During his State of the State address last week, McKee offered a positive message about the future. While it’s true that the state hit an all-time high for jobs last year, Rhode Island still faces persistent challenges with issues like the economy, housing, transportation, public schools and technology. This is an important year for McKee, 73, since he hopes to win re-election next year. So does he have the right stuff to move the state forward? And at what point is McKee willing to stand up to Trump? 

This week on Political Roundtable, I’m going in-depth with Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee.

TRANSCRIPT

This interview has been edited for time and the transcript has been edited for clarity.

Ian Donnis: Welcome back to the Public’s Radio. 

Gov. Dan McKee: Well, thank you so much for having me here. 

Donnis: Let’s start with the Trump administration. A new plan indicates the Justice Department will investigate and possibly prosecute local and state officials who don’t enforce Trump’s hardline policies on immigration. As the governor of Rhode Island, at what point will you defy an order or stand up to the Trump administration?

Gov. McKee: Well, first of all, it’s going to impact a lot of people in a way that that’s going to put a lot of fear on many people who live in the state of Rhode Island. So we’ve got to stand with them. With the people that live in the state. We’re going to continue what we’re doing. If there’s people who are violent or criminals that need to be, we work with ICE. Our state police does that right now. But we’re not going to be profiling or helping to you know, create problems that violate the Constitution, and we’re going to make sure that we stand by the people who live in the state. If anything, I think we need to make sure that there’s hard working people that are here, and the families are based here. I’ve said publicly before, I think that you know, President Trump should take a playbook out of President Reagan’s playbook and actually create an amnesty program to help some of these people who are really being very you know, they’re good people for our state. Give them a path to citizenship.

Donnis: A lot of Democrats are alarmed about the new administration in the White House. Do you think President Trump is going to fundamentally remake America for the worse?

Gov. McKee: Well, during the campaign, I was saying how much this is going to impact Rhode Island and the people who live in the state of Rhode Island you know a Trump administration. We’re already seeing early signs that there’s impact on economy, there’s impact on issues that you just said, and on immigration issues, on women’s health issues. It’s going to impact people. And for me as a governor, I got to stand up for the people in this, that live in the state. We’re reviewing all the EOs [Executive Orders] right now, Ian. To kind of get the implications that they might have both on issues that impact people personally, but also the economy. So we’re very concerned about it. We’re going to do our best, as I said in my State of the State to work with anyone that wants to work with the state of Rhode Island, wants to work with the governor of Rhode Island to help make things work better in our state. So, our antennas are up, and we’re looking at it very thoroughly, and we’ve already had several meetings talking about the executive orders. Talking about the impact that this could have on the people in the state of Rhode Island. 

Donnis: Well, let’s talk about some Rhode Island issues. During your State of the State address last week, you pointed out how state revenue over the next five years is expected to grow 2.5 percent a year. That’s good, but the hard part is that state expenditures are expected to grow 3.7 percent over that time period. Your budget, if adopted by lawmakers, would slightly narrow that gap. But I wonder, what would it take to raise the state’s level of growth to 3.7 percent so that more inroads could be made against that structural imbalance?

Gov. McKee: Well, it goes back to the Rhode Island 2030 plan that we’ve had in place, which is the longest longest type of a plan that I think that has ever existed out of a governor’s office. We’re into our third draft. We need to raise incomes in the state of Rhode Island. That will help create revenue in the state budget. 

Donnis: How do you do that?

Gov. McKee: We’re doing that by investing in the budgets. Right now, we’ve got pre-apprenticeship programs in to help high school students transition maybe into the workforce, the labor workforce, or into college credits. We’ve got apprenticeship programs that are in the budget. We’re reapplying the Reconnect program, which helps people who have started a degree in and haven’t finished it and completed it. We want them to complete these degrees. And we showed examples of that at the state of the state where we brought people in that are really taking advantage of that. The economy issues are all based on investing in the things that are going, that we relied on for years, manufacturing. I was with manufacturers this morning, talking about all the programs that we got out of commerce that they could participate in. But we also have got to invest in new economies, right? So the life science, has been you know, the seed has been planted. We’ve got a bond that was passed that we’re going to build you know, a life science building at URI. We’ve got cyber security going that now is actually showing a path that is going to be a basis for a new economy, new economic opportunities. As well as what we’ve done with the HOPE Scholarship, right? The HOPE Scholarship has provided juniors and senior year, if they’re tracking to a four year degree. We had one of the students there the other day. So there’s a whole list of things. And the good news is we’re being very proactive and not reactive. Being proactive because we’re in a spot that the economy is doing better than it has in the past. But it’s very fragile. And we need to keep investing in the economy.

Donnis: Free speech advocates were troubled last week for your State of the State by how your office closed off the statehouse rotunda where protesters were planning to gather. What do you say to people who feel that was really a blow against transparency?

Gov. McKee: Well, I think that you got two things you got to do here in that night, right? You’ve got to make sure that the people who are protesting have a voice. They were given a voice. They certainly got a lot of media attention. And also at the same time, the people in the state of Rhode Island need to hear what I was talking to him about, right? In terms of where we are as a state, where we’re going as a state. They were both very important and we were able to manage both.

Donnis: During the GOP response, Senate Republican leader Jessica de la Cruz pointed to how fewer than 50 percent of Rhode Island students score proficient for English and math. Why is it taking the state so long to improve that kind of student performance?

Gov. McKee: Well, it takes a while and and we are making progress. I’ve mentioned in a state of the state, that on English since I’ve been governor, we’ve lowered the gap between us and Massachusetts by 34 percent on English and reading. On math, we’ve lowered the gap by 18%. I acknowledge that for us to get to the 2030 goals, which would mean that we would meet or exceed Massachusetts levels by 2030, that we’re going to have to accelerate that and that’s why I mentioned about the round table. Let’s get everybody coming to that table to talk about how we can influence out of school strategies that can support what happens inside the schools. So we need to stay the course in Providence. We’re making progress clearly on the buildings that young students are in, buildings that are either new or like new buildings on a rapid pace. and we’re doing that all around the state of Rhode Island in terms of, and I mentioned in there, I think we got like close to six billion dollars worth of schools being built or retrofitted. The state of Rhode Island, our budget, the one that I manage, over half of that dollars, over three billion dollars, close to three billion dollars, actually go in the local community. So, investing in the schools, investing in our Learn 365 program, we’ll be creating learning centers all around the state of Rhode Island.

Donnis: Back in April, Patrick Anderson reported in the Providence Journal that warnings about the Washington Bridge had been sounded as far back as 2009. That was way before you were governor or even lieutenant governor, and the warnings continued into 2015. RIDOT director Peter Alviti has been in the job for about 10 years. Why was more attention not paid to these warnings? 

Gov. McKee: I think that’s what we’re trying to find out. I mentioned in the State of the State, I inherited a bridge that was being repaired that was not repairable. Three months after that we, I closed down the bridge. I made a notice that we got to replace it. In less than a year, we’ve got the bridge coming down, almost 80 percent of that bridge is coming down. We’ve got money in place to build a new bridge. I’m answering the question because this is leadership that’s coming from not only DOT to get these things in place. We have two nationally renowned bridge builders that are now competing to actually build that new bridge and we should have that resolved by June. And we also have made sure that through leadership and making sure that we had traffic flow back where it was prior to, basically back to where it was prior to the bridge closing. Of course, there are some moments where it’s more frustrating than others, but those preexisted as well. So, I think that the reason is we need to take care of business. And make sure that we replace that bridge, the financing is in place and we need to do everything we can. And the lawsuit that we brought forward is, I believe that we were repairing a bridge that couldn’t be repaired and we were following direction from professionals. And that’s why right now, Peter Alviti is pushing that issue as much as our attorney general is. And we’ll see where that ends up. 

Donnis: Could the westbound bridge have been saved at lower cost if these earlier warnings had been heeded?

Gov. McKee: Yeah, it’s difficult to tell. I mean, all I know is what I inherited and I think when we look at what has happened from the time I said in March 14th, that we’re going to have a new bridge because that bridge was not repairable. Will we get measured on that timeframe? That’s what I’m looking at. I mean, I’ll let the lawsuit look backwards. We’re looking forwards and I think that we’re on track. Certainly it wasn’t, hasn’t been a actually a smooth ride in a lot of ways. People have been very inconvenienced and their lives have been really impacted in a real, real way. We realize that. But right now, we need to build a new bridge. And we need to make sure that our economy does not get hurt as a result of the closure on the bridge. And I can say that it has not got hurt relative to the overall economy of the state of Rhode Island. 

Donnis: You are gearing up to run for re-election next year. Your approval ratings of late have not been superlative. There was a morning consult survey last week. I think your net positive approval was plus four percentage points. If you’re doing as good a job as you say, why has your approval rating not been better? 

Gov. McKee: Well, first of all, polls come and go. I’ve said that more than once. They really can impact certain decisions that are made by candidates. But you know, Rhode Island has never really had governors that have polled well. I’ve actually polled better than most governors have in the past. So, polls come and go. I just want to make sure that people know what we’re doing with the Rhode Island 2030 plan, how we’re investing in education, how we’re investing in raising incomes, how we’re investing and make sure where people are healthy. And and that’s what I, that’s my job to do. I’m worried about Rhode Island and I don’t really compare myself to governors outside of Rhode Island. So we’re planning on running, we’ll make that official in the near future but at the same point in time, we just got to make sure that we let people know, so I thank you for having me here today, that the Rhode Island 2030 plan is a plan. Go to that site. It’s interactive. Plug in if you don’t see yourself in that plan, make sure that you, you let us know. But let’s focus on the schools issues you brought up, the economy issues and health. The message is going to get out and I think that people will realize that we’re, we’re working every day to help the people in the state of Rhode Island.

Donnis: We’re out of time, so we’ve got to leave it there. Thank you very much for joining us, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee. 

Gov. McKee: Okay, Ian. Thank you for the invitation, appreciate being here.

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Back in 2021, a GOP state representative from Rhode Island was among those attending Donald Trump’s January sixth rally in Washington. Justin Price said at the time that he didn’t enter the Capitol. But Price called the Trump supporters in DC that day “patriots” and he spouted a conspiracy theory denying their responsibility for the riot. He lost his state rep seat in 2022 and failed in a comeback attempt last year. But Price’s views are like those now being amplified by President Trump. You can read more about that in my Friday TGIF politics column, posting around 4 this afternoon on X, Bluesky, Threads, Facebook, and at thepublicsradio.org/TGIF.

That’s it for our show. Political Roundtable is a production of The Public’s Radio. Our producer is James Baumgartner. Our editor is Alex Nunes. I’m Ian Donnis, and I’ll see you on the radio.

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