Donald Carcieri Republican Lincoln Chafee Independent The 2010 Rhode Island gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2010.

[1][2][3] With 90 percent of the districts reporting on election night, Independent Lincoln Chafee was declared the winner, with 36.1% of the vote.

[4] As of 2023[update], this was the last time Newport County voted for the Republican candidate in a statewide election.

Chafee had served Rhode Island in the U.S. Senate as a Republican from 1999 to 2007; he later joined the Democratic Party in 2013.

[5] The campaign drew nationwide attention in late October when President Barack Obama, faced with a choice between Democrat Caprio and independent Chafee (who, although he had been a Republican as a senator, had endorsed the Democratic Obama for president in 2008) chose not to make any endorsement in the race.