republican Gov. Donald Carcieri, are competing for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in a close race. The final results of the Republican primaries have not yet been summed up, but according to the AP's interim ballot count data, Gakian holds the advantage.
Kim Ahern, who previously headed the Marijuana Control Commission, won the Democratic nomination for attorney general. She maintained a small but steady lead as the votes were counted. After processing 100% of the ballots, Ahern received 36.3% of the votes. Her closest rival, Keith Hoffmann, who previously headed the policy department in the office of current Attorney General Peter Nerona, scored 33%.
In her victory speech, Ahern called the results of the vote historic and promised to protect the interests of Rhode Islanders every day if elected. Ahern could become the first female Democrat and first LGBTQ+ person to serve as Rhode Island's attorney general.
“Rhode Island has never elected a Democratic woman as attorney general. Rhode Island has never elected a mother to this position. And Rhode Island has never elected an LGBTQ+ person to one of the state's highest elected offices. And thanks to all of you, we will change that in November,” she said.
Incumbent Jack Reed won the Democratic primary for a seat in the Senate. The 76-year-old politician now hopes to be re-elected to the US Senate for a sixth term. Reed was first elected to the Senate in 1996 and previously represented Rhode Island in the House of Representatives for three terms. He serves on the Senate Armed Services, Appropriations, Banking and Intelligence Committees.
In the primary, Reed defeated Connor Burbridge, a self-described “small business owner, senior care worker, community activist, and working class Rhode Islander,” and Luis Muñoz, a medical school graduate, health technology entrepreneur, and former gubernatorial candidate in 2018 and 2022.
In the general election in November, Reed's opponents will be Republican Ray McKay, who had no competitors in his party's primaries, and independent candidate Michael Bari.
