EXCLUSIVE: RI Political Shake-up — Ken Block Launches Campaign for Governor

EXCLUSIVE: RI Political Shake-up — Ken Block Launches Campaign for Governor

 

Rhode Island's political landscape is getting a reset.

Rhode Island businessman Ken Block is launching an exploratory committee to run for governor of Rhode Island as an independent.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

He tells GoLocal that he simply cannot sit on the sidelines and see what is happening to Rhode Island anymore.

A run by Block transforms the governor's race —  creating a highly competitive general election. In recent years, Block has made national news for his research and standing up to election deniers about the results of the 2020 Presidential election. He had been hired by the Trump campaign to analyze election data, and he found no election fraud (read more below).

Both announced Democratic candidates — incumbent Dan McKee and former CVS President Helena Foulkes — have polled poorly, with both recording high negatives. A poll by the University of New Hampshire released in February shows that 40% of Democratic likely primary voters are undecided. A number that unveils the lack of enthusiasm about McKee and Foulkes, who faced each other in 2022.

Since his election in 2022, McKee’s administration has faced a series of blunders — the failure and management of the Washington Bridge, repeated tech failures, and numerous other controversies. 

A series of stories has unveiled ties between Foulkes and the Sackler family and has exposed that claims she made in the 2022 primary about her role in the opioid crisis during her time as president of CVS were false.

More recently, Foulkes alienated pro-business Democrats by calling for a billion-dollar tax increase.

 

Block’s Rhode Island Record

Block launched a highly successful software company in Rhode Island in 2001. He was the founder of the Moderate party and has twice run for governor, once as a moderate and as a Republican.

He made national news and was named a “Defender of Democracy” by TIME magazine.

 

Here is what TIME wrote about Block:

Voting booths had been closed for less than 24 hours four years ago when Ken Block’s phone rang. On the other end was a lawyer from the Donald Trump campaign in need of a data pro who could help suss out voter fraud, possibly enough to keep the President in the White House for a second term. Block, who had spent the seven years leading up to that Nov. 4, 2020, phone call investigating voter fraud, was candid with Alex Cannon: it was going to be really tough, if not impossible, to help Trump’s lawyers find sufficient voter fraud that would stand up in court. After all, voter fraud before 2020 had rightly been treated as a miniscule misdeed and never enough to make a lick of difference in the outcome.

After a diligent search, Block told the campaign that the same trend had held during the election that had just ended, despite Trump’s baseless claims of widespread fraud and corruption. “I would instantly do this work again because the assessment of what happened in an election is a black-and-white exercise. Either there was fraud or there was not fraud,” Block tells TIME. “And you should be able to quantify exactly how much fraud there was, and you should be able to explain it.” Block, a former Republican candidate for Rhode Island governor, could do neither.

In the years since, Block has become perhaps the most effective truth-squadder against persistent Republican claims about the Big Lie. This year, he even refuted those arguments point by point in a highly detailed book, Disproven. More crucial to the 2024 elections, he also explored the vulnerabilities that remain. “The threat comes from within,” Block says. “What I'm most worried about in this election cycle is the role that partisan election officials might play in altering the outcome of an election.”

 

Block's Run for Governor Based on Competency - Fixing a Broken State

Block is expected to differentiate from Foulkes and McKee. He has the outsider lane to himself.

"I have decided to run for governor because, like so many of you, I can no longer tolerate the dysfunction, waste, and warped priorities of our state government," said Block in his opening message. 

"Our state budget is $15 billion – close to $15,000 annually for each of us. Why does it feel like we aren’t getting what we are paying for? Because we are not.

Your taxes keep going up, but the roads don’t get fixed, projects fail, and nothing seems to work the way it should. That’s not your fault and it’s not about blaming people. It’s about fixing broken processes that keep good people stuck in a system that doesn’t work.
Our state government wastes billions of our tax dollars by doing a poor job. Whether it is the RI DOT allowing the Washington bridge to rot away or big dollar technology projects that not only fail to impress but also simply fail to work, our government steps in it, doesn’t learn or improve, and then steps in it again," added Block.

"The only thing worse than making a bad mistake is making that same mistake again. If you or I performed like this at work, we’d be held accountable. It’s time your government was too. I am asking you to send me to the governor’s office to make RI’s government accountable to you," said Block.

Block added, "When our state government misfires, it hurts everyone. We can and will do better. Much better!"

 SEE HIS WEBSITE