MCKEE AT THE BUZZER
Lt. Gov. Daniel J. McKee fends off primary challenger by thin margin
PAWTUCKET – Sweating out the results down to the final precinct, Lt. Gov. Daniel McKee on Wednesday night celebrated a hard-earned, downto-the-wire victory over progressive challenger Aaron Regunberg in the statewide Democratic lieutenant governor primary.
In what was easily the tightest statewide race of the night, McKee won with 56,667 votes, or 51 percent, while Regunberg trailed behind with 54,259 votes, or 49 percent, according to unofficial results from WPRI-12. The two candidates were separated by 2,408 votes.
With his victory in Wednesday’s primary, McKee now advances to November’s general election, where he’ll be in a five-person race against Republican Paul Pence, Moderate Joel Hellman, and independent candidates Ross McCurdy and Jonathan Riccitelli.
“We’re in!” the 67-year-old former six-term mayor of Cumberland said as he confirmed Wednesday night’s results. He gave two thumbs-up to his supporters as he beamed with an ear-toear smile from his campaign party at La Arepa, a Venezuelan restaurant in the Fairlawn neighborhood of Pawtucket.
“We’re up by 1,700 votes, that’s good,” McKee said earlier in the night, around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. “We’re
going to make sure we’re going to work right to the end. Whether it goes to write-ins, we know we’ve done a very good job on the writeins, we feel very comfortable about that.”
“My career is building trust, always tell the truth, the truth does matter and I believe that right to the end of the campaign,” he later said. “It is difficult when the untruths continue to roll off the tip of the tongue of my opponent … That influences
people and that’s not right. I believe you take the high road, that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”
With the victory in Wednesday’s primary, and if McKee is successful in his general election race, the lieutenant governor will earn his second four-year term as the man who is a heartbeat away from the governor’s office.
The race leading up to Wednesday’s primary was far from easy for the incumbent lieutenant governor. Political observers both locally and nationally pegged the 28-year-old Regunberg as a rising star politically, with a progressive backing and a
large campaign war chest. A community organizer and state representative from Providence’s East Side, Regunberg made headlines when he earned an endorsement from former Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The back-and-forth nature of the campaign – from Regunberg’s criticism of McKee’s support for school choice to McKee’s condemnation of Regunberg’s proposed health care policies – seemingly culminated on the steps of the State House last Tuesday, when a collection of mayors and city leaders from northern Rhode Island gathered to throw
their support behind McKee.
But that was all in the past on Wednesday, as voters across the state filled out ballots for McKee or Regunberg in the night’s tightest race.
Among the officials in attendance at McKee’s campaign party on Wednesday night were Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien, Central Falls Mayor James A. Diossa, Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena, North Providence Mayor Charles A. Lombardi, and District 8 State Sen. Sandra C. Cano.
“I believe that the best politics is when you bring people together to
solve problems, so to have the mayors here with me today, I’m so proud to be working on behalf of all the municipalities,” McKee said. “Each and every one’s important, each and every community that lives inside those communities is important.”
Grebien introduced McKee, calling him “our lieutenant governor who’s going to continue to be our lieutenant governor.” That remark elicited raucous cheers from the gathered crowd of supporters.
“We all knew it was going to come down to the last day. We all understood this was going to be a tough race,” Grebien said.