Neither Gov. Dan McKee nor challenger Helena Foulkes will get the top spot and asterisk signaling the party endorsement on the September primary ballot after the Rhode Island Democratic Party declined to endorse either at its state committee convention Saturday.
The outcome marks yet another setback for McKee, who will be the first sitting governor in at least recent history not to win the backing of his party, said Joe Fleming, a WPRI 12 political analyst.
“I don’t recall an incumbent governor ever not winning the endorsement, and I’ve been around a long time,” Fleming said in an interview Monday. “This is not a good sign for the governor.”…