Eric Hyers, who managed a trio of winning political runs for David Cicilline and Gina Raimondo, has signed on as part of expected Democratic gubernatorial candidate Helena Foulkes’ campaign team.
Hyers told The Public’s Radio that Foulkes hired his Louisville-based firm, Outperform Strategies, “to help her and her team gear up as she heads toward a final decision about running for governor.”
Foulkes appears committed to competing in next year’s race for governor, considering she has compiled more than $2 million in her campaign account. She raised more than $635,000 in the second quarter of this year.
In 2022, Foulkes lost a primary challenge to Gov. Dan McKee by about three percentage points.
McKee announced his intention to seek re-election earlier this year. House Speaker Joe Shekarchi, also a Democrat, is considering running for governor.
The emergency closing of Washington Bridge in December 2023 and the unfinished work of replacing the westbound span loom over the election. They are considered a factor in a string of low approval ratings for McKee.
With Hyers, Foulkes gains someone who has built a national reputation with an unbroken string of victories for various political offices dating to 2010. Foulkes, a former CVS Health executive has yet to announce her latest run, but she now has an experienced staffer who could easily transition into the role of campaign manager.
A native of North Adams, Massachusetts, Hyers was motivated to pursue a career in politics by the razor-thin presidential race in 2000 between Al Gore and George W. Bush, according to a 2021 profile.
Fifteen years ago, David Cicilline faced criticism for being overly rosy in describing the financial condition of Providence, where he first won election as mayor in 2002. With Patrick J. Kennedy leaving Congress, Cicilline nonetheless won the four-way Democratic primary to succeed him with 37% of the vote, 14 points ahead of his closest rival, Anthony Gemma. Cicilline, now head of the Rhode Island Foundation, beat GOP state Rep. John Loughlin of Tiverton by six points in the general election.
Two years later, in 2012, many observers were writing Cicilline’s political obituary as he faced low approval ratings and a respected Republican opponent, former State Police Col. Brendan Doherty. Cicilline wound up winning with 53% of the vote, almost 13 points more than Doherty.
Then in 2014, Hyers piloted the win for the first woman to become governor of Rhode Island, Gina Raimondo, as she faced a backlash from some union members and retirees over a pension overhaul she spearheaded as state treasurer in 2011. Raimondo was helped by a third-party candidate, the late Robert Healey, attracting about 21% of the vote.
Hyers also managed winning races for Steve Bullock as governor of Montana in 2016 and for Andy Beshear as governor of Kentucky in 2019 and 2023.
