Countdown to defeat: a look at the last two days of the McKee campaign
Tim Yean
Managing Editor
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – For a little over an hour at Maria’s Cucina in Providence, the energy was high at Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee’s watch party. Just three minutes after the New England Patriots kicked off their season that energy fell somber.
The Associated Press found confidence in early voting results to call the Rhode Island Democratic gubernatorial primary for Helena Foulkes, a former CVS executive and CEO of Hudson’s Bay Company, over incumbent Dan McKee, at 8:23 p.m.
Just a day prior to the Sept. 9 primary, the governor held a final get-out-the-vote rally at Crescent Park in East Providence, about five miles away from a Washington Bridge-sized problem that has plagued the McKee administration ever since its shutdown in 2023.
The feeling at that rally didn’t suggest that the results of the primary would be a foregone conclusion just under a half-an-hour after polls closed, or the fact that that Washington Bridge-sized problem five miles north would play a key role in why Democrat voters would oust the incumbent for the first time since Bruce Sundlun in 1994.
It didn’t seem, that day, as if all summer, nearly all polls showed that his CVS executive rival from last election was up double-digits and near-certain to snatch a job that she lost four years ago by just 3,000 votes.
Joining the governor were other incumbent elected officials: Secretary of State Gregg Amore, General Treasurer James Diossa and Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos. Speeches on the backing of the various labor unions across the state and across occupations. The end of a seven-year-long takeover of Providence Public Schools. A governor who stood for workers of his state rather than boardroom investors outside the smallest state in America.
McKee’s remarks finished up at about 7 p.m. with a singing duet alongside his daughter, Kara, with additional music from The James Montgomery Blues Band. But as the governor finished up what he had to say, supporters were quick to make an early exit.
East Providence Mayor Bob DaSilva was in attendance and told The Anchor Tuesday of his optimism in Wednesday’s primary results, hoping that the last burst of energy from the McKee campaign would be enough to bulldoze over a heavy deficit and complete the Truman-esque victory the governor hoped to achieve.
“We had an incredible amount of supporters out here today,” DaSilva said. “Talking to people out here, they feel very enthusiastic about what’s going to happen [on Primary Day].”
Governor McKee shared the same enthusiasm with The Anchor, harkening back to points he had blasted voters with throughout the campaign, emphasizing his opponent’s role in the opioid crisis and business background while highlighting his administration’s progress in education, jobs and housing.
“We had hundreds of people here,” McKee said. “People don’t show up the night before an election with hundreds of people unless they’re prepared to have a victory party tomorrow night.”
Then tomorrow night came.
Maria’s Cucina, the site of a former funeral home, now a restaurant, opened its doors to McKee supporters at 7 p.m., an hour earlier than the original start time given. Charcuterie and pasta were provided by the restaurant, and the bar’s seats filled with supporters of the campaign. Outside on the porch, members of McKee’s campaign team talking with each other in hope of a miraculous win.
Above the main floor was the governor with his family, waiting for polls to close and see whether his wishes for a second term would ultimately come to fruition for McKee.
In the midst of the watch party’s shuffle in the food room prior to polls closing, a drink spilled and the glass shattered across the floor. Perhaps a bad omen for the next twenty minutes of waiting.
Then, 23 minutes in, in one fell swoop, with returns showing a dominant Foulkes advantage, the race was called. Smiles turned to tears, and conversations turned to murmurs. Walking back into the restaurant, neutral faces with nods of concession swelled the minute entrance, where, to the left, an empty podium waiting for McKee to take the mentally tough walk downstairs and tell supporters that the race had been lost.
At about 8:50 p.m., the governor finally appeared to the exhausted crowd. Standing beside him, his wife, Susan. He took to the podium following a slow walk filled with handshakes and consolations.
“Not the result we were looking for, but we got to count our blessings,” McKee opened.
In his conceding remarks, a promise of a smooth transition for Helena Foulkes, whom he expects to be in office come January, thanks to family, supporters and voters for “participating in this democracy that I love so much,” and sent a message of keeping strong in defeat.
“This is something that I think is difficult to deal with, but we’ve just got to hold our heads high,” McKee said. “Right in the office, we’ve got my dad's quote: ‘Victory’s not always going to be yours, but if you try and try and try again, you hold your head up high,’ and I’ve got my head up very high because I know the work we’ve done together is really special.”
For the next few months, McKee and his administration will keep their heads high and wrap up any work that needs finishing until January comes around and the soon-to-be-former governor will be able to say what he said to close out his speech.
“Thank you so much, and I think that’s it!”
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