Gov. Dan McKee's Mom gets featured role in his first TV campaign ad

PROVIDENCE – With four Democratic challengers nipping at his heels and a recent run of headlines that would give any incumbent a headache, Gov. Dan McKee is airing his first paid TV ad on Tuesday.

But he's not the star.

It's his 94-year-old mother – Willa McKee – in oversized sunglasses, dishing out commentaries on her 71-year-old son's performance so far as Rhode Island's governor the last year and a half.

Her assessment?  "Pretty good."

The back-and-forth goes like this over a game of cards and coffee milk at the kitchen table in the Cumberland home that the governor and his wife, Susan, share with his Mom.

McKee: "Ever since Mom moved back in, we play cards."

Mom: "I even let him win sometimes."

McKee: "Mom always said, 'It doesn't matter what cards you get, it's how you play your hand.' We got dealt a pandemic and delivered one of the nation's best economic recoveries."

Mom. "Pretty good."

McKee: "We got rid of the car tax."  Mom: "Finally."

McKee: "And we're upgrading affordable housing and passing gun safety laws that keep our families safe. Not bad for a year and a half."

Mom: "Not bad for a governor that lives with his mother."

What were RI's best and worst political ads?: Here are some of the most memorable ones

The McKee campaign team has made an initial $65,000 one-week TV air buy, for the spot produced for him by AL Media, which is also working some closely watched races outside Rhode Island.

Other candidates' ads

The GOP candidate – Rhode Island newcomer Ashley Kalus – has been on air nearly non-stop since spring. Former CVS executive Helena Foulkes – from the well-known Rhode Island Buonanno family – followed with a series of ads introducing her – and her plans – to potential voters.

In the one that went up right after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade – she vowed "to fight to eliminate the ban on abortion coverage by insurers" and to enforce R.I.'s law "protecting a woman’s right to make their own private decisions."

In her own first ad, Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea joined the TV competition – with an ad titled "Underestimated" – where she promises to raise corporate taxes to fix the housing crisis and implement universal pre-kindergarten.

Gov. McKee in the news recently

McKee's ad launch went up, as planned, but it comes only days after WPRI reported the elite University Club was served with a subpoena related in some unknown way to the controversial education consulting contract the McKee administration awarded the ILO Group.

That was Friday. On Monday, it came to light that one of McKee's key staff advisers had been arrested in Vermont over the weekend, and charged with trespassing and criminal mischief, and referred for mental-health screening.

These two back-to-back hits followed the release of CNBC’s annual business friendliness rankings. Rhode Island was ranked 45th overall, and among the worst 10 states for infrastructure, cost of doing business, the economy and the cost of living.

Other election 2022 updates: Magaziner leads congressional fundraising

It quickly became a talking point for McKee's political opponents, who cited it as evidence R.I. needs a change in leadership.

But McKee, in a press release, tried to literally and figuratively put the spotlight on his own kitchen table:

"As I said when I delivered my State of the State address, I know how Rhode Islanders are feeling right now. When my family and I sit around our kitchen table, we feel that way too.

"That’s why I’ve focused on things that will make the biggest difference in Rhode Islanders’ lives: delivering direct tax relief including eliminating the car tax, signing gun safety measures, and making an historic investment in housing. Great things are happening in Rhode Island – for all families – and we’re just getting started.”

Added his spokesman, Matt Sheaff: "For the first time in recent memory, Rhode Island has momentum coming out of an economic downturn."

"Our unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in over 30 years and our state is currently ranked second in the country and first in the Northeast for economic recovery based on Moody’s evaluation of 37 key national and state economic indicators."

Beyond that: "Our FY23 budget makes critical and historic investments in improving our infrastructure, housing, job training, as well as additional initiatives to improve our business climate, which will help Rhode Island continue to improve in the future.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI Gov. McKee's mom stars in his first ever TV campaign ad