PROVIDENCE — In an unprecedented upending of Rhode Island’s political establishment and a massive rebuke that could signal a significant shift in the state’s political landscape, Governor Dan McKee and Mayor Brett Smiley each were projected to lose their respective primaries on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.
Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos was projected to win her five-way primary, despite the state party declining to endorse her for reelection.
Steve Frias, an attorney, former Republican National committeeman, and local historian, said there have been periods in Rhode Island history when incumbents were swept from office in general elections, but it has never happened in a primary.
There was no organized effort to sweep incumbents from office — the dynamics of the races had little in common. McKee was projected to lose to former CVS executive Helena Foulkes, who lost to McKee by 3 percentage points in 2022. Both are considered moderate democrats. In the Providence mayoral race, the incumbent mayor faced a challenge from Democratic Socialist state Representative David Morales — echoing a reckoning faced by other moderate Democrats around the country.
Foulkes addressed supporters at the Track 15 Food Hall in Providence around 9:15 p.m., promising to be a “governor for everyone.”
“We can create a Rhode Island that our children and grandchildren deserve, where a family can afford a home in the community they grew up in, where there are great-paying jobs that let people build a great life here,” Foulkes said.
The vibe was muted at McKee’s watch party at Maria’s Cucina on Broadway. Small crowds circulated through the rooms in the ornate building, which more than 40 years ago was lodged in Providence history as the funeral home that held services for New England organized crime boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca.
A few minutes before 9, McKee came down the stairs to cheers, applause, and tears from supporters. He greeted people with hugs and handshakes, his shoulders bowed, and said that he’d called Foulkes to congratulate her on her victory and promised a smooth transition.
He thanked his wife, Susan, who stood at his side. “It’s been a journey, and she’s been a great partner,” he said.
He thanked those who’d worked with him during his time in office.
“I’m so proud to be part of an effort that has always brought good things to the people we serve as governor. I’m so proud to be able to have worked with the team I’ve worked with during the last 5½ years as governor. There’ve been difficult issues and we’ve addressed them.”
McKee was hobbled by the abrupt closure in December 2023 of the westbound side of the Washington Bridge — a crucial highway connecting Providence with the East Bay, Southeastern Massachusetts, and Cape Cod. His administration’s handling of the closure, demolition, and ongoing reconstruction left voters frustrated and created an opportunity for Foulkes to repeatedly attack.
Though McKee’s campaign hammered Foulkes about her role as a CVS executive in the opioid crisis, Foulkes held a double-digit lead in polling for months, and the state Democratic Party declined to endorse the incumbent governor, something it had never before done.
The state party also declined to endorse Matos for reelection, and she has been outraised this year by three primary challengers: Newport Councilman Xay Khamsyvoravong, Providence Councilwoman Sue AnderBois, and former state senator Cynthia Coyne. A fourth Democrat, Ross McCurdy, was also running.
Matos, who won her primary, was handpicked by McKee to be his successor as lieutenant governor when he was elevated to governor in 2021, and the two won their 2022 election promising to work as a team. That hasn’t quite panned out, and they grew apart after Matos ran an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 2023.
In Providence, more than 100 of the mayor’s supporters watched in shock as Democratic Socialist state Representative David Morales was projected to win the primary for mayor. The crowd of mostly city employees, lobbyists, and leaders slowly sipped beers at Narragansett Brewery in the city’s Fox Point neighborhood as they digested the political earthquake that hit Rhode Island’s capital city.
Smiley, 47, first ran for mayor 12 years ago as a progressive, but shed that label entirely after winning the office in 2022 with 42 percent of the vote in a three-way primary. He’s been a steady — if unmemorable — leader of the city, and ran a campaign almost exclusively focused on public safety, touting a reduction in crime and disruption from ATVs while painting his challenger as both unqualified to run the city and as hostile toward the Police Department.
At 27, Morales is the youngest candidate for major office in Rhode Island, but he has demonstrated a knack for connecting with Providence voters, particularly with his relentless optimism about the city and its working-class residents.
Morales was outspent 5-to-1 by Smiley, whose campaign spent more than $2 million in 2026. Morales captured voters through grass-roots campaigning, constant social media videos, and digital advertising, rather than traditional TV ads.
Morales’s top campaign promise was to implement limits on annual rent increases, appealing to frustrated renters being continually squeezed by the city’s hot rental market. Smiley vetoed legislation to do so earlier this year, and the Providence City Council failed to drum up enough votes to override the veto.
In another significant primary race, former Cannabis Control Commission chairwoman Kim Ahern was projected to beat former prosecutor Keith Hoffmann, state Representative Joseph J. Solomon Jr., and state Representative Jason Knight in the race to succeed term-limited Attorney General Peter F. Neronha.
Ahern faced scrutiny for her work as Rhode Island’s first chair of the CCC, which has yet to license any of the 24 new retail stores envisioned in the 2022 law that legalized recreational marijuana in the state.
The slow, messy rollout prompted outrage from potential business owners, lawmakers, Ahern’s opponents, and even criticism from a federal judge. But Ahern, 42, defended her tenure as chair during a time when it seemed everyone wanted to get a piece of Rhode Island’s brand-new legal cannabis industry.
The winner of the Democratic primary for attorney general faces Republican Alan Gordon in the Nov. 3 general election. Gordon, a West Greenwich resident who was not endorsed by the state Republican Party, ran for attorney general as the Compassion Party candidate in 2018, when Neronha received 80 percent of the vote to his 19 percent.
Dan McGowan can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com. Follow him @danmcgowan. Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv. Steph Machado can be reached at steph.machado@globe.com. Follow her @StephMachado.