FACT CHECK: Key McKee Reelection Claim Is False

FACT CHECK: Key McKee Reelection Claim Is False

Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee has announced his reelection bid and cites nearly 20 claims, but a number of those assertions are questionable, and one is simply false.

GoLocal fact-checked McKee's claim about how Rhode Island ranks for starting a new business.

 

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Ranking for Business

McKee stated that Forbes ranked Rhode Island as the "15th best state to start a business," but that was not true.

In 2024, Rhode Island was ranked 23rd.

After repeated questions from GoLocal to the McKee and hours of delay, the McKee campaign finally admitted the claim was false.

Further, McKee fails to cite that Forbes ranks Rhode Island 41st for business.

In CNBC’s ranking for the best place for business, Rhode Island ranked #44.

And, WalletHub ranks Rhode Island 50th for starting a business.

 

GoLocal breaks down the governor's most questionable claims.

 

Questionable Claims

GoLocal asked the McKee campaign about other questionable claims of McKee's accomplishments. They refused to respond.

McKee’s campaign picked and chose data. He claims, “Put $100 million into restoring our roads.” But. U.S. News and World Reports ranks Rhode Island’s roads #49. The claim may be true, but it intentionally attempts to mislead the voter that the state's program is effective. 

Another example is McKee's claims he “Secured $230 million from the Biden administration to rebuild the Washington Bridge.” Yes, Biden agreed to the funding, but the McKee administration failed to secure the monies transferred prior to Biden leaving office. Now, the monies are being withheld by President Donald Trump’s administration. Thus, the claim is false as no monies have been secured.

Another example is McKee's claim on education: “McKee Instituted the Attendance Matters initiative and the Initiated Learn 365 RI plan with 38 municipalities.” What McKee does not mention is that testing scores show that most students are performing at a lower performance level than in 2019.

Mckee claims he created “the cyber security school at RIC” but fails to mention that Rhode Islanders have suffered one of the worst cyber-attacks during McKee's tenure. More than 600,000 Rhode Islanders are believed to be impacted, and data has been posted on the dark web.

McKee gave an extension to the state’s consultant, Deloitte, despite a series of controversies in the past.

Deloitte is the subject of multiple class action lawsuits.

 

Homeless and Housing

McKee claims he “Increased shelter beds by over 60%.” Simultaneously, Rhode Island’s housing crisis has gotten far worse.

In 2024 alone, the number of people experiencing homelessness in Rhode Island increased by 35% from the previous year.  Rents continue to skyrocket. Providence led the nation with the highest year-over-year increase in rents — a whopping 12+%, according to rent.com. The median price of a single-family home in Rhode Island is now approaching $500,000. And the prices are expected to increase in 2025.

 

McKee will be 75 years of age by the time of the next election in 2026. He is asking to be elected for four more years in 2026, making his time as governor ten years.

He would be nearly 80 years old at the end of that term if he were to be reelected.

 

This story was first published 3/3/25 6:00 PM