Home turf snub for McKee as Cumberland Democrats back Foulkes for governor

A home field advantage proved insufficient for Gov. Dan McKee to win the backing of the Cumberland Democratic Town Committee, which endorsed Helena Buonanno Foulkes Monday night on the eve of the governor’s 75th birthday.

The 30-11 vote for Foulkes over McKee marks the latest setback for the embattled incumbent, already behind in public polling and campaign fundraising and recently snubbed by other municipal party leaders. The Cumberland committee’s decision is especially significant because McKee is a Cumberland native whose combined 20 years as mayor and a town council member feature prominently in his administration priorities and his reelection campaign. 

On Tuesday night McKee is scheduled to participate in a fireside chat at the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Rhode Island’s 70th anniversary celebration event. The Cumberland clubhouse sits on James McKee Way in homage to program founder, and the governor’s late father, James McKee.

“Symbolically, it’s very important,” said Adam Myers, an associate professor of political science at Providence College. “It’s a huge blow to his ego to have the Democratic committee associated with his hometown endorse his opponent.” 

It also shows a shift from four years earlier, when McKee’s relationships with his hometown and other municipal leaders helped him win a four-way Democratic primary, beating Foulkes by 3 percentage points. 

“Even McKee’s core supporters within the Democratic party are moving away from him,” Myers said.

One week earlier, the Rhode Island Association of Democratic City and Town Chairs also endorsed Foulkes, who is 61 years old. So too have Democratic town committees in Portsmouth and Johnston, while McKee picked up the endorsement of the Pawtucket Democratic town committee. Also on Monday, McKee’s campaign announced endorsements from four mayors: Charles Lombardi of North Providence, Don Grebien of Pawtucket, Chris Beauchamp of Woonsocket, and Bob DaSilva of East Providence. 

Foulkes and McKee each had 20 minutes to present their platforms to Cumberland committee members at the Amaral Building community center, across from Town Hall, before the vote.

Lisa Beaulieu, first vice chair of the Cumberland committee, said members “felt Rhode Island needs a change in leadership,” praising Foulkes for her “experience and drive to move our state forward.” 

“Recent controversies and challenges facing state government have only reinforced our members’ belief that Rhode Island needs new leadership and a greater sense of urgency,” Beaulieu said in a statement. “We believe Helena Foulkes is the candidate best prepared to meet this moment and help put Rhode Island on a stronger path for the future.” 

Foulkes framed the decision as a “telling rejection of the status quo” in a statement Monday night.

“I hear from Rhode Islanders all the time about how they feel like the state government isn’t working for them and how eager they are for change,” she said. 

Time for a commercial break 

McKee’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment. But 12 hours after the endorsement snub, the McKee campaign announced its third, 30-second TV commercial. Unlike his two prior ad spots, which hammered Foulkes over her record at CVS, the latest ad highlights McKee’s role in restarting work on the Revolution Wind project after two attempts by the Trump administration to block it. 

“I may not look polished, but this is what it looks like to get things done,” McKee says with a smile, gesticulating as he stands in front of the trio of wind turbines in the south end of ProvPort.

The timing of the ad drop, fresh off the blow from Cumberland, may be coincidence, said Joe Fleming, a political analyst for 12 News. But, perhaps not.

“He knows he has to do something to close the gap,” Fleming said.

Foulkes is pouring even more into TV time, spending $387,000 to run her campaign ads more than 1,500 times through July 27, according to filings with the Federal Communications Commission. McKee’s campaign spent $33,775 to run the newest ad 61 times through June 22, according to FCC submissions.

The fight for the airwaves, amassing more than $800,000 between the gubernatorial rivals, comes just over two months before the start of early voting on Aug. 20. More than one-third of prospective Democratic primary voters are undecided, according to a WPRI -TV 12 and Emerson College poll published in May. The same poll showed Foulkes with a 20-point lead over McKee.

And while party leaders’ endorsements get top billing from media outlets and political onlookers, the average voter doesn’t know — and probably doesn’t care, said Myers.

“We live in an age where voters are very distrustful of establishment institutions of powers that be,” he said. “I don’t think a lot of ordinary voters are going to be swayed by the town committees endorsement in the way they would have been 50 to 60 years ago.”

Potentially more impactful to the primary outcome are the backing of labor groups, which boast the numbers and organizational acumen to mobilize voters to get to the polls.

“If we’re choosing between labor unions and party committees, you definitely want the unions,” Myers said.

The United Nurses and Allied Professionals, the state’s largest healthcare union, announced its endorsement for McKee on Monday. But other influential labor groups including the teachers unions have not formally weighed in on the gubernatorial race, potentially waiting to see whether McKee signs a contested charter school moratorium bill that unions wanted.

The Rhode Island Democratic Party is set to make its endorsements at the state committee convention on Saturday. 

While candidates have won without party endorsements, it’s not a good sign for the already-behind McKee to lose the party backing, too, Fleming said.

“It sends a signal that he hasn’t gained the momentum,” he said. 

The Cumberland Democratic Town Committee also endorsed Newport City Councilor Xay Khamsyvoravong for lieutenant governor over incumbent Sabina Matos, in a four-way primary that also includes former Barrington state Sen. Cindy Coyne and Providence City Councilor Sue AnderBois. Keith Hoffmann, a former policy aide to Attorney General Peter Neronha, received the committee endorsement in the open attorney general’s race over Kim Ahern, Warwick Rep. Joe Solomon and Barrington Rep. Jason Knight. 

The primaries are Sept. 9, with a Nov. 3 general election. 

Reporter Christopher Shea contributed to this story.