The decision by state Attorney General Douglas Chin to resign March 15 and begin full-time campaigning for the 1st Congressional District seat is probably a “politically smart move,” according to a University of Hawaii political scientist.

Chin, 51, announced Sunday he is stepping down as attorney general “so that I can run for Congress with the same intensity and energy that I bring to working for Hawaii each day.”

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hana­busa, who now holds the urban Honolulu congressional seat that Chin is seeking, said last week Chin should resign from his job as the state’s top law enforcement officer to make his run for Congress.

Hanabusa plans to vacate the seat representing urban Honolulu to challenge Gov. David Ige this year, and Chin announced last month he plans to campaign for the seat Hanabusa now holds.

Ige also released a statement last week saying he expects Chin will step down if that would be “in the best interest of the people of Hawaii.”

Chin said in an interview he considered the concerns raised about potential conflicts of interest related to his campaign and discussed those issues at length with Ige, but said Ige did not ask him to resign.

Colin Moore, director of the UH-Manoa Public Policy Center, said he thinks Chin is “caving to pressure” from people who believe he should resign, but his decision to do so will deny his opponents a point of attack during the campaign.

“This is probably a good political decision for him,” Moore said. “On balance, some of the arguments probably did have merit, so this is a win for good government.”

“I don’t really think it was necessary for him to resign, but I think it’s probably the politically smart move here,” Moore said.

Some contend that Chin’s public profile will fade once he leaves the office that made him locally famous, but Moore disagreed. “That mission has been accomplished. People are not going to forget who he is in the next few months,” he said.

Chin was appointed attorney general in 2015, and political observers say he has been one of the Ige administration’s most prominent and popular figures among Hawaii’s heavily Democratic voters.

He established a national profile by filing a series of legal challenges to the policies of President Donald Trump, including Trump’s efforts to restrict immigration. Chin is the son of Chinese immigrants, and has said his legal contests with the Trump administration prompted him to run for Congress.

“I know that what I’m doing is unusual, that it’s the first time for a Hawaii AG to be running for higher office, but I also feel like these are very unusual times,” Chin said. “We’re dealing with an administration that’s not typical, that has threatened and attacked minorities, people of color, LGBT rights, has attacked our rule of law and our court systems and the press, and so I felt like I needed to take a very unusual step” by running for Congress.

Hanabusa has said Chin’s candidacy while sitting as attorney general would raise potential conflicts as Chin ventures out to raise money for his campaign. He likely will need to approach unions and corporate interests to raise money even as the Attorney General’s Office may be handling litigation or other legal matters involving those private interests.

Chin said his office established a committee of career deputy attorneys general to review any proposed settlements of major cases, investigations, prosecutions and new litigation to eliminate any potential conflicts in Chin’s final weeks in office, and that committee will make the final decisions, he said.

“That assures the public that I’m not making decisions just for political gain, but that we really are trying to serve the people of Hawaii as best as we can,” Chin said. He said he choose March 15 as his last day to allow time for an orderly transition.

Other candidates for the congressional seat representing urban Honolulu include city Councilman Ernie Martin, state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim (D, Kalihi Valley-Moanalua- Halawa) and state Rep. Kaniela Ing (D, South Maui). All are Democrats.