06/01/2026
Who Is McKee Really Working For?
PROVIDENCE — Governor Dan McKee is getting outside help at a moment when he badly needs it. WPRI recently reported that a newly established group called Working Rhode Island Forward is preparing to support McKee’s reelection campaign, with funding expected from labor unions and McKee allies. The group arrives as McKee continues to struggle in public polling. A May Emerson College and WPRI survey found Helena Foulkes leading McKee 40% to 20% among likely Democratic primary voters, with 37% undecided. The same poll found McKee viewed unfavorably by 60% of likely Rhode Island voters.
The first question is simple. What exactly is Working Rhode Island Forward working to move forward? Based on the reporting so far, its immediate purpose appears to be boosting McKee. That is legal. Outside groups are part of modern politics. Labor unions have every right to organize, participate in elections, advocate for workers, and support candidates they believe will advance their interests. But voters should still pay attention when an unpopular incumbent governor gets a rescue effort from organized political interests.
Union funds come from workers who pay into organizations meant to protect wages, benefits, working conditions, job security, bargaining rights, and workplace safety. That is a legitimate purpose, and many workers depend on their unions to fight battles they could not fight alone. The real question is whether union political spending is representing the workers, or the leadership.
Union members are not a political monolith. National data from Pew Research Center found that union voters still lean Democratic overall, but not unanimously. Pew reported that 59% of voters who belong to a union identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, while 39% identify with or lean Republican. Pew also found Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump among union voters by only 50% to 43%, a gap within the survey’s margin of error.
The Teamsters gave an even sharper example of the divide between rank and file workers and traditional union politics. In 2024, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters released internal polling showing its members preferred a Trump endorsement over a Harris endorsement by wide margins after President Joe Biden left the race. The union’s electronic member poll showed Trump at 59.6% and Harris at 34%. A separate phone poll showed Trump at 58% and Harris at 31%. Union leadership cannot simply assume every worker agrees with every political decision made in the union’s name.
That is where Working Rhode Island Forward becomes more than just another campaign story. If union leaders are preparing to spend money to prop up McKee, union members should be asking whether that spending protects their interests or protects the political relationships of union leadership.
Rhode Island labor organizations have clear policy goals. The Rhode Island AFL-CIO’s own 2026 voter survey highlights support for limiting self-checkout registers, linking the minimum wage to inflation, a millionaire or wealth tax, offshore wind construction, and overtime protections. Some workers may support those ideas. Others may not. Some may care most about wages and safety, while disagreeing with the broader progressive agenda often advanced by union leadership. That conflict brings up questions when a governor is politically weak.
If McKee were cruising toward reelection with broad public support, labor backing would look like ordinary coalition politics. But when a governor is trailing badly, and outside money steps in to help rescue him, the question changes. The issue becomes political debt. If organized labor helps save McKee’s campaign, what will a reelected Governor McKee owe in return?
A governor has enormous power over the issues unions care about. His administration negotiates with public employee unions. He signs or vetoes labor backed legislation. He shapes agency staffing, budget priorities, board appointments, infrastructure spending, state contracts, economic development policy, and the overall size and reach of state government.
None of that requires a secret deal. Political debt does not always come with a signed contract. Sometimes it comes with access, expectations, friendly appointments, favorable budget decisions, and a governor who knows who stepped in when his campaign was in trouble. That is the concern Rhode Islanders should be watching.
The issue is not whether workers should organize. They should have that right. The issue is not whether unions can participate in politics. They can. The issue is whether union leadership is using member funded political power to protect workers, or to protect an incumbent governor who may be losing support from the public.
If Working Rhode Island Forward helps lift McKee back into office, voters and union members should both ask the same question.
What will Governor McKee be expected to deliver in return?
