Foulkes Refuses to Answer Questions About New Tobacco Donations

Foulkes Refuses to Answer Questions About New Tobacco Donations

 

GoLocal has uncovered that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Helena Foulkes is continuing to raise money from affluent tobacco heirs.

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In her campaign announcement on Tuesday about her run for governor, Foulkes hyped her role in removing cigarettes from CVS stores and linked it to her mother’s cancer.

“You didn't prioritize short-term bottom line, and that's why we removed cigarettes from all of our stores. My mom died of lung cancer, so this was very personal for me. It cost us [CVS] $2 billion a year in revenue,” said Foulkes.

“And don't think for a second that this was an easy thing to do, or that everyone was immediately on board, but it was the right thing to do. And when you do the right thing, great things happen. You attract a new generation of people who are drawn to your purpose,” she added.

But while Foulkes talks about cancer and removing cigarettes, her campaign is gobbling up tobacco cash from the most powerful families in the industry.

In 2022, GoLocal uncovered that Foulkes had solicited a $1,000 donation from Andrew Tisch, the former CEO of Lorillard Tobacco Company — when GoLocal raised the issue, Foulkes’ campaign said it was unaware of the connection and would donate the money to the American Lung Association, which her campaign did.

SEE THAT STATEMENT BELOW

But now Foulkes is doubling and tripling down on donations from tobacco interests.

 

Multiple Donations and a Fundraiser

Despite Foulkes' rhetoric, she solicited another $2,000 from the Tisch family — the same family that in 2022 she said she did not know was tied to the tobacco industry.

This time in March of 2025, the Foulkes campaign solicited $2,000 from Ann Tisch, the wife of Andrew Tisch.

He was one of the tobacco CEOs who testified before Congress and said that tobacco was not addictive.

 

 

 

Beyond the $2,000 Foulkes campaign received from Tisch in March, the campaign hit a windfall when, in June, Elizabeth Bagley — whose late husband, Smith Bagley, was heir to the R.J. Reynolds tobacco fortune — hosted a fundraiser in Washington, D.C..

The event raised more than $100,000.

Elizabeth Bagley, a former Ambassador who had come under fire for antisemitic comments, also donated $1,000.

Smith Bagley was the grandson of R.J. Reynolds, the founder of the tobacco corporation, and government disclosure documents of the Biden administration put her net worth at $113 million and $292 million. 

GoLocal asked Foulkes about the inconsistency between her political comments about cigarettes and cancer and her campaign fundraising, but she refused to answer questions.

 

In 2022, the Foulkes' campaign sent the following statement:

"Thank you very much for bringing this to our attention. The campaign was unaware of the Tisch family’s previous involvement in the tobacco industry. Leading CVS’s decision to stop selling cigarettes was one of the proudest moments of Helena’s career and an especially personal one, given that she lost her mother to lung cancer.

The campaign will donate contributions from the Tisch family to the American Lung Association immediately."

 

This story was first published 9/9/25 6:44 PM