A clean energy super PAC zeroes in on little Rhode Island. Its target: Dan McKee

Eight days out from the Sept. 9 primary, Gov. Dan McKee’s reelection campaign is attracting national attention — and not the positive kind.

A clean energy super PAC funded by solar developers and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs is spending $500,000 on a pair of McKee attack ads, the group announced on Monday.

The organization, Invest in America’s Future PAC, received its funding from a super PAC, the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC. Formed in May, the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC has spent more than $3.6 million to attack candidates who do not support its clean energy goals. Until now, they have focused exclusively on incumbent Republican members of Congress, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

McKee is the first Democratic candidate, and the first running for a state office, targeted by the group. 

“Governor McKee is playing politics with Rhode Island’s affordability crisis, blaming it on the clean energy transition and running on delaying our climate goals,” Chis Coffey, a PAC spokesperson said in a statement. “That’s disqualifying — especially in a state that depends on thousands of renewable energy jobs.”

Trailing Foulkes by double digits in recent public polls, the embattled incumbent governor continues to tout an energy affordability plan built upon rollbacks to existing state renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. The contested plan was put forth in McKee’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal, but largely dismantled by lawmakers in the final spending plan that started July 1.

McKee’s campaign criticized the attempted influence of deep-pocketed “crypto billionaires. Chris Larsen, a tech billionaire and co-founder and executive chairman at Ripple Labs, a cryptocurrency firm, is the largest donor to the PAC, having contributed $6 million, according to federal campaign filings. None of the donors are based in Rhode Island.

“Governor McKee’s campaign is built on the people who show up to work every day – not on out-of-state money trying to buy an outcome Foulkes couldn’t earn herself,” Sophie Mestas, a spokesperson for McKee’s campaign, said in an emailed response Tuesday. “This state isn’t for sale, and neither is this election.” 

McKee’s Democratic primary challenger, Helena Buonanno Foulkes, did not respond to requests for comment.

The pair of 30-second attack ads, which will run on broadcast stations and online, echo many of the criticisms Foulkes has lobbed against her opponent, denouncing his ineffective approach and accusing him of cronyism.

“Dan McKee’s been asleep at the wheel, busy handing out favors to his donors” the male narrator of one spot declares, pulling headlines and text clips from the state’s investigation into McKee’s handling of the botched education contract to the ILO Group. The dual Rhode Island State Police and Attorney General probe concluded there was not enough evidence to press charges against McKee or his administration for awarding the school reopening contract to a firm with inside connections. But the investigation spawned plenty of criticism, an ethics complaint and a new law the following year prohibiting bid-rigging. 

“Dan McKee works for insiders, not for you,” the ad concludes, as black text flashes across the screen, reading “Vote No on Dan McKee.”

Requisite filings with the Federal Communications Commission detailing ad placement and run dates were unavailable as of Tuesday afternoon. The Rhode Island Board of Elections had not received the independent expenditure report detailing the PAC spending against McKee as of Tuesday morning, Ric Thornton, campaign finance director, confirmed.

The outsiders

What little outside spending has infiltrated the gubernatorial primary this year has mostly benefited McKee. The governor’s campaign received a $225,000 campaign boost in late August from a labor-backed political organization, Working Forward Rhode Island. The tax-exempt group formed in May lists Ernie Almonte, former state auditor general, as the group’s treasurer, as first reported by WPRI-TV 12. The funding spent on mailers and digital ads on McKee’s behalf includes $125,000 from the Democratic Governors Association, according to state campaign finance reports.

The Invest in America’s Future PAC said its anti-McKee spending aimed to “even the playing field,” noting that “nothing” has been spent on Foulkes in the race.

Foulkes is one of a handful of state and local candidates to receive financial support from Collective Action for Education, a local advocacy group whose own funds include $150,000 from a billionaire-led dark money group that supports pro-charter school campaigns, the Providence Journal reported. Collective Action for Education spent just over $7,000 on mailers for Foulkes from Aug. 6 to 10, according to state campaign finance reports.

UNITE HERE, A national labor group representing hospitality, hotel, airport and food service workers, including in Rhode Island, spent $100,000 in July to support Foulkes and Providence mayoral challenger David Morales. The campaign finance report does not specify how much the group spent on each candidate. 

Foulkes and McKee’s campaigns each announced their final pre-primary TV spots on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. McKee’s 30-second spot opens with a still from his beloved 2022 ad featuring his late mother, Willa McKee, before touting his union support. 

“This is a choice between a governor who fights for you and Helena Foulkes, a corporate CEO who donated to Mitch McConnell and put profit over working people,” McKee says, seated at the same kitchen table where he and his mother played cards in his 2022 commercial.

Foulkes’ final TV ad does not mention her opponent at all, instead reiterating her message of change as images of her family and supporters flash across the screen. 

“Together, we can change Rhode Island, and create a future all our children and grandchildren deserve,” Foulkes says.

Foulkes’ campaign spent nearly $237,000 to air the spot 1,727 times across the three major local networks — WPRI-TV, WJAR-TV and Coastal ABC — as well as Fox affiliate WNAC and the CW, between Tuesday and Sept. 9.

McKee’s filings were not immediately available. Federal law requires broadcast television stations publish political ad purchases within one day of receiving them. 

Foulkes had already spent more than $2.3 million on various commercials across local broadcast and cable stations since May, according to filings with federal regulators. McKee spent just over $620,000 in the same time frame. No order forms from McKee’s campaign have been filed with any Rhode Island broadcast or cable networks since early August.

Reporter Christopher Shea contributed to this story.