Happy Saturday! Here's another edition of my weekend column for WPRI.com -- as always, send your takes, tips and trial balloons to [email protected] and follow me on Twitter, Threads and Facebook. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Nesi's Notes SIGN UP NOW 1. A big question is looming over Rhode Island politics: can Dan McKee turn things around in 2025? The latest poll from Salve Regina University's Pell Center had grim tidings for the governor, with his job approval rating at only 34% -- the fourth survey since last spring to peg his public standing at roughly that level. McKee is actively fundraising for a reelection campaign in 2026, when he'll be 75, and has given no indication of second thoughts. But he and his advisers have serious work to do if they want to win the Democratic primary, especially when they know they'll face a well-funded and well-connected rival in Helena Foulkes. Incumbent Democratic governors have lost renomination before -- it happened in 1994 to Bruce Sundlun, whose approval rating was 27% a year out from the primary, and it might have happened to independent-turned-Democrat Lincoln Chafee if his 30% approval rating hadn't led him to step aside in 2013. Other leading Democrats are increasingly hedging their bets; House Speaker Joe Shekarchi is making no secret about his appetite to run if McKee doesn't, and this week Secretary of State Gregg Amore said publicly that he'd be interested, too. Our political analyst Joe Fleming argues that even with his current numbers, McKee might have a path to victory if more candidates enter the primary and deprive Foulkes of a head-to-head contest. But Fleming was candid about the peril McKee faces, particularly as the administration continues to struggle with the Washington Bridge crisis. "The governor is in a difficult position right now," he said. "He has to come up with something major to try to improve these numbers over the next six to seven months. Up to this point we have not seen that." 2. Another Democratic primary that's sure to be interesting in 2026: the race for lieutenant governor. Incumbent Sabina Matos scored an even lower job approval rating in the Pell Center poll than Dan McKee, at just 26%, though her disapproval wasn't as high, either, since 35% voters have no opinion about her at all. Matos has been viewed as a sitting duck for a primary challenge ever since the signature scandal that derailed her congressional campaign last year, though like McKee she has repeatedly indicated she intends to run again. The survey also indicates why there is increasing chatter about term-limited Attorney General Peter Neronha running for LG. He had the highest job approval among the state's five general officers, at 41%, and a disapproval rating of only 26%. (Even after six years in the AG's office, Neronha remains an unknown to one in three voters, according to the survey.) The lieutenant governor's job has vastly less power than Neronha's current position, but he's shown he knows how to use the bully pulpit, and might see the role as an opportunity to keep pressing on priority issues for him like health care and climate change. Central Falls Mayor Maria Rivera is also widely seen as a possible LG candidate in 2026. 3. No political reporter in America is more plugged-in than Jonathan Martin, who left The New York Times in 2022 to become Politico's senior political columnist. Martin writes a reported column, something that was a mainstay of American newspapers in their heyday but is a rarity today. Martin joins me on this week's Newsmakers for a conversation about the state of the presidential race one month out from Election Day as well as the battle for control of Congress. He also reflected on the extraordinary events of this past summer -- a president swapped out for a new nominee in midsummer, pending prosecutions against the other nominee, multiple assassination attempts. "Hollywood would reject this script as too fanciful," he said. "It would not even be a movie because it's too preposterous." 4. Mark your calendars: Tim White and I will be moderating three debates on WPRI 12 ahead of the November election. Tune in and size up the candidates for Woonsocket mayor (Oct. 11), U.S. Senate (Oct. 18), and Cranston mayor (Oct. 25). 5. No matter who wins on Nov. 5, Jack Reed will be facing a big task immediately after Election Day: hammering out a compromise on the NDAA, the annual defense policy bill. 6. Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien held a face-to-face meeting Thursday with Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, as the city weighs its chances of remaining the toymaker's headquarters. Appearing on this week's Newsmakers, Grebien said he found the discussion fruitful. "They apologized," he said. "Nobody should have handled it this way." Grebien sees no chance that Hasbro will remain in its aging existing buildings on Newport Avenue, but suggested there are other places in the city that could get a look from Cocks and his team. "I feel a lot better today -- having the conversation, getting those honest conversations and dialogue going," he said. "Prior to this I looked at this as the Hail Mary." Meantime, officials at the state level remain in continuing conversations with company executives "to get further details about Hasbro’s future needs," a spokesperson for the governor's office told me Friday. 7. What would a breakup of CVS Health mean for Rhode Island? It's hard to say, with so much uncertainty around the discussions. And just last week in this column, the company recommitted to its Woonsocket headquarters. But news that the CVS board is considering a split after years of subpar performance should be a concern to state leaders. CVS currently employs over 7,000 people in Rhode Island, including roughly 3,400 at its headquarters (though it's now laying off dozens of local workers as part of a $2 billion savings campaign). The Wall Street Journal's David Wainer suggests the most likely move for the board would be spinning off the CVS/Pharmacy retail chain from the Aetna (insurance) and Caremark (PBM) divisions. The drugstores are, of course, the part of CVS with roots in Rhode Island -- and Wainer thinks they would also likely be saddled with much of the company's debt in any spinoff. "There isn’t a straightforward answer for CVS," he writes. "It could yet find a way to extract value from its disparate businesses while they stay together. But after so many years of struggles, it is clear that something significant needs to happen to give the company a new direction." 8. Lately it's felt like a day doesn't go by without some sort of significant announcement from Lifespan. In recent weeks, Rhode Island's biggest hospital group has laid off 20% of its executives, closed on a deal to buy two Southeastern Massachusetts hospitals, and finalized plans for its "Brown University Health" name change. This week came more big news, as Lifespan rolled out a long-sought payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) deal with Providence Mayor Brett Smiley. Critics carped about the relatively small sum involved -- $1.5 million over two years -- but Smiley argued that it was also about the principle of Lifespan having a formal PILOT deal in place at all, something the system's leadership had long resisted. "It's a start," the mayor told Kim Kalunian during his monthly interview on 12 News at 4. "We've been negotiating for almost a year, and it was clear to me that we got to a point where Lifespan's underlying financial challengers were going to prohibit us from doing anything more than what we were able to secure in this agreement." All of these moves suggest Lifespan CEO John Fernandez was looking to clear the decks in time for the start of the hospital group's 2024-25 fiscal year, which began Tuesday. The health system now has over 20,000 employees following the acquisitions of St. Anne's and Morton. 9. And then there's Citizens Financial Group. CEO Bruce Van Saun has led the bank since it was spun off from RBS in 2014, but he's now 67, which is spurring speculation about his eventual successor. In a recent American Banker piece, reporter Allissa Kline identifies two Citizens executives as potential future CEOs of the bank: Head of Consumer Banking Brendan Coughlin and Chief Financial Officer John Woods. (And from a Rhode Island perspective, it's also worth noting that Kline reports Citizens' chief executive is based out of an office in Stamford, Connecticut, not the bank's titular headquarters here in Providence.) 10. Local politicos will recognize some of the names in this Target 12 report from Tim White and Eli Sherman on a Cranston man who allegedly ran a multimillion-dollar investment scheme. He is now facing federal charges. 11. Before John Deaton was the Republican nominee against Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, he was a Rhode Island lawyer involved in some high-profile litigation, like the suit against Claire's over asbestos in its products. But another major case Deaton worked on, a class-action suit over a flawed hernia mesh product, has ended in a battle between himself and another attorney that has exasperated judges in Rhode Island and Texas for years now. I took a closer look at the court fight in this story. Deaton joined Kim Kalunian on Friday for an interview on 12 News at 4 where he discussed the hernia case, as well as his argument against Warren and his personal backstory. 12. People in the news ... Newport school principal Michael Browner Jr. is the governor's newest appointee to the R.I. Ethics Commission ... former TIME editor Nancy Gibbs will speak at URI on Oct. 10 to deliver the school's 2024 Christiane Amanpour Lecture ... former Congressman Adam Kinzinger will speak at URI five days later, though photography and recording of his appearance are barred ... Union Army veteran Byron Johnson will be buried with military honors in his native Pawtucket on Oct. 16, more than a century after his death; the ceremony is being organized in part by the Rhode Island Department of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, successor to the Grand Army of the Republic. 13. Looking for something fun to do with your family this weekend? Kim Kalunian is out with her annual WPRI.com guide to the best local Halloween light displays. 14. ESPN's Don Van Natta investigates why Robert Kraft hasn't made the Hall of Fame. 15. I was honored Wednesday morning to emcee the 11th Annual Rhode Island Cancer Research Breakfast hosted by ACS CAN, an arm of the American Cancer Society. It was an inspiring room to be in, filled with scientists and doctors who are working on advanced treatments and cures, along with lots of elected officials pledging continued funding. During the event I got to talk a little about my reporting last year on glioblastoma, the deadliest form of brain cancer, which took my own mother's life in 2003. On a related note, I recently received a message from Reid Losee, who lost her husband Robert Shein to glioblastoma last year. She is organizing a 4.1-mile run/walk in Johnston on Nov. 2 to raise money for a special research fund at Rhode Island Hospital that will support the work of Dr. Eric Wong, who studies glioblastoma treatments. Reid is working with her sister-in-law as well as two other widows who lost their husbands to the disease: Mandi Razza, wife of the late Johnston Police Chief Joe Razza, and Michelle Robertson, wife of the late Dr. Alexander Robertson. You can read more about their event here. 16. Set your DVRs: This week on Newsmakers — Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien; Politico columnist Jonathan Martin. Watch Sunday at 5:30 a.m. on WPRI 12 and 10 a.m. on Fox Providence, or listen on the radio Sunday at 6 p.m. on WPRO. You can also subscribe to Newsmakers as a podcast via Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you back here next Saturday. Ted Nesi ([email protected]) is a Target 12 investigative reporter and 12 News politics/business editor. He co-hosts Newsmakers and writes Nesi's Notes on Saturdays. Connect with him on Twitter, Threads and Facebook.