Helena Foulkes tells Harvard classmates a curious tale of 2022 primary campaign for governor of RI. Democrat she “won on Election Day.”

Harvard class reunions can exercise a pull to puffery for some. Rhode Island gubernatorial hopeful Helena Foulkes could not resist it this spring when she wrote a brief autobiography of her life today for her 40th class reunion.

The Democrat told classmates, “After a career in business and building a family with Bill [her husband], I’m now engaged in my third act–running as a Democrat for governor of Rhode Island.” True enough. Nowhere does she mention that she was the head of CVS Pharmacy when the company was assisting Purdue Pharma wreck millions of lives by flooding parts of the nation with opioids.

The opioid empress continues, and this is the oddest part, “I ran for the same office in 2022: while I won on Election Day, I lost by three thousand votes.” Foulkes did not win on Election Day. She was not on the ballot on Election Day. Foulkes lost the closely contested three-way September Democratic primary to Governor Dan McKee. Foulkes won 30% of the vote to McKee’s 32.8%. Two-term Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea came in third with 26.2%.

Foulkes is the granddaughter of one U.S. senator and the niece of another. She knows the language of polities, but strikes a dark Trumpian note by claiming she “won on Election Day” but somehow lost, implying a dark hand at work to deny Harvard’s Helen her rightful win.

Foulkes continued her story with an update for classmates. “So I’m either crazy or committed but I’m back. Losing really stinks as you throw your soul into the race, but I really feel I can make a difference for the people of Rhode Island.”

Foulkes is the frontrunner in a primary rematch with McKee, the nation’s most unpopular governor. She remains vulnerable to revelations of her knowledge of the lethal poison of OxyContin and CVS Pharmacy’s role in spreading it while she led the company. Foulkes’s uncle, former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd, was the leading defender of opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma when law enforcement officials sought to sound the alarm on growing opioid abuse.

A Bibb campaign ad could upend the Foulkes campaign. Connecticut readers will remember Mike Fedele’s late 2010 primary campaign surge when he received public funding and saturated the airwaves with the devastating tale of frontrunner Tom Foley’s takeover of a South Carolina mill in the 1980s. Viewers knew the locals were telling their powerful truth. Fedele nearly tipped over Foley on the night of the primary. The victims and survivors of the opioid crisis have stories to tell. Helena Foulkes will not be pleased to hear them.

Here’s The Bibb commercial:

Published June 26, 2026.