The endorsement story involves Ken Block, the Rhode Island businessman and independent candidate for Governor, and Elaine Pelino, a MAGA-aligned political figure who ran in the 2026 Rhode Island Republican primary for Governor.

Background & Primary Dynamics

During the September 2026 Republican primary, Elaine Pelino narrowly lost the GOP nomination for Governor to Aaron Guckian. Despite the close loss, Pelino initially refrained from immediately backing Guckian, as tension remained within the party structure following the primary recount.

The Cross-Party Endorsement

In mid-October 2026, just weeks before the general election, Elaine Pelino publicly endorsed independent candidate Ken Block for Governor of Rhode Island. She did grab 11,000 votes in the primary and was well liked.

The endorsement came as a significant surprise to political observers for several reasons:

• Ideological Difference: Pelino acknowledged in her statement that Block—a former Moderate Party founder turned political independent—does not share her MAGA alignment or conservative party affiliation, noting that he is “not even a Republican anymore”.

• I support President Trump because he looks at the numbers, sees a bad deal, and makes a better one. So let’s look at the numbers.
  Aaron Guckian is at 10 percent. Ten. That’s not a campaign, that’s an embarrassment. In a three-way race, every vote for Aaron comes straight out of Ken Block’s column and lands in Helena Foulkes’ lap.
  But you know what President Trump hates even more than a loser? A drug dealer who ruins our communities.
  Yesterday the Justice Department announced CVS will pay $315 million to settle charges it knowingly and unlawfully filled dangerous, excessive opioid scripts and “trinity” cocktails from pill-mill doctors, then billed taxpayers for them, from 2013 to 2025. Helena Foulkes ran CVS Pharmacy from 2014 to 2018. And while those pills went out the door, she was cutting pharmacists to save money and pushing the ones left to fill more scripts faster, trading patient safety for profit. She was the boss. She was responsible.
  The case was filed in Rhode Island.�

  The families who buried their kids live in Rhode Island.
  A drug dealer in a Connecticut sweater set. That’s the Democratic nominee. She calls herself a capitalist and endorses a socialist. She’ll call herself whatever gets her the job.
  Helena can’t win unless Aaron stays in. So he’s staying in.
  Ken Block isn’t MAGA. Weak on the Second Amendment, not even a Republican anymore. So what. President Trump never ran MAGA as a purity test. He beat Marco Rubio and made him Secretary of State. He made JD Vance Vice President after everything JD said about him. He sat in the Oval Office with Zohran Mamdani and found a way to work with him. He’ll be just fine with boring Ken Block.
  To everyone who voted for me and wants to write me in: I love you. I appreciate you. But we have to face the facts. We need to rally behind Ken Block. Aaron is too selfish to step aside, so every one of your votes has to go to Ken. He’s a capitalist, a businessman, and he’s spent years exposing the corruption and cronyism the insiders wanted left alone. Rhode Islanders are drowning. Ken is our best shot, and we have to take it.
  Aaron, ten percent. Do the math. Get out.
  There’s only one vote that beats Helena. Ken Block.

  

  Guckian, who previously said he wanted Pelino’s support, fired back at both Pelino and Block while defending his candidacy.

  “Convictions should come with a backbone, not a weather vane,” Guckian said in an emailed statement. “I think Republicans deserve to know what commitments Elaine secured from Ken on those principles before throwing her support behind him. A poll does not overturn an election, and the decision Republican voters made deserves to be respected. Elaine has made her choice. I’m standing by mine, and I intend to honor the trust Republican voters placed in me.”