How Big Was McKee’s Win? You Have to Go Back 30 Years for a Bigger Margin in a Gov's Race in RI

How Big Was McKee’s Win? You Have to Go Back 30 Years for a Bigger Margin in a Gov's Race in RI

Democrat Dan McKee ran over Republican Ashley Kalus and her big blue bus in his path to victory.

McKee also beat the pollsters and the prognosticators as well Tuesday night.

The week before the election, Kalus' confidants were spreading the word that Kalus was running just 4% down in her campaign’s internal polling.

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But Tuesday was all McKee.

He finished with a 58% to 39% drubbing in the biggest margin of victory for a Rhode Island governor since 1990.

 

30 Years Ago

McKee’s win was the biggest margin in 30 years.

In 1992, then-Governor Bruce Sundlun beat Republican Betty Leonard, 62% to 34%.

In 1990, Democrat Sundlun had faced Republican Ed DiPrete — it was the third time the two had run head to head. In the 1990 race,  for a third time he walloped DiPrete, 75% to 25% — 264,411 to 92,177.

DiPrete had edged Sundlun in 1988 and beat Sundlun 2 to 1 in 1986.

Since then, nearly every race has been relatively close.

In 2014, Gina Raimondo only won with just 40.7% versus GOP's Allan Fung with 36.2% and the Moderate party's Robert Healey with 21.4%.