You know that governors in blue blob states like California and New York are looking for ways to squeeze more money from millionaires and billionaires, their favorite targets. Rhode Island is another blue blob state (though not a big one) where the governor, Dan McKee, raised taxes on millionaires to fund handouts for his favorite constituencies. It turns out, though, that this plan may have backfired. The Wall Street Journal reports on McKee’s recent loss in the Democratic primary to former CVS executive Helena Foulkes, who has charted a more business-friendly path during her campaign. The Journal’s editorial board wrote:
This summer the Governor tried to buy union support by signing an increase in the top state income-tax rate to 8.99% from 5.99% on millionaires to pay for a $330 refundable child tax credit and ObamaCare subsidies. He also imposed a three-year moratorium on new charter schools, a teachers union demand that Ms. Foulkes opposed.
Such sops to the left didn’t help Mr. McKee. Ms. Foulkes didn’t oppose the higher tax rate. But she attacked the incumbent for presiding over a declining business environment, which CNBC ranked 48th in the U.S. this year. CNBC rated the state’s economy dead last.
Buying off liberal special interests doesn’t offset the costs of government dysfunction, even among Democratic voters.
Rhode Island Democrats didn’t just vote for Foulkes; they did so in historic numbers. McKee’s defeat was, according to Geoffrey Skelley of Decision Desk HQ, the sixth worst defeat of an incumbent governor of the last 80 years.
Based on unofficial results, Dan McKee just suffered the sixth-worst primary loss by margin of any elected governor in the past 80 years. He’s the first elected governor to lose renomination since 2014. #RIGov pic.twitter.com/0Zj9h9AdXY
— Geoffrey Skelley (@geoffreyvs) September 10, 2026
That’s a painful loss. But it’s no wonder when Americans are looking for a government that will help them raise their standard of living. Whether or not Helena Foulkes will do that for Rhode Islanders remains to be seen, but the residents of the state are sure that Dan McKee wasn’t getting the job done. Taxing the most productive to reward special interests is rarely a good way to make your state more attractive for business. McKee sent businesses looking for a better America.
Action Line: If you’re looking for a better America, begin your search with Your Survival Guy’s 2026 Super States. And click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
