The focus on McKee showed how the four rival campaigns consider him the frontrunner in the race.
Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea launched the first attack during the debate staged by WJAR-TV, Channel 10, at Johnson & Wales University in Providence. She said an FBI probe into the ILO Group educational consulting contract awarded by McKee’s administration is a mark on his leadership.
“What we’ve seen is very negative headlines and that’s part of the problem,” Gorbea said. “We cannot have a state that’s known nationally for FBI investigations. That is not the kind of Rhode Island that will generate the kind of economy that really works for everybody.”
McKee inherited the governor’s office when his predecessor, Gina Raimondo, became U.S. commerce secretary in March 2021. He tried dismissing criticism over the ILO Group contract, saying his record speaks for itself.
“I know what I’ve done and what I haven’t done,” he said. “And every decision I’ve made as the governor of the state of Rhode Island has been in the benefit of the people of the state of Rhode Island, and we got the results. We’ve gone from last to first in vaccination. We’re opening up the economy faster than anywhere in the Northeast. We have the lowest unemployment rate in the history of the state of Rhode Island.”
The four other leading Democrats in the race for governor kept piling on McKee.
Former CVS Health executive Helena Buonanno Foulkes said her management experience overseeing an $80 billion budget shows she can do a better job of running the state. If elected, she vowed not to seek another term without improvement on students’ test scores.
“I listen to this debate tonight and I think about the career politicians,” Foulkes said. “And I think to myself, is the status quo good enough? Are we going to be okay with ‘meh’? No, I think we deserve much, much better. We need a leader who knows how to bring new thinking, who has a new path, who’s going to do great things for our children and our grandchildren.”
Like Foulkes, Gorbea argued that her experience makes her a better choice than McKee to lead the state. She cited her support for lobbying reform as secretary of state and her experience with housing issues.
Former Secretary of State Matt Brown said Rhode Island would have the money to do more for everyday people if it rescinded a 15-year-old tax cut for the wealthy.
“That tax cut alone cost the state $1 billion, while they left thousands of our kids without a good education, school buildings crumbling, people struggling to afford their housing, people struggling to afford their healthcare,” Brown said. “And that’s been the core problem with the people in power in the state for a long time, including Governor McKee, funneling money to the Superman Building to build luxury apartments that most Rhode Islanders will never be able to afford.”
Community activist Luis Daniel Muñoz also sharply criticized the status quo. He said the state spends too much money on private corporations.
“Public dollars siphoned off by private companies,” he said. “Let’s talk about the Department of Corrections – $277 million. Public Safety, 168 [million]. But public defenders, $14 million. That’s a value statement. You know, we need to make sure that we’re taking money out of corporations’ pockets and putting it into Rhode Islanders’ pockets, through the services that can support healthcare, housing and the criminal justice system.”
Other topics during the debate included McKee’s tie-breaking vote for a soccer stadium in Pawtucket.
The governor said the project is worth supporting, as part of a series of investments around the state. But news reports show the project won’t initially pay for itself, and the other candidates criticized McKee’s support for the stadium.
A trio of polls have depicted a close race between McKee and Gorbea, followed by Foulkes, with Brown and Muñoz both in single digits. The polls came out before Gorbea’s campaign made a misstep with a commercial last week, which they recut after public outcry.
The winner of the Sept. 13th Democratic primary will square off against Republican Ashley Kalus in the November general election.
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org
