Helena Foulkes

Helena Foulkes is a former CVS executive who lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where she grew up on the city's East Side. She attended Harvard University and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. She spent about 25 years at Woonsocket-based CVS, serving as president of CVS Pharmacy and executive vice president of CVS Health from January 2014 to January 2018. She left CVS in 2018 to become chief executive of Hudson's Bay Company. She has also served on the board of Costco. Foulkes first ran for governor in 2022, finishing about 3 percentage points behind Governor Dan McKee in that year's Democratic primary. In the September 9, 2026 Democratic primary she defeated McKee, with unofficial Board of Elections results showing 62 percent to 38 percent; the Associated Press called the race shortly after polls closed. She faces Republican nominee Aaron Guckian and independent candidates Ken Block, Jasjit Gotra and C.D. Reynolds in the November 3, 2026 general election.