Businesswoman Helena Foulkes defeats Gov. Daniel McKee in Rhode Island Democratic governor primary

NBC News projects that Foulkes won the Democratic nomination in the blue state, making McKee the first governor to fall in a primary in eight years.

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee has lost his Democratic primary to former CVS executive Helena Foulkes, NBC News projects, after having faced a significant spending disadvantage and voter discontent with his tenure.

In an election season that has seen a wave of anti-incumbent energy, McKee, 75, becomes the first governor to fall in a primary this year — and the first in eight years.

Public polling had shown McKee, who was running for a full second term, trailing by double digits heading into Tuesday. And Foulkes, 62, outspent him on the airwaves by 3-to-1, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

The primary was a rematch of 2022, when Foulkes narrowly lost to McKee, who had replaced Gov. Gina Raimondo after she was selected for President Joe Biden’s Cabinet in 2021.

McKee’s 2023 decision to close the Washington Bridge, a commuter thoroughfare in Providence, hung over his campaign. The bridge closure came after state engineers discovered major structural problems that could have eventually caused it to collapse. Three years later, the bridge remains under construction.