Who runs Rhode Island? Soon, more women than ever.

The Boston Globe · Steph Machado · 2026-11-06 12:55 UTC

For the first time, Rhode Island’s governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general will all be women come January.

PROVIDENCE – When Kim Ahern emerged to make her victory speech Tuesday night after being elected Rhode Island’s next attorney general, flanked by her wife and three daughters, Beyoncé’s feminist anthem blasted to the crowd: “Who run the world? Girls.”

Come January, for the first time ever, a majority of statewide officeholders in Rhode Island will be women, after female candidates won races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. Each of the five statewide offices has been held by a woman at least once before, but never more than two at a time, and never the two top jobs.

Helena Foulkes won the governor’s race after toppling incumbent Dan McKee in September’s Democratic primary. Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos won reelection by a 19-point margin over Republican John Loughlin, bucking polls that indicated she was vulnerable. And Ahern, who will succeed term-limited Peter Neronha as attorney general, became the first mom and first openly gay candidate to be elected to that office.

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