Four years ago, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee was celebrating his narrow victory in the Democratic primary, surrounded by supporters, when someone handed him a phone — it was his opponent calling simply to concede.

“That is hardly likely to materialize,” he remarked, dismissing the phone with a wave.

“End the call with them.”

Now, the woman he dismissed, Helena Foulkes, is challenging him to a rematch.

And McKee is desperate to avoid not only becoming the first U.S. governor to lose a primary since 2018 but also the first Rhode Island governor to lose one in over thirty years.

Foulkes, a former executive at CVS Health, has substantially out-fundraised the incumbent and saturated the airwaves with campaign advertisements.

And unlike four years ago, Democratic voters this election cycle have shown an increasing readiness to unseat sitting incumbents.

McKee, 75, will also have to contend with lingering discontent over a bridge repair project that has extended well beyond its anticipated timeline.

“What I have come to understand most deeply over the past four years is how much people feel that state government serves only a powerful few,” Foulkes, 62, said in an interview.

“They also hear the state's leader saying 'everything's great' while they worry about finding a well-paid job.”

The victor of the September 9 primary in the Democratic-leaning state of Rhode Island will be overwhelmingly favored to secure the general election.

Beyond Foulkes, McKee’s principal adversary in the race is a critical bridge in Providence, Rhode Island — New England’s third-largest city.

In 2023, McKee closed the westbound side of the Washington Bridge after state officials flagged a “critical failure” and announced that repairs would take several months.

The partial closure swiftly sent shockwaves through the region.

The bridge carries Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River from Providence to East Providence, as well as the south coast of Massachusetts and Cape Cod.

Nearly 100,000 vehicles cross it every day, which now must pass through entirely on the reconfigured eastbound side.

Repairs have since taken far longer than promised, as costs have risen well above initial estimates, giving Foulkes ample material to criticize McKee's leadership.

McKee has countered that he ensured public safety and that the bridge construction will be completed by 2028.

He frequently highlights Maryland as an example, noting that the Washington Bridge will be finished before the replacement of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, which is expected to be completed by 2030 after its collapse in 2024, when a large container ship struck it, killing six construction workers.

Yet bridge sagas have a tendency to haunt governors, observed Adam Myers, a political scientist at Providence College.

Intractable issues such as crime, immigration, and the cost of living often prove difficult to resolve definitively, as they are enmeshed in intricate systems.

“In the case of a bridge, people know that state government is responsible for that,” Myers said.

“And so there appears to be a very clear place on which to put all the blame.”

While fending off criticism over his handling of the bridge, McKee has shifted to an offensive stance, denouncing Foulkes as a detached corporate executive attempting to buy her way into the election.

Foulkes comes from a politically influential family.

Her grandfather and uncle, Thomas and Chris Dodd, both served as Democratic senators representing Connecticut.

She spent 25 years at CVS, ultimately rising to president of the company’s pharmacy division from 2014 to 2018.

She subsequently took on the role of chief executive officer at the Canadian retail conglomerate Hudson’s Bay Company, a position she left in 2020.

McKee has accused Foulkes of contributing to the opioid crisis during her tenure at CVS, an allegation she refutes.

“Who’s the option here? It’s a corporate person that the Democrats can’t stand,” McKee said in an interview.

“She’s demonstrated a consistent pattern of prioritizing profits over people, time and again.”

When pressed on her tenure at CVS, Foulkes contends that the company slashed its opioid distribution by 40% during her leadership of CVS’ Pharmacy division.

In 2022, following Foulkes’ departure from CVS, the corporation consented to pay $5 billion to resolve nationwide litigation concerning the impact of opioids, while denying any admission of liability.

Foulkes has further cautioned that McKee's remarks have stirred notable anger among the thousands of employees at CVS, based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, adding that his criticisms of her are often seen as an attack on the entire retail company.

The chief executives of the state's 50 largest corporations have written to you, urging you to stop criticizing CVS, she said during an August debate.

Your actions are likely to drive them out of the state.

McKee asserts that he champions the interests of working-class voters, citing the numerous labor endorsements he has garnered throughout his campaign; notably, however, Rhode Island’s Democratic Party and the state AFL-CIO opted not to endorse in the contest.

Foulkes, meanwhile, points to her expanding base of supporters, which includes Democrats from McKee’s hometown of Cumberland — where he once served as mayor.

“This is an opportune moment to be an outsider,” Foulkes remarked.