RICHMOND, Rhode Island — Gov. Dan McKee faces stiff Democratic primary competition in his campaign for a full, four-year term after assuming the Ocean State‘s top government job 16 months ago.
A recent poll of 353 likely Democratic primary voters showed McKee lagging Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea 20% to 24% ahead of the Sept. 13 nominating contest. The poll was conducted by Boston Globe/Suffolk June 19-22 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points.
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“Polls come and go, and the campaign has just started,” McKee said in response to the poll numbers, WPRI reported. “I don’t really put a lot of stock in any numbers, whether you’re up or you’re down.”
McKee first ascended to the governorship in March 2021 after then-Gov. Gina Raimondo stepped down from the post to serve as the secretary of commerce in the Biden administration. As lieutenant governor, McKee was the next in line for the role. He was first elected lieutenant governor in 2014, after eight years as mayor of Cumberland, in Rhode Island’s northeast corner.
Both McKee and Raimondo had been subject to speculation that they did not get on well. During the height of the COVID-19 crisis in the state in 2020, McKee was barely present during Raimondo’s frequent televised press spectacles and had been reportedly left out of her inner circle.
“I was elected to be the backup quarterback who can go into the game,” he told reporters in 2020, according to the Providence Journal. “I’m a backup quarterback that’s not part of a team. I don’t even have a uniform.”
Against the backdrop of speculation about their professional relationship, McKee and Raimondo came together in the public eye during the transition in 2021. He was later sworn in to office as governor by Gorbea.
Gorbea was first elected secretary of state in 2014. She announced her candidacy for governor in May 2021, just a few months after Raimondo stepped down. The Rhode Island governor is limited to two consecutive terms in office, so Raimondo would not have been able to pursue a third bid as governor this cycle.
“The poll shows that Rhode Islanders want a governor they trust to always be on their side and who knows how to get things done for people,” Gorbea’s campaign manager said, according to WPRI. “Nellie Gorbea has been in the trenches with community leaders in Rhode Island for more than thirty years, making real progress on critical challenges like housing and defending voting rights and reproductive freedoms.”
The poll also found that former CVS executive Helena Foulkes had vaulted near the top of the pack with 16% of voters favoring her. About 31% of voters were undecided.
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On Sunday, McKee received an endorsement from the state Democratic Party during its convention. State Treasurer Seth Magaziner, a congressional hopeful, also received the party endorsement for the primary race in the state’s 2nd Congressional District. A recent poll from Boston Globe/Suffolk had Magaziner trailing leading Republican contender Allan Fung in the general election, despite the district leaning heavily Democratic over the past 30 years.
